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PABLO PICASSO
La Femme à la Résille (Femme aux Cheveux verts) (Bloch 612), 1949 (30 May)The subject of La Femme à la Résille (Femme aux Cheveux verts) is Picasso’s lover and mother of two of his children, Françoise Gilot. The portrait was made after Picasso took Françoise to meet his friend and rival, Henri Matisse. As the story goes, Matisse told Françoise that he’d do her portrait – he’d make her skin pale blue, and her hair green. Picasso, who had not yet painted a portrait of Françoise, was both annoyed and inspired by this comment. Years after the meeting, he created this print, the force of which is unmistakably the vibrant hue of the woman’s hair. In fact, it is so eye-catching that the hair appears to be the print’s subject itself. As such, it could be said that Françoise did not inspire the image – competition with Matisse did.
Contrasting Matisse, Picasso thought of color as ornamentation and form as a dimension, the real stuff of art. Notably, however, the phrases in the title referencing Françoise’s hair draw attention to both form and color: “the woman with the fishnet (résille),” referring to the criss-cross pattern stretched over it, as though being held back by a stocking, and “the woman with green hair (cheveux verts).” In his book on modern, abstract art, Wassily Kandinsky wrote of Matisse and Picasso, “Matisse: colour, Picasso: form. Two great tendencies, one great goal.” This print demonstrates Picasso’s unique ability to feed off of styles distinct from his own and digest them, ever-creating art in dialogue with other art.
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PABLO PICASSO
Profil de Femme (Bloch 436), 1947 (March 26) Lithograph
22 1/8 x 15 inches -
PABLO PICASSO
Profil au fond noir (Bloch 437), 1947 (March 29) Lithograph
22 1/8 x 15 inches -
PABLO PICASSO
Femme Au Fauteuil No 4 (d'aprés le violet) (Bloch 588), 1949 (January 3) Lithograph -
PABLO PICASSO
Femme au Fauteuil No 1 (d’après le rouge) (Mourlot 134), 1949 (January 13) Lithograph
29 7/8 x 22 1/4 inches -
PABLO PICASSO
L'Italienne (Bloch 740), 1953 (January 21, Paris) Lithograph
25 1/8 x 19 1/2 inches -
PABLO PICASSO
L’Égyptienne (Bloch 746), 1953 (May 11, Paris) Sugarlift aquatint
36 x 24 7/8 inches
My Green Valentine : Françoise Gilot
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