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Pablo Picasso
Spanish, worked in France, 1881–1973
Jester, 1905
Bronze
16 1/2 x 14 3/4 x 7 3/4 in. (41.9 x 37.5 x 19.7 cm)
Signed, center rear: "Picasso"
Kate L. Brewster Collection, 1964.193
Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories
Exhibition History
Chicago, Art Institute, Cézanne’s Harlequin, Feb. 26–May 30, 2011, no cat. no. (ill.).
Chicago, Art Institute, Picasso and Chicago, Feb. 20–May 12, 2013, cat. 20 (ill.), as Jester, spring 1905.
Publication History
Possibly Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, vol. 1, Œuvres de 1895 a 1906 (Cahiers d’Art, 1932), pl. 148, no. 322 (ill.); n.pag., no. 322, as Tête de “fou,” Paris, 1905.
Possibly Werner Spies, Pablo Picasso: Das plastiche Werk (Gerd Hatje, 1971), pp. 17–18; 34–35, pl. 4; 104; 265, n. 18; 301, cat. 4; 318, as Le Fou · Der Narr, Paris, 1905.
Possibly Josep Palau i Fabre, Picasso vivent (1881–1907) (Ediciones Polígrafa, 1980), pp. 407, fig. 1061; 545, cat. 1061, as Cap de bufó, Paris, 1905.
Christie’s, New York, Impressionist and Modern Paintings and Sculpture, Part I, sale cat. (Christie’s, May 15, 1990), p. 110, as Tête de fou.
Art Institute of Chicago, “Selected Artists: Pablo Picasso’s Jester,” Cézanne’s Harlequin, 2011, ../Picasso-Jester (accessed Feb. 2013), no cat. no. (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, “Selected Works,” Cézanne’s Harlequin, 2011, ../artwork (accessed Feb. 2013), no cat. no. (ill.).
Enrique Mallen, ed., The On-Line Picasso Project, Sam Houston State University, n.d., https://picasso.shsu.edu/index.php?view=ArtworkInfo&OPPID=OPP.05:223 (accessed Feb. 2013), cat. 05:223 (ill.), as Le fou [Tête d’arlequin], Paris, [Spring]/1905.
Stephanie D’Alessandro, Picasso and Chicago: 100 Years, 100 Works (Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2013), pp. 24; 29; 36, pl. 7; 103, cat. 20, as Jester, spring 1905.
Ownership History
Probably Ambroise Vollard, Paris, about 1905 [letter dated Apr. 30, 1964 from Douglas Cooper to Sally Fairweather. Cooper found the sculpture to be consistent with other Vollard casts in size and detail. He also showed it to Picasso, who compared it to the cast in his possession and agreed that it was one of Vollard’s original casts. However, because Vollard did not have his casts stamped or numbered, its origin cannot be proven with certainty. Copy in curatorial object file]. Galerie Charpentier, Paris, by Dec. 1959 [notes from a phone conversation between Courtney Donnell and Melissa Mederos of Knoedler Gallery library, Sept. 3, 1986, copy in curatorial object file]; sold to M. Knoedler and Company, New York, Dec. 1959 [notes from a phone conversation between Courtney Donnell and Melissa Mederos of Knoedler Gallery library, Sept. 3, 1986, copy in curatorial object file]; sold to Fairweather-Hardin Gallery, Chicago, 1961 [notes from a phone conversation between Courtney Donnell and Melissa Mederos of Knoedler Gallery library, Sept. 3, 1986, copy in curatorial object file]; sold to the Art Institute, 1964 [Minutes of the Committee on 20th Century Painting and Sculpture, Jan. 21, 1964 and Dec. 16, 1964].
