Sunday, November 24, 2019

Picasso Women of Algiers Version F goes off script

In this delirious version, Picasso shifts effortlessly from lyrical to dramatic, and back.  He has replaced the center dark depth with a source of light. The servant figure, hoisting aloft an apple shaped teapot, writhes like a snake gathering the curtains and reveals a distant staircase leading to unknown territory and triggering the White Male's imagination of idyllic pleasures. In this work Picasso plays with costume, repetition and pattern.  The harem has become a Garden of Eden, given the symbolism of Eve’s fig leaf. Light falls on her breasts and the bottom of her sleeping companion’s feet. The work is sensuous and the scene is as fragrant as a brothel. Ganz sold this version in 1955 to a private collector. Where it is seems to be anyone’s guess. 
#privatecollectors #picassoseries #arthistory #interpretation #gardenofeden #brothel 
Version F translated by Tilly Strauss

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