Signed and dated '1.9.71.II' top left; dated again '1.9.71 II' verso, pencil on card

Provenance

Louise Leiris Galerie, Paris, France.
Herman C. Goldsmith, New York, New York.
An Important Private New York Collection.

Literature

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, Vol. 33, oeuvres de 1971-1972, Paris: Éditions Cahiers d'Art, 1978, no. 163 (illustrated).

The Picasso Project, ed., Picasso's Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings and Sculpture. The Final Years. 1970-1973, San Francisco: 2004, no. 71-269, p. 227 (illustrated).

Note

Revisiting the theme of the flute player again and again throughout his long career, Pablo Picasso painted a large-scale, subtly colored, Homme à la Flûte et Enfant at the end of the summer of 1971, a whimsical portrait of father and child often called Paternité. He sketched two pencil drawings on cardboard around this same time, at the end of August or beginning of September, as the artist prepared for, and perhaps reflected on, the larger composition. The second of these drawings is on offer here.

Two years before his death in 1973, Picasso seemed to ruminate in these works on his roles as father and grandfather, or perhaps as “grandfather” in the broader sense, in terms of his impact on younger generations of artists. The older figure of the pair entertains and instructs the delighted young child who smiles out at the viewer in a knowing way. The drawing highlights the cubist elements of the late canvas, as Picasso divides up the figures’ faces and intertwines the two figures’ bodies playfully. The drawing Homme à la Flûte et Enfant provides an important opportunity to investigate Picasso’s process and reflect on his artistic legacy.