Pablo Picasso - 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session New York Wednesday, November 16, 2022 | Phillips

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  • Executed in 1901, Pablo Picasso’s Nu se coiffant presents an intimately scaled drawing of a nude woman styling her hair. Rendered in pastel, the present work beautifully illustrates a celebrated subject matter of Picasso: a portrayal of femininity.  Here, his subject tilts her head down with her arms reaching up to her hair in an act of grooming. While artists before him like Edgar Degas had previously embraced this subject matter in drawings and pastels, using paid models to depict in situ, in contrast, Picasso’s approach was more lyrical, distinct from the realism of his predecessors. Picasso drew Nu se coiffant in Paris during his second stay which lasted from May of 1901 to January of 1902. Most likely created just before the commencement of his famed “Blue Period” and when the artist was preparing for his first exhibition organized by dealer Ambroise Vollard on June 23, 1901, this work features the stylistic elements found in Picasso’s earlier works.  Not yet submerged in a sea of sorrowful blues and greens hues, the 19-year-old Picasso grants us the opportunity to glimpse an early exploration of what would become a sustained fascination over the course of his life.  This work lends itself to the fantasies and fetishes directed by the male gaze via a voyeuristic act of the artist’s imagination. Sensual and deeply private, Nu se coiffant stages an encounter that feeds our more tender sensibilities.

    • Provenance

      Fukushima Collection, Japan
      Bern Auction, 1959
      Private Collection
      Acquired from the above by the present owner

    • Literature

      Pierre Daix and Georges Boudaille, Picasso 1900-1906: Catalogue Raisonné de L'oeuvre Peint, Neuchâtel, 1966, no. IV.16, p. 146 (illustrated)
      Pierre Daix and Georges Boudaille, Picasso: The Blue and Rose Periods. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, 1900-1906, Neuchâtel, 1967, no. IV.16, p. 146 (illustrated)
      Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso: Supplement aux volumes 1 à 5, vol. VI, Paris, 1983, no. 377, p. 179 (illustrated, p. 46)

    • Artist Biography

      Pablo Picasso

      Spanish • 1881 - 1973

      One of the most dominant and influential artists of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso was a master of endless reinvention. While significantly contributing to the movements of Surrealism, Neoclassicism and Expressionism, he is best known for pioneering the groundbreaking movement of Cubism alongside fellow artist Georges Braque in the 1910s. In his practice, he drew on African and Iberian visual culture as well as the developments in the fast-changing world around him.

      Throughout his long and prolific career, the Spanish-born artist consistently pushed the boundaries of art to new extremes. Picasso's oeuvre is famously characterized by a radical diversity of styles, ranging from his early forays in Cubism to his Classical Period and his later more gestural expressionist work, and a diverse array of media including printmaking, drawing, ceramics and sculpture as well as theater sets and costumes designs. 

      View More Works

149

Nu se coiffant

signed and inscribed “PR Picasso” lower left
pastel on paper
6 1/8 x 7 1/8 in. (15.6 x 18.1 cm)
Executed in 1901, this work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Maya Widmaier-Picasso.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$300,000 - 500,000 

Sold for $289,800

Contact Specialist

Annie Dolan
Specialist, Head of Day Sale, Morning Session
+1 212 940 1288
adolan@phillips.com

20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session

New York Auction 16 November 2022