New Acquisition: Picasso “Woman Holding a Flower”
You always remember your first art acquisition, and this Picasso drawing is an exceptional place to start for my California client. We looked hard and at quite a few works this year at auction, art fairs and with dealers in New York, Paris and London (where this work was acquired). But the looping line that carries throughout this composition and post-Cubist scale shift in the head and hands of the classically reclined figure made this the fantastic place to start we had been in search of.
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Woman Holding a Flower, 1971
Pencil on paper
6 ⅜ x 9 inches
Many of Picasso’s drawings were dedicated to friends whose significance is lost to history, but this one was addressed to his friend and dealer Gerald Cramer—the work’s first owner. Cramer was an important force in not only Picasso’s late career but those of Joan Miro and Henry Moore—a factor that adds an interesting historical touchpoint to this piece as well. The artist and his dealer are pictured together in this post at Picasso’s villa called La Californie, and so “Woman Holding a Flower” (1971) continues its journey in California and marks the beginning of something new.
