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Picabia
Francis Picabia 1879-1953
Francis Picabia - Self portrait (1903)
(paintings from various periods - source: YouTube)
Dadart and the Centre du XXe Siècle are selling a photocopied reprint (with Picabia's permission) of his famous dada periodical, 391, with its critical apparatus, in two volumes, for 40 euros + postage.
391 n° 6 - Américaine
Recent Books on Picabia
The Art Newspaper (PDF) has a short article on the resurgence of interest in artist Francis Picabia (1887–-1953). Several galleries, the article notes, are showing Picabia's work at Art Basel Miami Beach. While the gallerists themselves suggest, "It kind of just happened," and "I think when you have changes in the market, people re-evaluate why they were buying things in the first place," I'd posit a different reason for the new-found interest: MIT Press' publication of two Picabia books last fall.
The books -- one a critical study and the other a volume of the artist's writings -- were both critically acclaimed, showing up on a number of "Best Of 2007" lists, and both were popular sellers. There's no doubt in my mind that the resurgence started with the books' publication and is just now filtering through to the market. Too often, book publication is overlooked (sometimes intentionally so) as a driver of the art market and of popular interest in particular artists and art movements. It's made even more interesting, I think, when that publication originates at a scholarly press. The divide between art scholarship and the art market is usually illustrated as much wider than it actually is and I have seen little frank conversation about this fact in the art media.
I Am a Beautiful Monster: Poetry, Prose, and Provocation, Francis Picabia, Marc Lowenthal trans. (2007, MIT Press, $39.95, 9780262162432)
The Artwork Caught by the Tail: Francis Picabia and Dada in Paris, George Baker (2007, MIT Press, $39.95, 9780262026185)
Hol Art Books
Francis Picabia at the wheel of one of his many automobiles.
Francis Picabia - Villica-Caja in 1929
 
In October 1964, the Editions du Temps published the first comprehensive monograph on Francis Picabia, now out of print. On December 4th of that year, friends and relatives of Francis gathered around the author, Michel Sanouillet, at the Galerie Carré, to sign the first copy. Among them were: René Clair, Max Ernst, Gabrielle Buffet-Picaba, Olga Picabia, Jeannine Bailly-Cowell Picabia, Jean et Marguerite Arp, Simone Breton-Collinet, Robert Valançay, Rodrigo de Zayas, Maurice Henry, Frédéric Deloffre, Camille Bryen, André Dunoyer de Segonzac, Jean-Jacques Lebel.
Paintings and drawings from the Dada period
Catch as Catch Can (1913)
Parade
L'Enfant carburateur
Tournez rare (1919)
Sold by:
Sotheby's on December 9, 2009 for 504.750 Euros (750.111 US$)
Having belonged to: Marcel Duchamp, Paris (Hôtel Drouot, Tableaux, aquarelles
et dessins par Francis Picabia appartenant à M. Duchamp, March 8, 1926)
André Breton, Paris
Simone Collinet, Paris (Galerie Furstenberg)
Matta, Paris (bought from Mme Collinet in the late 1950's)
Ici, c'est ici Stieglitz foi et amour
Réveil matin
Very Rare Picture on Earth
Voilà ELLE - (Mecanomorphic portrait)
Petite Udnie (1913)
Udnie (1913)
L'Oeil cacodylate
La Feuille de vigne (1922)
Picabia painted The Fig-Leaf using glossy household paint over another work entitled Hot Eyes. The original painting, which was based on a technical drawing of a turbine brake, caused a scandal when submitted for an important Paris exhibition in 1921. The figure in the new image is derived from Oedipus and the Sphinx (1808), a neo-classical painting by Ingres, with Picabia's addition of a fig-leaf (the French say 'vine leaf') as a reference to censorship. The inscription DESSIN FRANÇAIS ('French drawing') sarcastically mocked the contemporary revival of interest in traditional art skills.
Femme aux allumettes (1920)
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