Composition

Prints and Drawings

1934

Pablo Picasso
Spanish, 1881–1973

Picasso gave this drawing to one of his lovers, Dora Maar, an artist and photographer who was Picasso’s principal connection to the Surrealist group. With its unrefined shapes and lines, this drawing calls upon the Surrealist method of automatic drawing as well as children’s art, which Picasso was studying at this time. The subject is a fantastic ship facing out toward an endless horizon. Two stick figures, one on the land and one at the helm, raise their hands as the ship sets sail.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Pablo Picasso
Title: Composition
Place: Spain (Artist's nationality)
Date: Made 1934
Medium: Graphite on cream laid paper
Inscriptions: Inscribed verso, upper left, in graphite: "Paris/ Mai XXXIV"
Dimensions: 19.3 × 28.6 cm (7 5/8 × 11 5/16 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection
Reference Number: 2013.1000
Copyright: © 2018 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso VIII (Paris, 1957), p. 80, cat. 188 (ill.).
The Picasso Project, Picasso’s Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings, and Sculpture: A Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue 1885–1973, Surrealism 1930–1936 (San Francisco, 1997), p. 225, cat. 34-075 (ill.).
Suzanne Folds McCullagh (ed.), Drawings in Dialogue: Old Master Through Modern, The Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection, exh. cat. (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 2006), pp. 196–197, cat. 146 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, “Drawings in Dialogue: Old Master Through Modern, The Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection,” June 3–July 30, 2006, pp. 196–97, cat. 146 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, “The Thrill of the Chase: Drawings for the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection,” Mar. 15-June 15, 2014, no cat.

The artist to Dora Maar (1907–1997) [her estate stamp (DM / 1998 [encircled]; not in Lugt) recto, lower right, in black]; sold, Maison de la Chimie, Paris, Oct. 27–28, 1998, lot 78, as “Le Vaisseau (Composition),” to Dorothy Braude Edinburg, Brookline, MA; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2013.

Zervos 188

Picasso Project 34-075

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