Francis Picabia Catalogue Raisonné, volume III, 1927-1939 (book)

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Francis Picabia – Catalogue Raisonné, Volume III (1927–1939)
Bilingual English/French edition
Authors: William Camfield, Candace Clements, Arnauld Pierre, Beverley Calté
Publisher: Mercatorfonds
Year: 2019
424 pages – Weight: 3.32 kg / 7.32lbs

The third volume of a major four-volume catalogue raisonné on the French avant-garde artist Francis Picabia, this book presents selected paintings and drawings from 1927 to 1939, with particular emphasis on his iconic “Transparencies”.

In 1927, Picabia moved away from the innovative collage-paintings and flamboyant figurative compositions known as “monsters” that had dominated his mid-1920s output. He embarked on new artistic explorations, the most significant being his investigation of transparency in multiple forms.

He first added new elements to existing works, then developed complex layered compositions he called “Transparencies” — superimposing figures, animals, plants, and other sharply contoured motifs to create dreamlike, poetic images.

During this period, his output also included:
– large figurative compositions with firm forms and solid colors,
– topographical landscapes with thick impasto,
– curvilinear abstractions,
– and, toward the end of the period, figurative paintings inspired by photographs, which already foreshadowed his famous nudes of the 1940s.

An essential reference for collectors, researchers, and lovers of modern art and Surrealism.

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