The Edward Quinn Archive

Restaurant Chez Félix. Pablo Picasso confirms the date (1906) and signs the drawing "La coiffure (Fernande) (Étude)". Cannes 1958. The present work has a fascinating provenance. In 1936, it was received by Barbara Bagenal as a gift from her admirer, Saxon Sydney-Turner, who had purchased it from the legendary Zwemmer Gallery in London. Barbara, an artist herself and wife of Nicholas Bagenal, moved in Bloomsbury circles with Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell. Pablo Picasso had originally left the drawing unsigned but, as a 1958 note from Clive Bell attached to the backboard explains: "On February 1958. I took Mrs Bagenal to lunch with Pablo Picasso (in Cannes). Madame Roque, Pablo Picasso, Mr Duncan and his wife made up the party. I spoke of the drawing. (.) On seeing it Pablo Picasso exclaimed "Dieu que c'est beau". He confirmed the date (1905) and signed the drawing with his 1958 signature. 'That will be a puzzle for art-historians some day', said he. 'To save art-historians trouble I have written this note'" (cf. Sotheby's London, #443, L04010, 22.6.2004). - Photo by Edward Quinn

Restaurant Chez Félix. Pablo Picasso confirms the date (1906) and signs the drawing "La coiffure (Fernande) (Étude)". Cannes 1958. The present work has a fascinating provenance. In 1936, it was received by Barbara Bagenal as a gift from her admirer, Saxon Sydney-Turner, who had purchased it from the legendary Zwemmer Gallery in London. Barbara, an artist herself and wife of Nicholas Bagenal, moved in Bloomsbury circles with Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell. Pablo Picasso had originally left the drawing unsigned but, as a 1958 note from Clive Bell attached to the backboard explains: "On February 1958. I took Mrs Bagenal to lunch with Pablo Picasso (in Cannes). Madame Roque, Pablo Picasso, Mr Duncan and his wife made up the party. I spoke of the drawing. (.) On seeing it Pablo Picasso exclaimed "Dieu que c'est beau". He confirmed the date (1905) and signed the drawing with his 1958 signature. 'That will be a puzzle for art-historians some day', said he. 'To save art-historians trouble I have written this note'" (cf. Sotheby's London, #443, L04010, 22.6.2004).

At the restaurant Chez Félix in Cannes in 1958, Pablo Picasso adds his signature to his 1906 drawing, "La coiffure (Fernande) (Étude)". The work, a stylized sketch of a nude in a curled pose, had been brought to him by its owner, Barbara Bagenal, and the critic Clive Bell. Having originally left it unsigned, Picasso added his contemporary signature, playfully noting that the discrepancy in dates would one day be a puzzle for art historians. The matted drawing is seen here resting on a wooden ledge next to a small light switch.

Artworks:

  • "La coiffure (Fernande) (Étude)", 1906. Sotheby's London, 22.6.2004

    • Abbreviations: see Bibliography

Keywords:

Rolleiflex

Filename:

pic580051.jpg

Photo Edward Quinn, © edwardquinn.com / © Succession Picasso / 2020, ProLitteris, Zurich
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