紀堯姆·阿波利奈爾，巴黎（1914年購自藝術家）
售出：圖歐拍賣行，巴黎，1926年3月8日，品號11
約翰·尼科爾斯，麻省匹茲菲（購自1926年）
1965年獲贈自上述藏家

阿姆斯特丹，獨立藝術家協會，〈第3屆國際評委圖錄－免費展覽〉，1914年，品號412，圖錄載圖 紐約，現代畫廊，〈畢卡比亞展〉，1916年，品號13

紐約，現代畫廊，〈塞尚、梵谷、畢加索、畢卡比亞、布拉克、德薩涅、里維拉畫展〉，1916年，品號12

巴黎，普沃洛斯基畫廊（目標畫廊），〈弗朗西斯·畢卡比亞〉，1920年，品號50，精裝圖錄載彩圖

里蒙，達爾佩拉畫廊，〈弗朗西斯·畢卡比亞展〉，1921年，品號36

紐約，布魯克林博物館；紐約，安德森畫廊；水牛城，奧爾布賴特美術館；格蘭奇公園，多倫多美術館，〈匿名協會現代藝術國際展〉，1926-27年，品號51

巴黎，大皇宮博物館；巴黎，國家現代藝術博物館，龐畢度中心，〈弗朗西斯·畢卡比亞〉，1976年，品號43，圖錄載圖（紀年1913-1914）

巴黎，國家現代藝術博物館，龐畢度中心，〈巴黎－紐約〉，1977年，品號390，圖錄載圖

馬德里，文化部畢加索展廳；巴塞羅那，凱沙基金會文化中心，〈弗朗西斯·畢卡比亞精選作品展〉，1985年，品號27，圖錄載彩圖（紀年1913-1914）

里斯本，貝倫文化中心，〈弗朗西斯·畢卡比亞精選作品〉，1997年，品號17，圖錄載彩圖

巴黎，巴黎市現代藝術博物館，〈弗朗西斯·畢卡比亞：奇異理想〉，2003年，品號不詳，圖錄載彩圖（紀年1913-1914）

巴黎，奧塞博物館；馬德里，索菲亞王后國家藝術中心博物館，〈紐約與現代藝術：阿爾弗雷·史蒂格利茲及其圈子1905-1930年〉，2004年，品號108，圖錄載彩圖

紀堯姆·阿波利奈爾，〈畢卡比亞水彩作品〉，《畫室》巴黎期刊，1914年，3頁提及 《小評論》，倫敦，1922年，32-33頁載圖

威廉·A·卡姆菲爾德，《弗朗西斯·畢卡比亞：藝術創作與生平時光》，普林斯頓，新澤西州，1979年，品號95，載圖頁碼不詳（紀年約1914）

凱蒂婭·薩瑪坦諾斯，《阿波利奈爾：原始主義的催化劑－畢卡比亞與杜尚》，安娜堡，密歇根州，1984年，69頁提及

瑪麗亞·路易莎·博拉斯，《畢卡比亞》，紐約，1985年，品號265，150頁載彩圖（紀年1913）

米榭·薩努列，《畢卡比亞》，巴黎，1993年，579頁提及

威廉·A·卡姆菲爾德、貝弗莉·卡爾泰、坎達絲·克萊門茨、阿諾·皮耶及皮耶·卡爾泰，《弗朗西斯·畢卡比亞專題目錄》，紐海文及倫敦，2014年，第II冊，品號480，97頁及372-73頁載彩圖

Force Comique is one of four watercolors that Picabia created in the South of France in the Spring of 1914, and sent to an exhibition in Amsterdam which opened in May of that year. This group of works was executed following the artist’s return from New York the previous year; Picabia decided to enter four paintings in the now legendary Armory Show of 1913, hoping for a more open-minded reception in America than the one his work encountered in Paris at the time. The exhibition included a large number of works by Cubist, Expressionist, Fauve, Neo-Impressionist and Symbolist artists working in Europe. As the only French artist who could at the time afford to travel to New York, Picabia took on the role of spokesman for the European avant-garde, giving numerous interviews. Immediately after the Armory Show his works were exhibited in Alfred Stieglitz’s gallery ‘291’, where they were enthusiastically received.

Picabia’s journey to America was filled with excitement and with a great cultural and intellectual stimulation that made a profound impact on the work he produced subsequently. In an interview given during his stay in New York he commented: “I am seeking a certain balance, through tones of color or shades, in order to express the sensations I receive from things in the manner of a leitmotiv in a musical symphony. Creative art is not interested in the imitation of objects” (quoted in World Magazine, 1913). This sentiment is beautifully realized in the preseꩵnt composition, which appears to pulsate with a sense of rhythm🤪 and movement.

Picabia’s wit also extended to the willfully obtuse titles he gave to his abstract works as emphasized by the title of the present work Force Comique or Comical Force. William A. Camfield writes: “In some instances, the titles themselves suggest jest or mockery, as in En badinant (in jest, playfully) and Embarras (trouble/problem/hindrance). In Chose admirable à voir, mockery exists in the disconnect between the title and image inasmuch as that ‘thing admirable to see’ is one of the most chaotic compositions in Picabia’s entire career… Apollinaire, however, did record at that time their mutual interest regarding the interface of art and words, of the visual and linguistic. Apollinaire was composing ‘calligramme’ poems in the form of visual images, and he made an intriguing reference to what he called Picabia’s ‘poèmes peints’” (W.A. Camfield et al., Op. cit., pp. 94 & 96). These comments demonstrate that in 1914 Picabia was already moving away from his purist abstract concerns of the previous two years, and towards a Dadaist sensibility that reveled in m🙈ockery and badinage.