Female nude with her arm resting on a chair (recto)
Abstract human figures within a box-like room construction (verso)

Copyright

© Succession Picasso/DACS, London 2023
Image: Courtauld
ⓒ Work in copyright. All rights reserved.

Maker

(artist)
1881-1973

Title

Female nude with her arm resting on a chair (recto)
Abstract human figures within a box-like room construction (verso)

Date of Production

1920-1921

Medium

charcoal (recto and verso) on wove paper

Dimensions

Height: 32 cm
Width: 24.6 cm

Object Number

D.1978.PG.265

Mode of Acquisition

Count Antoine Seilern, bequest, 1978

Credit

Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

Monumentally conceived figures appear frequently in Picasso’s work of the early 1920s. This imposing female nude, towering over a chair, was first planned as a smaller figure, perhaps partially draped, as the emphatic curved strokes across her middle might indicate. The outlines of this initial figure are clearly visible, for instance below the contour of the shoulders. Picasso modelled the figure by lightly smudging the friable charcoal on the paper, giving it a pronounced sense of volume.

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Inscription: Recto: lower left corner, graphite, signed and underlined: “Picasso“. Verso: lower right edge, graphite: “582“.

Collector's mark: none.

Provenance

Berthold Nothmann, Berlin and London (1865-1942); acquired from him by Dr Alfred Scharf, London (1900-1965); purchased from him by Count Antoine Seilern, London, 16 March 1941 (£73.10); Princes Gate Bequest 1976

Exhibition History

Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, The Frick Collection, New York, 02/10/2012-27/01/2013
Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, Courtauld Gallery, London, 14/06/2012-09/09/2012
The Princes Gate Collection - Drawings (Selection A), Courtauld Gallery, London, 17/07/1981-26/01/1982

Literature

Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, Frick Collection, New York and Courtauld Gallery, London London 2012-2013
cat. no. 58
ill. on p. 259 (recto), p. 258 (verso)
dated 1920-21
Véliz, Zahira, Spanish Drawings in the Courtauld Gallery: complete catalogue, London, 2011
cat. no. 109
ill. on p. 289 (recto and verso)
The Princes Gate Collection - Drawings (Selection A), Courtauld Gallery, London, 1981-1982
cat. no. 141
ill. on p. 103 (recto)
...More
Seilern, Count Antoine, Paintings and drawings of Continental Schools other than Flemish and Italian at 56 Princes Gate, London SW7, London 1961; III
no. 265
pl. CI (recto), fig. 62 (verso)
dated c. 1920-21 as suggested by Anthony Blunt
...Less

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