Sixty Works by Modern Masters - Flipbook - Page 69
Pablo Picasso
"I paint objects as I think them,
not as I see them."
Pablo Picasso
Spanish, 1881 - 1973
Nature morte au Poron, 1948
Oil on canvas
19¾ x 24 inches / 50 x 61 cm
Signed lower right: Picasso
Dated on the reverse: 26.12.48.II
The still life is an important
component of Picasso’s oeuvre,
being particularly well-represented
in his work from the Cubist and
Second World War periods.
Throughout the early 1940s in
occupied Paris, when Picasso was
banned from exhibiting pictures in
public, his still life scenes took on
an austere, almost monochromatic
quality. Yet during his post-war years,
the artist began to produce exuberant
and vibrant still lives, of which the
present work is a superb example.
Vigorous brushstrokes summarise
the colours and shapes of his subject
matter in a naive manner, and serve
to remind that Picasso considered
the act of painting to present an
‘escape route’ from the trials of real
life.
Nature Morte au Poron is one of
three pictures of a lobster that
Picasso completed the day after
Christmas in 1948 (C. Zervos, op.
cit., nos. 113 & 114). It originates
from the period during which he
lived in Vallauris with Françoise
Gilot, his portraits of the latter
enjoying a similarly linear and
graphic style.
Provenance
Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris
Svensk-Franska Konstgalleriet, Stockholm
Gerard Bonnier, Stockholm, acquired by 1953 and until circa 1959
Galerie Beyeler, Basel
Private collection, New York
James Goodman Gallery, New York
Private collection, Europe, 1981 (acquired from the above)
Christensen collection, Norway
Exhibited
Stockholm, Svenska-Franska Konstgalleriet, 1918-1953, 1953, no. 115
(titled: Le Homard et le poron)
Stockholm, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Cézanne till Picasso, 1954, no. 285
(titled: Le Homard et le poron)
Oslo, Kunstnernes Hus, Picasso, 1956, no. 278, illustrated
(titled: Le Homard et le poron)
Stockholm, Svensk-Franska Konstgalleriet, Picasso, 1959, no. 16
Basel, Galerie Beyeler, Das Stilleben im 20. Jahrhundert, 1978-79, no. 92,
illustrated in colour
Madrid, Fundación Juan March, Maestros del siglo XX-Naturaleza muerta,
1979, no. 68
Rotterdam, Kunsthal, Picasso, kunstenaar van de eeuw, 1999, no. 28,
illustrated in colour
Schiedam, Stedelijk Museum, Picasso, Klee, Miró en de moderne kunst in
Nederland, 1946-1958, 2006
Literature
Maurice Raynal et al., Picasso, in Le Point, vol. XLII, Paris, October 1952,
illustrated p. 7
Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso. Œuvres de 1946 à 1953, Paris, 1965,
vol. XV, no. 116, illustrated pl. 68
Alan Wofsy, The Picasso Project, Picasso's Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings
and Sculpture. Liberation and Post-War Years, 1944-1949, San Francisco,
2000, no. 48-045, illustrated p. 211 (titled: Nature morte aux crustacés)
Enrique Mallen (ed.), Online Picasso Project, Sam Houston State University,
1945-50, no. 48-142, (accessed 2011)
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