Beschreibung:

Francis Picabia (French, 1879-1953) St. Tropez, c. 1937-39 Signed "Francis Picabia" l.l., inscribed "St. Tropez" l.r. Oil on canvas, 29 x 24 in. (73.7 x 61.0 cm), framed. Condition: Mounted to aluminum panel, retouch, alligatoring, craquelure. Provenance: Private Massachusetts collection by family descent. N.B. The present, enigmatic work dates to Picabia's time in the south of France, which was an experimental and highly innovative period spanning nearly two decades. By 1925, Picabia felt that the Dada movement no longer packed the anti-establishment punch that it once had, and he left Paris for Mougins, near Cannes, where he would remain until 1945. Picabia found a renewed vigor on the Côte d'Azur. In a letter dated February 27, 1926 to the French fashion designer Jacques Doucet he notes, "This country which seems…to make some lazy, stimulates me to work…I have more and more pleasure in the resumption of painting."(1) Picabia experimented with several bodies of work in Mougins through 1927--including Espagnoles (depicting archetypal Spanish women), Les monstres (depicting grotesque figures in heavy black outlines) and mixed-media collages--before creating one of his most important series known as Les Transparences (2)Les Transparences, which he developed through the early 1930s, comprised of superimposed classical, Romanesque and Renaissance silhouettes over figures and landscapes, and the effect was described by Marcel Duchamp as an impression of "the third dimension without the aid of perspective." (3) In the mid- to late 1930s, Picabia often referenced and juxtaposed the motifs and methods developed in these earlier bodies of work, some of which he overpainted. (4) A notable example of a reworked amalgamation is Le Beau Charcutier [The Handsome Pork-Butcher] in the Tate Modern permanent collection. The work was first conceived ca. 1924-6 as a mixed-media collage painting of a man, thought by some to be of the French politician Raymond Poincaré, and re-conceived ca. 1929-35 with the profile of a glamorous woman superimposed over the male portrait. (5) While scholarship on the present work is in its nascent stage, infrared reflectography (IRR) reveals the existence of a previous composition depicting a bust in profile of at least one figure (facing right), superimposed over a repetitive solar or floral motif in the background, with a signature reading "Francis Picabia" at lower center. The work is registered as no. 3299 with the Comité Picabia, and will be included in their forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné de l'Oeuvre de Francis Picabia A photo-certificate from the Comité Picabia accompanies the lot, and we wish to thank them for their kind assistance. A copy of the IRR report, conducted by the Worcester Art Museum Conservation Department, Worcester, Massachusetts, with recommendations for further imaging and analysis, also accompanies the lot. (1) William A. Camfield, Francis Picabia His Art, Life and Times (Princeton University Press, 1979) p. 216. (2) Ibid, 218-219. (3) http://www.picabia.com/biograph/bio_ev_p6.htm (4) Marianne Heinz. "Picabia, Francis." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T067302 (5) Jennifer Mundy. "Francis PicabiaThe Handsome Pork-Butcher c.1924-6, c.1929-35." Tate Gallery. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/picabia-the-handsome-pork-butcher-t07108/text-summary