Background Image

Francis Picabia

"Dada accuses you to love everything by snobism, as long as its expensive."

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Notes of biography

Francis Picabia was born in Paris in 1879. He studied to the School of decorative arts of Paris (1895-1897). His first personal exhibition was organized in 1905. He painted then neo-impressionist paintings. His meeting with Marcel Duchamp involved him in a phase Cubist and orphist.
In 1912, Francis Picabia was present in the first Salon of the Golden section. In 1913, he left for New York where he participated and defended the European art in Armory Show. Mobilized in 1914, he was asked to go to Cuba in an official mission one year later; he took the occasion of a stop over in New York to join his friend Marcel Duchamp. Picabia was involved in the review "291" with Alfred Stieglitz. From 1915 till 1922, the machine became the main subject of his work. In summer, 1916, he was reformed, then left for Barcelona where he was a co-founder of the review "391", that he renewed in New York, Zurich, then Paris (1917-1924).
From August 1918, he corresponded with Tzara and became the dada relay in Paris (1919-1921). Francis Picabia in his "dada manifesto" of 1920 said: «The Dadaists are nothing». He created too the review "Cannibale" before publishing «Pilbaou- Thibaou » (1921) in which he announced the dada-death.
Picabia got closer to surrealists. He left Paris for the South of France in 1925 where he stayed until 1945.
Throughout his artistic life, Picabia used in a not conformist way the experiments of the XX ° century avant-gardes. Although qualified as "degenerate artist" by the Nazis, Picabia refused any commitment and continued to lead the easy life allowed by his personal fortune. He was a time interned in the end of the war for collaboration and, finally obtained a lack of evidence. In parallel to his pictorial work, Francis Picabia published collections of poems.
Francis Picabia died in 1953 in Paris.

Artists on display

The art and the artists display: proclamations, galleries, museums, personal or collective exhibitions. On walls or in shop windows, wise or rebels, posters warn, argue, show. Some were specially conceived by an artist for such or such event, other, colder, have only the letter.

Some were created in lithographic technic, most are simple offset reproductions. They are many those who like collecting these rectangles of paper, monochrome or in games of colours, in matt paper or brilliant, with many words or almost dumb.

We are happy also to be able to greet, by this pages, mythical galleries as those of Denise René, Louis Carré, Claude Bernard, Berheim Jeune, Maeght, Pierre Loeb and others.

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Complete work(s)

Complete work(s)
*« Francis Picabia, monographie », M. L. Borràs, Ed. Albin Michel, Paris, 1985 *« Francis Picabia, cat. Rraisonné vol. I (1898/1914) », W. A. Camfield et autres, Ed. Fonds Mercator, 2015 All the complete works

Bibliographic track and more

To read about the artist :
  • « Francis Picabia et la crise des valeurs figuratives », M. Le Bot, Ed. Klincksi
  • « L'Anneau de Saturne », Germaine Everling, Ed. Fayard, Paris, 1970
  • « Arc en ciel, Francis Picabia », Cat. d’exposition, Ed. Galerie 1900-2000, 1983
  • « Picabia », Cathy Bernheim, Ed. du Félin, coll. « Vifs », 1995
  • « Francis Picabia », 2 Vol., collectif, catalogue d’exposition, Japon, 2000
  • « Picabia », Alain Jouffroy, Ed. Assouline, 2002
  • « Picabia, singulier idéal », Musée d’Art Moderne, SIA, Paris, 2002
  • « Picabia », Serge Fauchereau, Ed. Cercle d'Art, Paris, 2002
  • « F. Picabia, pionnier de l'art moderne », Cat. d'expo., Musée P.-A. Benoit, Alès, 2013
  • « Francis Picabia, notre tête est… », co-ed. Kunsthaus Zurich, MOMA, Fonds Mercator, 2015
To read from the artist :
  • « Picabia, écrits 1913-1920 », O. Revault d’Allonnes, Ed. P. Belfond, 1975
  • « Album Francis Picabia », Olga Mohler Picabia, Ed. Fonds Mercator, 2015
Website :
www.picabia.com

More :


Art movements

+ CUBISM / 1907-1925 / Robert Delaunay, Marcel Duchamp, Charles Dufresne, Jacques Lipchitz, Jean Metzinger, etc.
+ ARMORY SHOW / 1913 / Constantin Brancusi, Charles Camoin, Marcel Duchamp, Edward Hopper, Joseph Stella, etc.
+ PHOTOGRAPHY BETWEEN WARS / 1918-1939 / Robert Tatlin, Alexandre Rodchenko, etc.
+ DADAISM / 1916-1924 / Erwin Blumenfeld, Marcel Duchamp, Marcel Janco, Kurt Schwitters, Sophie Taueber-Arp, etc.
+ SURREALISM / 1924-1969 / Marcel Duchamp, Dora Maar, Kurt Schwitters, Taro Okamoto, Antonio Berni, etc.
All art movements

See & discover

Beyond works currently in stock, it seemed to me useful to combine business with pleasure by letting you discover others works by artists in my gallery. These artworks, now sold or removed from our website, have been in our stock in the past.

These pages will undoubtedly make it possible for some of you to associate an image with its title or the other way round, for others it will be a good time to discover more on such and such artist. For the sake of confidentiality – the pieces being no longer available – we won't display neither their numbering or their price. For whatever reason, make sure to visit this amazing art database with to date 6441 online works just for your pleasure! Michelle Champetier

See & discover