Collection
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Title
The frugal repast
1904
Artist
Pablo Picasso
Spain, France
25 Oct 1881 - 08 Apr 1973
About
The sentimentality in certain of Picasso's images from his Rose and Blue periods at the beginning of the twentieth century is unmistakable. It is also strategic. The Spanish painter had a native interest in emotive themes, especially those arising from the bohemia in which he was steeped in both Barcelona and Paris. 'The frugal repast' makes a powerful psychological appeal to the viewer. A thin-lipped woman of brittle demeanour and physique rests her head on a rigid hand as if it were a shelf. Her blind companion palpates her with fleshless fingers. The setting before them is as sparse as a desert landscape. For all this desolation, however, Picasso's self-consciously mannerist style makes it plain that this is not a slice of life but a work of art - a contrived one at that. Old Masters such as El Greco and Rosso Fiorentino were his models as much as the living ones Picasso doubtless observed.
Art Gallery Handbook, 1999.
Details
Other Title
The frugal meal
Alternative title
Le repas frugal
Date
1904
Materials used
etching
Edition
ii of 2 states. From an edition of 250 on van Gelder paper
Dimensions
46.3 x 37.7 cm platemark; 64.4 x 50.6 cm sheet
Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
Credit
Winifred Vere Hole Bequest Fund 1994
Location
Not on display
Accession number
223.1994
Copyright
© Pablo Picasso/ Succession Pablo Picasso. Licensed by Copyright Agency
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Pablo Picasso
The frugal repast
Shown in 4 exhibitions
Exhibition history
Modernism 1900-1950: prints and drawings from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 23 Jul 1994–25 Sep 1994
Les Peintres Graveurs de Paris, Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Woollahra, 16 Aug 1994–10 Sep 1994
Great collections (2009):
- Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown 12 Dec 2008–18 Jan 2009
- Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre, Murwillumbah 06 Feb 2009–15 Mar 2009
Matisse and the moderns, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 25 Apr 2015–25 Oct 2015
Referenced in 11 publications
Bibliography
Brigitte Baer, Picasso the printmaker: Graphics from the Marina Picasso Collection, 'Le Repas fugal and the Saltimbanques', pp 30–34, Unknown, 1983, pp 30–33.
Stephen Coppel, Picasso and Printmaking in Paris, 'Early Picasso and Matisse', London, 1998, pp 9–10.
Ebria Feinblatt, Picasso: 60 years of graphic works, Unknown, Sep 1966, p 18.
Renée Free, Modernism 1900-1950: prints and drawings from the collection, Sydney, 1994, np, illus cover.
Renée Free, Look, 'Paris Blue', p 19, Heidelberg, Sep 1994, p 19, illus pp 3 (detail),19. The image appearing on page 3 is in detail.
Renée Free, AGNSW Collections, 'The Western Heritage, Renaissance to Twentieth Century', pp 108–72., Sydney, 1994, p 144, illus p 144.
Bernhard Geiser and Brigitte Baer, Picasso peintre-graveur. Tome I. Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre gravé et lithographié et des monotypes 1899-1931, 1990, pp 18–20, no 2, illus p 20.
Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Western Collection: Works on Paper', pg. 78-92, Sydney, 1999, p 86, illus p 86.
Marilyn McCully (Editor), Picasso: The early years, 1892-1906, '1904-1905 ', Milan, 1997, p 229.
John McPhee, Great collections, Sydney, 2008, p 97, col illus p 97.
Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Les peintres graveurs de Paris, Woollahra, 1994, illus np. no 19