Pablo Picasso Gemmail, “Paris Notre-Dame”

Lot 35

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New York, NY 10128
United States

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About Auction

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Estate Art Collections

By Guernsey's

Nov 12, 2022

Set Reminder 2022-11-12 14:00:00 2022-11-12 14:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Estate Art Collections https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/guernseys/estate-art-collections-11222 Original works by Picasso, Chagall, Renoir, Utrillo, Calder, Miro, De Kooning, Warhol, Haring, and other important artists, multi-generational estate art collections to be sold at unreserved auction. Guernsey's auctions@guernseys.com

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Lot Description

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Paris Notre-Dame
c.1955
Glass, in Gemmail technique *
Signed lower right
28.5 x 36 in / 72,4 x 89 cm
Framed: 38 x 45 in / 96.5 x 122 cm

* Gemmail (plural: Gemmaux) is a complex intricate art form in which thousands of fragments of colored glass are assembled, layered, and fused to create an image in shallow relief that is then illuminated from behind. The word Gemmail is a contraction of “gemme,” a precious stone or gemstone, and “émail,” meaning enamel.

Susie J. Silbert, Curator of Postwar + Contemporary Glass, The Corning Museum of Glass, described this work as “amazing!"

Michel Picard, Director of Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris tasked with raising funds for the rebuilding of Notre-Dame so damaged by fire, described this work as a “masterpiece.” Hoping that a generous buyer would either gift or loan Picasso’s Notre-Dame to the soon-to-be-re-opened Cathedral, Mr. Picaud wrote “A miracle is always possible."

Provenance:
Private Collection, France
By descent to current owner

Exhibited:
Galerie de la Lumiere, Paris, 1955
Grande Gallerie du Faubourg St. Honoré, Paris, 1957
Corning Museum of Glass, 1959
Corning Museum of Glass Traveling Exhibition, 1959-1960: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Denver Museum of Art; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio; Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Cleveland Museum of Art; Minneapolis Museum of Art; Saint Louis Museum of Art

Documentation:
Certificate from Roger Malherbe Navarre, 1961
Les Gemmaux de France, Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition catalogue: View The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Gemmaux Catalogue

Picasso Gemmaux Conservation Report

The Gemmail technique was first invented in the 1930’s in France, and then further developed and perfected in the 1950’s at the Atelier of the Malherbe Family, outside of Paris. In 1954, when Picasso was introduced to the Gemmaux process by his friend, the influential writer, Jean Cocteau, he could immediately envision the great possibilities of artistic expression that the medium could offer. Les Gemmaux showed color in a way that could not be matched or reproduced in any other art medium. A Gemmail is essentially a translucent painting, transforming and modulating color by capturing light through the many layers and textures of the glass.

Picasso also introduced several of his friends and fellow artists including George Braque and Kees Van Dongen to the Malherbe Atelier. However, Picasso, more than any of the other artists, excelled in the difficult and meticulous process, which involved layering the various-sized chards of glass to create and expand depth and intensity of color. In 1954, after re-imagining one of his earlier masterpieces in the Gemmail process, Picasso was so intrigued with the technique and so fascinated with the results he could achieve, that he declared “Un art nouveau est né ‘Les Gemmaux’” (‘A new art is born “Les Gemmaux”’). Picasso continued working with the “gemmists” at the Malherbe Atelier for the next two years creating a total of between 50 and 60 Gemmaux masterpieces.

Between 1955 and 1959, major exhibitions of Les Gemmaux in Paris, Cannes, Monaco, and Munich enthusiastic crowds. Picasso Gemmaux included in these exhibits were acquired by Prince Rainier of Monaco, the Emperor of Japan, Nelson Rockefeller, Stanley Marcus, Raymond Loewy, and the Rothschild and Weisweiller families. In 1959, the “First American Exhibition of ‘Gemmaux de France” was organized. Of the five works by Picasso that were included, the Gemmail offered here - “Paris Notre-Dame”- was one of them, and the first of the listed Picasso titles. This exhibit traveled to over a dozen major art museums across the United States.

Condition: As described above, the technique by which this work was created was developed in the 1930’s by a French family. By heating a bath of clear enamel, pieces of colored glass would bond together to create the art. Clear glass panes protected the front and rear (verso) of the completed work.

The thousands of individual colored glass fragments that comprise this work of art appear completely intact. There is no evidence that any of the bonded pieces have loosened. The entire work is encased in an original picture frame that matches the unique frames used by The Corning Museum of Glass in its mid-century exhibition of Gemmaux. The front pane of clear glass in the frame is perfect. However, the rear panel covering the verso of the work is cracked. Although there is no loss of glass, cracks exist in several places.

It is possible that when this work was created, some of the bonding enamel may have come in contact with this rear pane. It therefore was the opinion of the several art conservators that have been shown this work that that rear cracked piece be left in place and covered over by a new glass pane, thereby permanently encasing the cracked piece and safely protecting the art for the future.

It should be noted that the cracks on the rear pane are invisible when viewing the work from the front.

This work of art is currently in Guernsey’s New York City office where prospective bidders and/or their representatives are invited to view it in person.

This is an online only sale. Items may be viewed upon appointment in New York City.

Notice to bidders: More detailed condition reports and additional photographs are available by request. The absence of a condition report does not imply that the lot is in excellent condition. Please message us through the online bidding platform or call Guernsey's at 212-794-2280 to request a more thorough condition report. Notwithstanding any condition report or discussion concerning a lot, all lots are offered and sold “as is” in accordance with the condition of sale.
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