Pablo Picasso

PABLO PICASSO (Malaga, 1881 - Mougins, France, 1973).
"Verre et pipe", 1918.
Oil, gouache and pencil on paper.
Signed in the lower right corner.
The subject and treatment is very close to the painting Z. III, 161 and the vase of Z. III, 162 of the Catalogue Raisonné (Zervos). The pipe corresponds exactly to the signs used by Picasso (Daix, 1985).
Certificates:
-Certification issued in Paris and in the French language by Mr. Pierre Daix, dated June 6, 1985 stating that the signature on the work is that of Pablo Ruiz Picasso.
-Certification of authenticity issued by Mr. Josep Palau i Fabra, dated February 27, 1990, in which the Work is described with the characteristics described above and in which it is mentioned that the Work is recognized by the Picasso Committee with the reference number 85/4844.
-Certification of authenticity signed by Claude Picasso, dated June 20, 1985.
Exhibitions: As a complement to the exhibition "Lladró, 60 years at the forefront of porcelain" (September 2013) and as a result of the initiative "Miradas entre museos", promoted by Lladró, the firm's museum exhibits for the first time in Spain this work by Picasso.
Museums: Picasso Museum, Paris. Picasso Museum, Malaga. Reina Sofia Art Museum, Madrid. Philadelphia Museum of Art, among others.
Observations:
-It was auctioned at an international auction at the Pierre-Yves Gabus, S.A. Gallery, Geneva, in 1989. It is announced in the magazine Antiquaria, no 67, year VII, 1989, p. 95. / The last owner acquired the work in 1997 through the Gallery of Sebastián Jané.
Bibliography:
- DAIX, PIERRE (1985): "Report on the authenticity of a painting on paper representing a glass and a pipe, 26.3 /19.7 cm, signed Picasso lower right". Paris.
Inventory No. 4.1 CAA Alió Art Collection.
In very good state of conservation.
Measurements: 26,3 x 19,7 cm.

The work "Verre et pipe" (1918) of Pablo Picasso, realized with oil, gouache and pencil on paper, is inscribed with full coherence in a very singular moment of the trajectory of the genius from Malaga: the period immediately after the Analytical Cubism, during which Picasso experiences a visual synthesis between rigorous geometry, extreme schematization and a progressive return to the figuration. In this small-format composition, Picasso reduces the formal elements to a minimum to represent a glass and a pipe, two recurring motifs in his Cubist repertoire. He uses a severely simplified geometric language, but full of material and graphic resonances: the objects are condensed into flat volumes, described by precise, almost architectural black lines that delimit dense, opaque fields of color. The glass (verre) is insinuated as a polyhedral form superimposed on a background divided into two chromatic sections (ochre and black), while the pipe, recognizable by the circular shape of its burner, is outlined with the characteristic stroke that Picasso usually uses for this motif. This repertoire of formal signs corresponds closely to those that can be seen in works dating from the same year, such as "Pipe" (1918, now in The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NYC), "Paquet de tabac et pipe" (1918, Paul Rosenberg Family Collection, NY). Both also thematize the domestic object from a fragmented and analytical perspective.

As Pierre Daix specifies in the attached certificate of authenticity: "The theme is very similar to that of the sandblasted painting Z.III, 161 ["Pipe". Paris. 1918. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum] and to the vase of Z.III, 162 ["Femme dans un fauteuil". Paris. 1918. The Phillips Collection, Washington]. The pipe matches exactly the signs used by Picasso. The glass, although it has a round notch, does not present the closed circle that is a true sign of roundness."

The presence of gouache and pencil, along with oil, is evidence of Picasso's tendency to experiment with mixed techniques, which gives the support a tactile and heterogeneous quality. The spontaneity of the stroke does not act to the detriment of the geometric accuracy of the composition; on the contrary, it accentuates the Picasso paradox: expressive freedom within a rigorous structure.

In 1918, the year this work was created, Picasso was in a moment of stylistic transition. After the more cerebral phase of Cubism, shared with Georges Braque, he begins to gradually recover more legible forms, in what can be seen as a movement towards the so-called "return to order", which affected many European artists after World War I. Nevertheless, Picasso does not abandon the cubist vocabulary: he refines it, purifies it, reduces it to essential signs, as here, where the glass and the pipe are not objective representations, but symbols of a reality reconstructed from the mind.

The economy of means, the use of paper as support (more frequent in works of study or experimental work), and the intention of capturing the plastic essence of objects through minimal resources, make "Verre et pipe" a paradigmatic example of synthetic cubism, but with a less loaded aesthetic, lighter, almost playful, as an anticipation of his later incursion into more narrative scenes.

"Verre et pipe" is, in short, a work that manifests Picasso's ability to make the fragmentary coexist with the recognizable, figuration and abstraction. Despite its schematic appearance, it is executed with a technical security that denotes maturity. These types of pieces, apparently minor because of their format and materials, offer in reality a privileged key to understand the artist's internal processes, his capacity for synthesis and his incessant vocation to reinvent the codes of representation.

Pablo Picasso was one of the most influential artists of the 20th century and co-founder of Cubism along with Georges Braque. Born in Malaga, he was trained in Barcelona and from a young age showed great creative capacity. After his first stages Blue and Pink, in which he portrayed sadness and marginalization, he revolutionized art with cubism and experimented with techniques such as collage. Throughout his life he incorporated influences from classicism and surrealism, always guided by his innovative spirit. His work reflected both his personal life and historical events, especially the Spanish Civil War, which inspired his famous painting Guernica. He lived between Spain and France, and his works are present in the most important museums in the world.