Pablo Picasso

(Spain, France 1881–1973)

Title

Nude in a rocking chair

Alternative title:

Femme nue à la chaise à bascule Mujer desnuda en una mecedora Nu à la chaise à bascule Femme nue au fauteuil à bascule

Year

1956

Media category

Painting

Materials used

oil on canvas

Dimensions

196.0 x 130.8cm stretcher; 213.0 x 147.5 x 8.0cm frame

Signature & date

Signed u.r., black oil "Picasso". Dated c. verso canvas, black oil "26.3./ 56.".

Credit

Purchased 1981

Accession number

66.1981

Copyright

Location

Modern gallery

Further information

By the time he painted this faceless female figure, Picasso was a towering legend of modern art. Yet to say she is faceless is not entirely accurate: across her torso, breasts, belly and pudenda the painter has inscribed the disconcerting semblance of his own features. Her nipples are the tell-tale black pupils of his eyes, her serrated vagina is his equally aggressive mouth. Having thus invaded her body, his own erupts in the manner of a physiological mutation. It is not an easy image, but it is wholly truthful to Picasso's deepest intuitions and experience. Anger belies the innocuousness of the subject matter. Fear underscores the anger. It is only very marginally a work of art about appearances. Instead, Picasso enacts a form of black magic, an exorcising ritual of bodily destruction and psychic derangement that plays fast and loose with reality - all within the conventions of the seated portrait. That he did this through the agency of his last great love, Jacqueline Rogue, setting her violated form in the serenity of his new villa at Cannes, is admirable and repulsive in equal measure. The gesticulating palm tree may well allude to Matisse, whose recent death reminded Picasso of the inescapability of mortality.

Art Gallery Handbook, 1999.

Provenance (5)

Private Collection, 1976-May 1981, London/England, Purchased by the AGNSW 1981. Collector wishes to remain anonymous.

Galerie Beyeler (Switzerland), Feb 1968-1976, Basel/Switzerland

Kronofogdemyndigheten (Sweden), Stockholm/Sweden

Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris (France, estab. 1941), Paris/France

Theodor Ahrenberg (Sweden), Stockholm/Sweden

Bibliography (23)

'Foreward' pg.11-12; 'Introduction' pg.15-22; 'Picasso's anachronism' pg.43-55, Picasso: The Last Decades 2002, 2002, 11-12, 18, 48, 53, 93 (colour illus.). cat.no. 16

'Picasso at La Californie' by Terence Maloon, pg.24-27, Look Oct 2002, Oct 2002, 25-27, 26 (colour illus.).

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (Spain), Picasso: las grandes series, Madrid, 2001, 57, 233 (colour illus.), 374 (illus.), 545. cat.no. 19

Maria Teresa Ocaña (Spain) (Director), Picasso. Indoor and outdoor landscapes, Spain, 1999, cover (colour illus.), 141 (colour illus.), 273 (illus.), 11, 17. cat.no. 115

Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, cover (colour illus.), 65 (colour illus.).

Yve-Alain Bois (Author), Matisse and Picasso, New York, 1998, 236, 237 (colour illus.). plate no. 229

Ewen McDonald (Australia) (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales collections, Sydney, 1994, 169 (colour illus.).

Musée National d' Art Moderne, Paris (France), Le dernier Picasso 1953-1973, Paris, 1988, 161 (colour illus.). cat.no. 8

Tate Britain (England), Late Picasso: Paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints 1953-1972, Millbank, 1988, 158 (colour illus.). cat.no. 6

Annabel Davie (Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales Handbook, Domain, 1988, 53, 54 (colour illus.), 55.

Patrick McCaughey (Northern Ireland; Australia, b.1943) (Editor), Judith Ryan (Australia, b.1941) (Editor), Picasso, Melbourne, 1984, 168 (colour illus.). cat.no. 158

Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Editor), Jan Meek (Australia) (Editor), Portrait of a Gallery, Sydney, 1984, 92 (colour illus.), 93.

'European Acquisitions: 1972-83' by Renee Free pg. 63-67, Art and Australia (Vol. 22, No. 1) Spring 1984, Spring 1984, 67.

'Pablo Picasso 1891-1973: Nude in a rocking chair. 1956' by Renee Free, pg. 13-16, Art Gallery of New South Wales Collection Series 4 Winter 1983, Winter 1983, 13 (illus.), 14.

Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874) (Author), Three years on: a selection of acquisitions 1978-1981, Sydney, 1981, cover (colour illus.), 32 (colour illus.). cat.no. 3

Fundación Juan March (Spain) (Author), Picasso, Madrid, 1977, (colour illus.). cat.no. 24, titled 'Mujer desnuda en una mecedora'

Museu Picasso (Spain) (Author), Exposicio Picasso, 1977. cat.no. 28

Christian Zervos (France) (Author), Picasso Oeuvres de 1956 a 1957, Paris, Unknown. cat.no. 55

Kunstmuseum Basel (Switzerland) (Author), Picasso: aus dem Museum of Modern Art New York und Schweizer Sammlungen, Basel, 1976, 158, 159 (illus.). cat.no. 80

William Rubin (United States of America) (Author), Picasso in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1972, 180, 245 (illus.). cat.no. 172

Klaus Gallwitz (Author), Picasso at 90: the late work, London, 1971, 84 (colour illus.). cat.no. 113

Galerie Beyeler (Switzerland), Ausstellung "Summertime", Unknown, 1970. cat.no. 52, titled 'Femme nue au fauteuil à bascule'

Galerie Beyeler (Switzerland) (Author), Ausstellung "Artistes espagnols", 1969. cat.no. 44

Exhibition history (17)

Ausstellung "Artistes espagnols", Galerie Beyeler, May 1969–Jun 1969.

Ausstellung "Summertime", Galerie Beyeler, Jul 1970–Sep 1970.

Picasso, Braque, Leger: Masterpieces from Swiss Collections, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 30 Oct 1975–04 Jan 1976.

Picasso, Braque, Leger: Masterpieces from Swiss Collections, The Sarah Campbell Blafter Gallery, Houston, 17 Jan 1976–07 Mar 1976.

Picasso, Braque, Leger: Masterpieces from Swiss Collections, San Francisco Museum of Art, 19 Mar 1976–04 May 1976.

Picasso: aus dem Museum of Modern Art New York und Schweizer Sammlungen, Kunstmuseum Basel, 15 Jun 1976–12 Sep 1976.

Picasso, Fundación Juan March, Sep 1977–Nov 1977.

Exposicio Picasso, Museu Picasso, 05 Dec 1977–10 Jan 1978.

Three years on: Acquisitions 1978-81, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 15 Oct 1981–01 Dec 1981.

Picasso, National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], 28 Jul 1984–23 Sep 1984.

Picasso, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 10 Oct 1984–02 Dec 1984.

Le dernier Picasso 1953-1973, Musée National d' Art Moderne, Paris, 15 Feb 1988–16 May 1988.

Late Picasso: Paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints 1953-1972, Tate Britain, 23 Jun 1988–18 Sep 1988.

Matisse and Picasso: A Gentle Rivalry, Kimbell Art Museum, 02 Feb 1999–05 May 1999.

Picasso. Indoor and outdoor landscapes, Museu Picasso, 26 Oct 1999–30 Jan 2000.

Picasso: las grandes series, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, 26 Mar 2001–18 Jun 2001.

Picasso: The Last Decades, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 09 Nov 2002–16 Feb 2003.