PABLO PICASSO

(1881-1973)

Femme assise et gentilhomme

Footnotes

The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Claude Picasso.

Provenance
Private collection, France (a gift from the artist circa 1970-1973).
Heinz Berggruen Collection, Paris and Berlin (acquired from the above).
Anon. sale, Sotheby's, London, 9 February 2005, lot 214.
Private collection, UK (acquired at the above sale).

Exhibited
San Francisco, John Berggruen Gallery, Picasso, The Berggruen Album, 4 March – 10 April 2004, no. 19 (later travelled to New York).

'Every painter takes himself for Rembrandt' – Pablo Picasso

Femme assise et gentilhomme is an exquisite work on paper by Pablo Picasso. Representing two of the most defining subjects of his oeuvre, the artist's model and the musketeer, this work is an iconic example from Picasso's mature period and stands testament to the artist's desire to confirm his place alongside the greatest painters of the Western art historical canon.

In the final years of Picasso's life, swashbuckling seventeenth century mousquetaires occupied the artist's output. Immediately identifiable by the long pipe, broad brimmed hat and imperial moustache, the musketeer in the present work is highly evocative of Golden Age portraiture, most notably that of Rembrandt - an artist whom Picasso deeply revered. The musketeer would come to operate both as a signifier of the great Old Masters and as a psychological substitute for the artist himself.

In the mid-1960s, Picasso, whilst recovering from surgery, devoured literary classics such as Shakespeare, and Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers. Simultaneously, Picasso studied Otto Benesch's landmark publication of Rembrandt's drawings, as there was a revived interest in the great master on the occasion of the three hundredth anniversary of his death. Picasso grew fonder of Rembrandt's work and saw an opportunity to dive into the mind of his mighty predecessor. A projection of the Night Watch appeared on the walls of his studio, through which Picasso was able to transport himself into the adventurous world of chivalrous noblemen. Like Rembrandt, Picasso was also keen on inserting himself into his works, taking on various guises and approaching his output with a brilliant sense of wit and skill. He increasingly started to relate to the Dutch master, and throughout the final chapter of his life, Rembrandt's artistic universe remained an important source of inspiration for Picasso, as if Rembrandt was 'an all-powerful God-figure whom Picasso had to internalize before he died' (J. Richardson quoted in Late Picasso, exh. cat., Tate, London, 1988, p. 34).

In Femme assise et gentilhomme, Picasso subtly disrupts the traditional power dynamics between artist and subject. The musketeer and model behold each other with an uncompromising gaze, but the imposing and elevated position of the female subject lends her a regal air, while the musketeer archetype adopts a more submissive, courtly persona. It is a subtle homage to some of Picasso's earliest works from his artist and models series, which are known to represent Rembrandt and his wife Saskia.

The present work was originally part of a sketchbook containing twenty-six drawings which were executed over a period of eight days in November 1970. Completed wholly in India ink, Picasso underscores his mastery of the medium in the present work and thereby affirms his position as one of the greatest draughtsmen of the twentieth century.

Alongside its art historical significance, the present work is also distinguished by an exceptional pedigree. Femme assise et gentilhomme was once owned by Heinz Berggruen, an art dealer but - most of all – a close friend to the artist and a passionate collector. He acquired Femme assise et gentilhomme from a private French collection and kept it in his personal collection until his death.

Berggruen made a name for himself as a gallery owner in Paris in the post-war era. Originally born into a German-Jewish family, Berggruen lived in Berlin until his early adulthood before fleeing to the US in 1936 where he would spend nearly a decade, holding various artistic positions at public institutions and art journals. After Europe's liberation, he decided to return to the continent and settled in the French capital in 1947. He started a gallery and found his true calling as a dealer. Berggruen quickly ranked as one of the most prominent figures within Parisian artistic circles, with artists like Van Gogh, Cézanne, Matisse, Klee, Arp and Giacometti included in his stable.

Picasso, however, would have more impact on Berggruen than any other and would become of great significance to the art dealer, both personally and professionally. The artist entered Berggruen's world in 1951, having already enjoyed a sixty-year long career and celebrated as one of the most famous artists alive. Introduced through their mutual friend Tristan Tzara, Berggruen met Picasso in his studio on the rue des Grands-Augustins. Berggruen recalled that 'in physical terms alone, Picasso was an impressive sight. His wonderful, clear-cut face, his magnificent, large, magnetic eyes, his stocky, athletic body – it was as if every part of him had been cast from the same mould, as if he were his own, self-created masterpiece. During our very first encounter I already found myself enchanted by this man' (H. Berggruen, Highways and Byways, Guildford, 1996, p. 184).

After their first encounter, a lifelong friendship was born, and Picasso was added to Berggruen's roster of artists. It marked the beginning of a collecting journey for Berggruen, during which he found some of the finest works and collections from the artist's all-embracing oeuvre. One of the most notable collections that passed through Berggruen's hands was Gertrude Stein's collection of Blue and Rose Period works. To this day, Stein is widely regarded as the first collector to champion Picasso's work. Berggruen's gallery became a hub for American collectors and was frequently visited by influential figures such as Alfred J. Barr and Nelson Rockefeller. For Berggruen, collecting and selling often went hand in hand: 'In my days as an art dealer I was always looking for ways to perfect, enrich and consolidate my Picasso collection. Or, to put it differently, over some thirty years some of the most significant Picassos passed through my hand, and I was all too often confronted with the decision as to whether I should see or keep a drawing, a watercolour of a painting' (H. Berggruen, op. cit., p. 179).

On his frequent visits to Picasso in the South of France, Berggruen would bring Picasso news 'from the big world outside' and show Picasso his latest trouvailles. Their last encounter took place in 1969, but Berggruen would remain under the great artist's spell well after that. In the span of thirty years, Berggruen amassed a profound and carefully selected body of works, spanning from the Blue Period all the way through to 1973, the year of Picasso's death: 'by consistently and persistently collecting Picasso's works, I attempted to create an impression of the cosmos of this man, who, like no other, carried within him the lebensgefühl (life-feeling) of an entire century' (H. Berggruen, op. cit., p. 184).