Modern and Contemporary Art Glass of Absinthe Made in France, Europe1914 Pablo Ruiz y Picasso, Spanish, 1881 - 1973 Painted bronze with silver-plated spoon * Gallery 167, Modern and Contemporary Art, first floor 1952-61-114 A. E. Gallatin Collection, 1952 |
LabelGlass of Absinthe is the only freestanding sculpture that Picasso executed between 1910 and 1926. The artist made six hand-painted bronze casts after a wax model and incorporated a silver spoon and a bronze sugar cube into each version. Absinthe, a green-colored liquor made from distilled wormwood, was thought to lead to madness and even death, but this potentially lethal drink was nonetheless extremely popular in Parisian cafés in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Due to its bitter taste, the liquid was traditionally poured into a glass of water over a sugar cube resting on a straining spoon.ProvenanceWith Galerie Kahnweiler, Paris; French government, sequestered Kahnweiler stock, 1914-21; 1st Kahnweiler sequestration sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, June 13-14, 1921, lot 139 (5 bronze casts sold as one lot) [1]; with Galerie Simon, Paris; sold to A. E. Gallatin, New York, 1935 [2]; bequest to PMA, 1952. 1. According to Daix and Rosselet, Picasso: The Cubist Years, 1907-1916, Boston, 1979, no. 757, p. 332. 2. Letter of Maurice Jardot, Galerie Louise Leiris, September 18, 1987 (stock no. 12131, photo numbers 390, 391), cited by Gail Stavitsky, The Development, Institutionalization, and Impact of the A. E. Gallatin Collection of Modern Art [Ph. D. dissertation, New York University], 1990, v. 9, p. 232.* Works in the collection are moved off view for many different reasons. Although gallery locations on the website are updated regularly, there is no guarantee that this object will be on display on the day of your visit. |
