$54,000
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 t
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2013-02-01
