Francis Picabia

1879–1953

Francis Picabia, ‘The Handsome Pork-Butcher’ c.1924–6, c.1929–35
The Handsome Pork-Butcher c.1924–6, c.1929–35
© ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2018
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In Tate Liverpool

Constellations: Louise Bourgeois

Free entry

Biography

Francis Picabia (French: [fʁɑ̃sis pikabja]; born Francis-Marie Martinez de Picabia, 22 January 1879 – 30 November 1953) was a French avant-garde painter, poet and typographist. After experimenting with Impressionism and Pointillism, Picabia became associated with Cubism. His highly abstract planar compositions were colourful and rich in contrasts. He was one of the early major figures of the Dada movement in the United States and in France. He was later briefly associated with Surrealism, but would soon turn his back on the art establishment.

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Dada Surrealism

Artworks

Francis Picabia, ‘The Handsome Pork-Butcher’ c.1924–6, c.1929–35

Francis Picabia The Handsome Pork-Butcher

c.1924–6, c.1929–35
T07108
Francis Picabia, ‘Otaïti’ 1930

Francis Picabia Otaïti

1930
T11982
Francis Picabia, ‘Portrait of a Doctor’ c.1935–8

Francis Picabia Portrait of a Doctor

c.1935–8
On display at Tate Liverpool part of Constellations T05804
Francis Picabia, ‘The Fig-Leaf’ 1922

Francis Picabia The Fig-Leaf

1922
T03845
Francis Picabia, ‘Alarm Clock’ 1919

Francis Picabia Alarm Clock

1919
T13345
Francis Picabia, ‘Conversation I’ 1922

Francis Picabia Conversation I

1922
T00305
See all 6

Film and audio

Still image of Against the Avant-Garde? Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia - 8 parts
Watch

Against the Avant-Garde? Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia – Part 1: Introduction

Introduction: this study day explores different ideas of avant-garde art in the early twentieth century, and in contemporary practice

Features

Francis Picabia, Otaïti 1930
Tate Papers

Otaïti 1930 by Francis Picabia

Picabia’s so-called ‘transparency’ paintings – of which Otaïti is a prime example – have not been the subject of much technical ...

Francis Picabia, Portrait of a Doctor c.1935–1947
Tate Papers

Portrait of a Doctor c.1935–1947, by Francis Picabia

Portrait of a Doctor is actually two paintings: one was painted on top of the other at a later date ...

Francis Picabia, The Fig-Leaf 1922
Tate Papers

The Fig-Leaf 1922 by Francis Picabia

A sardonic attack on censorship and prudery, The Fig-Leaf provoked the conservative art establishment when it was exhibited in 1922 ...

Francis Picabia, The Handsome Pork-Butcher c.1924–6, c.1929–35
Tate Papers

The Handsome Pork-Butcher c.1924–6, c.1929–35 by Francis Picabia

This sardonic collage portrait of Raymond Poincaré, President and Prime Minister of the French Republic, was made with everyday objects ...

Raoul Hausmann, ‘The Art Critic’ 1919–20
Art Term

Dada

Dada was an art movement formed during the First World War in Zurich in negative reaction to the horrors and ...

Marey Trace of repeated muscular contractions
Tate Papers

Becoming Machine: Surrealist Automatism and Some Contemporary Instances: Involuntary Drawing

Examining the idea of being ‘machine-like’ and its impact on the practice of automatic writing, this article charts a history ...

Marcel Duchamp in conversation with Beatrice Cunningham in the Philadelphia Museum of Art 1955
Tate Papers

An Unpublished Drawing by Duchamp: Hell in Philadelphia

This paper discusses a hitherto unpublished drawing by Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) that relates to his masterwork The Bride Stripped ...

Marcel Duchamp, ‘Wedge of Chastity’ 1954, cast 1963
Tate Etc

Graceful enigmas: Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia

Appreciations on Duchamp, Man Ray and Picabia by Jacqueline Matisse Monnier, T.J. Demos, George Baker and Kim Knowles.

Shigeko Kubota Marcel Duchamp Teeny Duchamp and John Cage playing chess
Tate Etc

'All artists are not chess players – all chess players are artists' Marcel Duchamp: Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia II

To coincide with the first exhibition to explore the inter-relationship between Duchamp, Man Ray and Picabia at Tate Modern, Allan ...

Tate Etc. issue 12 cover
Read

Tate Etc. issue 12: Spring 2008

TATE ETC Issue 12 Spring 2008: Visiting and revisiting Art, etcetera, online edition of Tate's magazine

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