.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
In a scene of lustful, voyeuristic contemplation, Homme à la pipe et nu assis exemplifies the sensual imagery into which Picasso channeled the extraordinary force of his creativity at the end of his career. Drawn on 20 March 1969, the present work depicts a seated female nude offering herself to the intent gaze of a musketeer, elaborately dressed and smoking as he reclines beside her. Observing the object of his desire, the elaborately clad swashbuckling character studies her while she strokes her cheek nonchalantly, as if brushing her hair aside. The artist’s confident, bold lines sublimate the figures’ desire in visual terms.
Themes of sex and passion would appear in many forms in the works of Picasso’s final years. He feverishly depicted females entangled in amorous encounters with bearded musketeers, smoking brigadiers, and the artist in the studio. Karen Kleinfelder has described "the elemental conflict or psychodrama…that of man confronting woman, self-confronting other, the power of the look, and the play of desire...Picasso, in effect, makes us voyeurs of voyeurism. It is the scopic drive, the gazing impulse, the desire to possess through the look that we witness, and by implication, that we engage in as well. In this sense, the male voyeurs that Picasso depicts also mirror the artist, whose controlling gaze staged this recurring spectacle in the first place" (The Artist, His Model, Her Image, His Gaze, Picasso's Pursuit of the Model, Chicago, 1993, pp. 186-187). The dividing line between the pair in Homme à la pipe et nu assis further recalls Picasso’s earlier painter and model series, the line evoking the easel between them, the forbidden barrier to be crossed by an artistic or carnal act.
The pose of Picasso’s nude draws a clear parallel with variations on the theme of the harem scene in Picasso’s work, from Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907; The Museum of Modern Art, New York) to the Femmes d’Alger series of 1955, inspired by Delacroix’s original Femmes d'Alger dans leur appartement (1834; Louvre, Paris). The latter composition of course held a connection to Picasso’s beloved Jacqueline Roque who can be considered the implicit female here depicted. In the artist’s mind, her profile bore similarity to the seated figure towards the right in Delacroix’s masterpiece, whilst in the present work, her pose, forward-facing and more directly confrontational character bears resemblance to that of the seated figure to the far left. The erotic charge that Picasso felt toward any given muse would lead him to forceful artistic production and Jacqueline, his faithful second wife, would come to embody his notion of feminine sensuality throughout more works of art than any other in his lifetime. The musketeer therefore represents a stand-in for the artist, Picasso himself, now in his latter years, channeling the erotic impulses of his virile youth by way of an historic avatar, and engaging with the desire of his voluptuous and eternally captivating wife, exuding in youth and beauty as an eternal source of inspiration.
Themes of sex and passion would appear in many forms in the works of Picasso’s final years. He feverishly depicted females entangled in amorous encounters with bearded musketeers, smoking brigadiers, and the artist in the studio. Karen Kleinfelder has described "the elemental conflict or psychodrama…that of man confronting woman, self-confronting other, the power of the look, and the play of desire...Picasso, in effect, makes us voyeurs of voyeurism. It is the scopic drive, the gazing impulse, the desire to possess through the look that we witness, and by implication, that we engage in as well. In this sense, the male voyeurs that Picasso depicts also mirror the artist, whose controlling gaze staged this recurring spectacle in the first place" (The Artist, His Model, Her Image, His Gaze, Picasso's Pursuit of the Model, Chicago, 1993, pp. 186-187). The dividing line between the pair in Homme à la pipe et nu assis further recalls Picasso’s earlier painter and model series, the line evoking the easel between them, the forbidden barrier to be crossed by an artistic or carnal act.
The pose of Picasso’s nude draws a clear parallel with variations on the theme of the harem scene in Picasso’s work, from Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907; The Museum of Modern Art, New York) to the Femmes d’Alger series of 1955, inspired by Delacroix’s original Femmes d'Alger dans leur appartement (1834; Louvre, Paris). The latter composition of course held a connection to Picasso’s beloved Jacqueline Roque who can be considered the implicit female here depicted. In the artist’s mind, her profile bore similarity to the seated figure towards the right in Delacroix’s masterpiece, whilst in the present work, her pose, forward-facing and more directly confrontational character bears resemblance to that of the seated figure to the far left. The erotic charge that Picasso felt toward any given muse would lead him to forceful artistic production and Jacqueline, his faithful second wife, would come to embody his notion of feminine sensuality throughout more works of art than any other in his lifetime. The musketeer therefore represents a stand-in for the artist, Picasso himself, now in his latter years, channeling the erotic impulses of his virile youth by way of an historic avatar, and engaging with the desire of his voluptuous and eternally captivating wife, exuding in youth and beauty as an eternal source of inspiration.