Monster, Francis Picabia
BUY WITH CONFIDENCE
Couldn't load pickup availability
Monstre (Monster), is one of a series of abstract and semi-abstract paintings that Francis Picabia made in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. Greatly underappreciated during his lifetime and only recently becoming recognised for their significance and quality, this late body of work was created as a somewhat sardonic conjunction to the post-war boom in abstract art that took place in the late 1940s in both Europe and the United States.
With its clearly discernible mask-like face, Monstre is a work that is clearly not, in fact, abstract at all. But this is the case with almost all of Picabia’s so called ‘abstractions’ from this period. Almost all of these works derived in some part from figurative sources that were translated by Picabia into some degree of abstraction. In the case of Monstre, Picabia has taken one of his most frequent motifs of the late 1930s and 40s – the mask – and extended the rhythm of some of its forms into a playful pictorial abstraction (perhaps with sexual overtones) that in the end creates a painting that is neither figurative nor abstract, but hovers in some netherworld between the two. Original, playful and distinctly post-modernist in this respect, Picabia’s irreverent pictorial approach won him few friends in the immediate post-war era but can today be seen to anticipate the later approaches to painting of artists such as Sigmar Polke, Martin Kippenberger, Albert Oehlen and even to some extent Warhol himself.
In his mask paintings of the late 1930s, Picabia had explored the possibilities, first determined in his Transparencies of the late 1920s and 30s, of multiple-layered imagery. In these mask pictures Picabia had merged the often strongly graphic image of a mask with that of a more naturalistic representation of the human face in order to create a new, ambiguous, but also startling, pictorial reality. Something of this same logic was subsequently applied to the abstractions he began to make after the end of the war.
These works, which once again glorified the same vitalist philosophy of living passionately without restriction and in accordance with principles advocated by Friedrich Nietzsche, that Picabia had celebrated in his youth, often carried titles based on aphorisms and essays found in Nietzsche’s book Die frohliche Wissenschaft (The Gay Science). Full of the joy of invention, but irreverent in their playfulness, canvases like Monstre annoyed critics of the period because they appeared to mock abstraction and not to take it seriously at a time when it was being championed, in both Paris and New York, as the great new hope for art in a post-apocalyptic era. After an exhibition of Picabia’s new work, held at the Galerie des Deux Îles in Paris in 1948, Michel Seuphor observed that ‘There is perhaps no painter more contested today than Picabia’ (Seuphor quoted in Carole Boulbès, ‘Painting, Poetry and Impudent Correspondence’, in Francis Picabia: Our Heads Are Round So Our Thoughts Can Change Direction, exh. cat, Kunsthaus, Zurich, 2016, p. 244).
Part abstraction, part frightening visage, Picabia’s Monstre is an anomaly. It is a work that fits no category known to the period in which it was made, but in spite of this, is an image that powerfully asserts its own pictorial reality, its own vitality and apparent right to exist. That it is a painting that was owned by Andy Warhol is also appropriate in this respect, for Warhol, in the 1970s, would himself, attempt to enter this ambiguous pictorial realm between abstraction and figuration. In his paintings of shadows, Rorschach stains, Camouflage and Oxidation pictures for example, Warhol also both mocked and paid homage to the great abstract painters of the 1940s and 50s.
Francis Picabia (22 January 1879 – 30 November 1953) was a French avant-garde painter, poet and typographist. After experimenting with Impressionism and Pointillism, Picabia became associated with Cubism. His highly abstract planar compositions were colourful and rich in contrasts. He was one of the early major figures of the Dada movement in the United States and in France. He was later briefly associated with Surrealism, but would soon turn his back on the art establishment.
All prints are made using archival art stocks and UV pigment inks to give up to 200 years life. Prints are sold unframed and unmounted.
All orders for unframed fine art prints and original paintings are dispatched within 2 working days of receipt of payment.
Orders for custom framed prints are dispatched within 4 working days.
All orders are fully tracked from dispatch to delivery at your home or business.
All print and original painting orders are fully insured against loss or damage in transit. We refund or replace any damaged or lost orders.
Buy with confidence - read what our satisfied customers have to say - Reviews
Fine art papers are printed without any additional white border Please let us know at the time of ordering if you would like a small additional white border.
Rolled canvas options have an additional white border of approximately 2.5 inches (7cm) on all 4 sides to aid stretching.
Ready to hang canvas panels are stretched on 1.5 inch deep solid pine frames from sustainable forestry sources. The image is mirrored on all 4 sides to give an aesthetically pleasing finish.
Why not have us gift wrap your order and attach a personalised message to the recipient. Available for all orders. Each order is hand wrapped in high quality gift wrap with meatllic ribbon and bow. Your personalised message is printed on a card which is included with your order.
Have your hand wrapped gift delivered directly to the recipient.
Full tracking and insurance included with every order.
Please note design may vary depending upon availability
Just purchase the gift wrap option HERE
We have a wide range of frames in standard sizes and we also make custom size frames.
To order a framed print:
1. select the print size you would like along with the print materials (matte paper, fine art paper).
2. Add your print choice to the basket.
3. Choose from our range of frames
4. Select the same size as the print you have added to your basket. If the frame size you want is not listed please contact us
5. Choose from the mount or no-mount option
6. Add your frame choice to the basket
7. Proceed to checkout.
Why Choose GalleryThane?
- Printed and framed in-house
- Free UK delivery
- Fast international delivery
- Tracking and insurance included in every order
- Fast 1-3 day dispatch
- Gift wrapping service available
- Gallery quality materials
- Sustainable, eco-friendly packaging
- Great customer support
What makes our Prints and Canvas Panels so special
![latest wide format pigment ink printers](http://gallerythane.com/cdn/shop/files/z9_printer1.jpg?v=1700132666&width=2000)
Latest Giclee Printing Technology
We have invested in the latest wide format print technology to produce museum quality giclee prints utilising the highest quality pigment inks to give outstanding colour reproduction.
![museum quality fine art papers](http://gallerythane.com/cdn/shop/files/csm_William_Turner_2000x1000_997370b4-fb1c-405a-a578-206571363d40.jpg?v=1700132753&width=2000)
Museum Quality Archival Fine Art Papers
We print on the finest quality fine art papers with textured, smooth and lustre finishes for prints which last a lifetime.
From aceo miniatures to 40x80 inch large format, every print has our lifetime quality guaranteee.
![cotton canvas stretched over solid wood frame](http://gallerythane.com/cdn/shop/files/canvas_corner_wooden_subframe2000x1000.jpg?v=1700132805&width=2000)
Solid Wood Frames, Cotton Canvas
All of the wood for our canvas panels and frames is responsibly sourced from manages forests. Our cotton canvas is completely seedless for the highest quality reproduction possible.