¤ PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973) TÊTE DE JEUNE HOMME... Lot 14

¤ PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973) TÊTE DE JEUNE HOMME BARBU, 1967 Ink and white wax pencil on colored paper Signed, dedicated 'Pour Jean Ramié' and dated '18.9.67' lower right Ink and white wax pencil on colored paper; signed, dedicated 'Pour Jean Ramié' and dated '18.9.67' lower right 54,2 X 37 CM - 21 3/8 X 14 5/8 IN. A certificate from Mr Claude Picasso, dated 10 novembre 2020, will be given to the purchaser. Throughout his life, Pablo Picasso never stopped drawing and in his graphic work, the description of the human figure, alone or accompanied, occupies a prominent place. This large sheet, dated 18 September 1967 and numbered "II", shows a young bearded man in close-up, with the frame stopping just above his shoulders. Slightly turned to the right, he has a black ink wash on the background that merges with the left side of his face, which is left in shadow. Using a white grease pencil, applied with great spontaneity, Picasso details, without the deformations he is so fond of, the physical characteristics of his model: a slightly rounded forehead, two large expressive eyes, a straight nose, a lippuous mouth and a full beard collar. The light three-quarter pose and the dark background both echo Flemish and Dutch painting as well as the Spanish Golden Age painting that Picasso scrutinized extensively in his artistic maturity. But the great gentleness and psychological truth that emanate from this man's head, which has the plastic force of a painting, are perhaps even more reminiscent of the Baldassare Castiglione in the Louvre Museum, in which Raphael portrays, around 1514-1515, the most perfect incarnation of the gentiluòmo of the Italian Renaissance: the courtly man of the Book of the Courtesan, with rich but discreetly expressed feelings. An ideal to which Picasso certainly aspired. Pablo Picasso practiced drawing throughout his entire life, and the human figure, alone or with others, plays a central role in his graphic work. This large sheet dated September 18, 1967, and numbered "II," depicts a young, bearded man from an extremely close angle; the frame stops just above his shoulders. Facing slightly to the right, he is set against a background of black ink wash that blends with the left side of his face, in shadow. Using a white, soft-lead pencil applied spontaneously and with none of the deformations he was so fond of, Picasso adds physical characteristics to his model: a slightly rounded forehead, two large expressive eyes, a straight nose, a thick-lipped mouth, and a bushy beard. The three-quarter view and dark background both call to mind Flemish and Dutch painting, as well as seventeenth-century Spanish painting, which Picasso examined extensively in his artistic maturity. But the great gentleness and psychological candor that emanates from this figure of a man's head, which has the plastic intensity of a painting, is perhaps even more evocative of Raphael's Baldassare Castiglione (1514-1515) at the Louvre Museum, in which the artist portrays the most perfect embodiment of the gentiluòmo (gentleman) of the Italian Renaissance: the courtier described in Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier, who expressed his rich sentimental life with discretion-an ideal that Picasso surely aspired to.