Lot 21

Park West Gallery, America
Private collection, New South Wales

Bloch 230; Baer 609

Executed in 1936, 'Faune dévoilant une Femme' is an accomplished example from La Suite Vollard, the celebrated suite of one hundred etchings and drypoints produced by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) between 1930 and 1937. Commissioned by the Parisian dealer Ambroise Vollard, the series was developed gradually over several years, allowing Picasso considerable freedom to explore recurring subjects rather than a fixed narrative. The resulting body of work is unified by mood and motif and is widely regarded as one of the most significant achievements of twentieth century printmaking.

Mythological imagery plays a central role throughout La Suite Vollard. Picasso repeatedly returned to classical figures such as fauns, satyrs, and most prominently, the Minotaur, using them as expressive devices through which to examine desire, instinct, and vulnerability. In Faune dévoilant une Femme, the Minotaur operates within this established symbolic framework, shaping the scene as a psychological encounter rather than a literal mythological narrative, characteristic of Picasso's approach during this period.

The composition centres on an intimate moment. The Minotaur draws back a veil to disclose the female figure, establishing a quiet but charged dynamic, structured around looking and exposure. The space is compressed and inward, with little detail to distract from the interaction between the two figures. Light is carefully controlled, with the woman's body emerging from shadow through subtle tonal variation, lending the figure both presence and stillness. The mood is restrained and contemplative, underscoring the interior tension of the scene.

The emphasis on looking, desire, and embodiment is tightly bound to Picasso's personal relationships during the period in which La Suite Vollard was produced. By the mid-1930s, his marriage to the ballet dancer, Olga Khokhlova had deteriorated, while his relationship with his lover and model Marie-Thérèse Walter increasingly shaped both his private life and imagery. Marie-Thérèse's distinctive physical presence, her softness, fullness, and curvilinear form recur throughout the suite and inform Picasso's treatment of the female body with heightened sensuality and sculptural weight. At the time this etching was produced, Marie-Thérèse had given birth to their daughter, Maya, an event often understood as marking a subtle shift in the emotional dynamics of Picasso's relationships. While the suite resists literal autobiographical interpretation, lived experience is absorbed into symbolic form, lending the imagery its lyricism and ambiguity.

'Faune dévoilant une Femme' exemplifies Picasso's mastery of etching. Line is deployed with restraint and precision, contributing to the work's compositional clarity. The balance between the Minotaur's animated presence and the woman's composed stillness creates a measured tension that animates the scene without overwhelming it. This discipline is a hallmark of the finest plates within La Suite Vollard, where technical control underpins expressive authority.

'La Suite Vollard' stands as a testament to Picasso's sustained engagement with printmaking and to Vollard's role as a facilitator of artistic innovation. Faune dévoilant une Femme encapsulates many of the suite's defining points, including mythology as a framework for modern experience, light as an instrument of revelation and the complex relationship between observer and observed. Poised between antiquity and modernity, intimacy and symbolism, the work offers a distilled expression of Picasso's artistic and psychological preoccupations at a critical moment in his career.

Hannah Ryan
Senior Art Specialist, Manager of Specialty Auctions

© Pablo Picasso/Copyright Agency, 2026