Tête de faune

As Marcel Duchamp proclaimed, Francis Picabia’s career is a ‘kaleidoscopic series of art experiences’, one in which he actively sought to define himself in opposition to his peers by championing constant innovation. His radical, experimental approach to materials and techniques is particularly visible in Tête de faune, painted in 1934-35, which beautifully expresses Picabia’s ability to master the painterly medium, creating unique effects on the work's surface. Here, the artist makes great use of his pictorial as well as plastic skills, adding layer upon layer of paint and varnish to create a beautiful, thick surface that bears the distinctive complex craquelure, typical of his compositions of this period. Featuring a combination of wide, open and amorphous drying cracks, and brittle fracture cracks which appear as a network of delicate, thin lines, the painting achieves a rich texture and almost sculptural quality.

Tête de faune also illustrates Picabia's love of and playful approach to classical imagery, continuing the central themes and techniques of his acclaimed Transparence paintings, which had first emerged in the late 1920s, by superimposing a series of images atop one another in a complex sequence. Instead of depicting the faun as the mythological creature commonly referred to as beastly and virile, the subject is presented here with a sense of ambiguity and almost absurdity, not living up to its notorious reputation. Formerly in the collection of Picabia's long-term partner Germaine Everling, Tête de faune last appeared at auction in 1954 and has remained in private hands for over thirty years.