Sala Gaspar, Barcelona
Private Collection, Paris
Sale: Sotheby's, London, June 20, 2006, lot 223
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Bilbao, Fundación BBK, El arte del dibujo, el dibujo en el arte, 2005, illustrated in the catalogue

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, Oeuvres de 1969, vol. 31, Paris, 1976, no. 494, illustrated pl. 153
The Picasso Project, Picasso's Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings and Sculpture. The Sixtie's III, 1968-1969, San Francisco, 2003, no. 69-498, illustrated p. 268

Condition: Executed on cream wove paper, laid down on to thick paper which is taped to the overmount along all four edges. There is a 3cm. square area of restoration to the centre of the right edge and a line of paper thinning running down the top right edge probably intrinsic to the laying down process. Apart from some light foxing throughout (visible in the catalogue illustration) this work is in good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In his eighties and nineties, Picasso faced up to his own mortality, racing against time to create art at a frenetic pace. The theme of the present work digresses from those that dominated his late year♊s: the nude, the artist and his model, the musketeer, the bordello, and some of his favorite Old Master paintings. There is little in his oeuvre that is comparable, either stylistically or thematically and the calligraphic manner of modeling and shading in these portraits, though identifiably by the hand of the master, is exceedingly inventive.

Many late Picasso drawings seem meant to be informal sketches while Deux Têtes demonstrates that Pi🔯casso, at 88, could still draw with precision and clarity. This drawing, as well as several others Picasso executed over a two day period, was drawn with a fountain pen in blue ink, an unusual hue in his oeuvre.  Although unerring in his sense of line, Picasso apparently lost track of time on the day he created this drawing. He had precisely dated his works for decades but this drawing and the two others he produced the same day show the initial dating of November 13, with the "13" later crossed out and underscored with a "12".