Études de personnages

A dynamic and novel arrangement, Études de personnages offers rare insight into the working methods of Pablo Picasso. Featuring twenty-one figures in various poses and degrees of modelling, the composition provides an extraordinary glimpse into the artist’s treatment and exploration of a theme. The inclusion of multiple distinct figures makes the work appear preparatory in nature, but that Picasso signed Études de personnages suggests that he considered it to be complete. Executed circa 1904-1905, the exceptional Études de personnages captures a transformational moment for the bourgeoning artist, as he moved away from the melancholia of the Blue period towards effervescent Rose period imagery.
In part, Études de personnages is so intriguing because it shows how Picasso approached figuration. Picasso drew the same characters in different positions both in this work and across others, and several depicted here can be seen in contemporaneous canvases, showing how he reimagined his models in various settings. The muscular man with the defiant stance is reincarnated in the 1906 painting Le Harem (Zervos, vol. 1, no. 321; Cleveland Museum of Art) whereas the various bowing figures recall the woman in Les Noces de Pierrette (Zervos vol. 1, no. 212; private collection). Similarly, with their rounded, sloping shoulders, the women outlined in the present work feature in several compositions including Les Trois Hollandaises (Zervos, vol. 1, no. 261; Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris). Whether Études de personnages was created in a single sitting or over a protracted period of time remains unknown, but Picasso did often return to his drawings as a means to provoke new ideas and considerations.
During his Rose period, Picasso embraced cheerier subjects and a much lighter palette than found within his Blue period works. He cast his eye towards the circus performers, harlequins, and saltimbanques, or acrobats, performing across Paris, claiming that his interest in this subject arose following an afternoon stroll across the Esplanade des Invalides where he saw a troupe of acrobats staging an act. The seeds of such images can be found in Études de personnages, particularly in the striking figure of the athletic male, who Picasso might have sketched when observing backstage at the Cirque Medrano. Picasso created several prints, watercolours, and paintings on the theme of the circus, and Études de personnages speaks to a mind engaged by new challenges.
Études de personnages has a distinguished provenance. The work was formerly in the collection of Robert von Hirsch, the leading businessman and patron of the arts. Von Hirsch initially collected French and German first editions but pivoted to fine art, assembling an unparalleled collection of Medieval and Renaissance works of art. The Second World War forced him to relocate from Germany to Switzerland, and with his wife, Martha, née Dryfus-Koch, he shifted his focus towards Modernism, acquiring artworks by Paul Cezanne, Henri Matisse, and Amadeo Modigliani, in addition to those of Pablo Picasso. Études de personnages was subsequently acquired by the British Rail Pension Fund. Between 1974 and 1981, the fund grew an impressive collection of paintings, prints, and drawings by artists such as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Works previously owned by the British Rail Pension Fund are now held in institutions including The British Museum, London, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Études de personnages is a significant and rare work from Picasso’s early years.