Lot 134
WENDY RAMSHAW C.B.E. R.D.I. (BRITISH 1939-2018) §
CHAIN OF TEARS FOR 'WEEPING WOMAN' NECKLACE, 1998
£3,780
Auction: MODERN MADE Part II | 01 November 2024 | Lots 80 to 444
Description
glass and steel, from the Picasso's Ladies collection, one of a series of four unique works, the glass elements made by glass artist Neil Wilkin, in perspex box
Dimensions
approximately 41cm x 9cm
Provenance
Acquired directly from the maker, October 1998;
Property of a Private Aficionado.
Footnote
Literature:
Picasso's Ladies: Jewellery by Wendy Ramshaw, Arnoldsche Art Publishers, 1998, cat. no. 60, example illustrated and p.168 (artist's notes).
The Times, London, The Sparklers the Pablo Left Out, Friday 11 September 1998, example illustrated.
Exhibited:
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Picasso's Ladies: Jewellery by Wendy Ramshaw, 8 September 1998-15 February 1999, one of the four variants exhibited.
In Wendy Ramshaw's book on the ‘Picasso's Ladies' she describes in her personal notes this necklace:
'‘Weeping Woman’, 1937, belongs to the series of paintings of Dora Maar. She weeps, expressing her sadness and grief. Picasso uses her to express a war-torn Europe.
The inspiration of the tears came from a segment of mauve glass with a droplet-like shape which was once part of a Victorian chandelier. The water-shaped form was recreated in luminous glass in shades of blue and green. The double-stranded necklace is strung to appear like a cascade of water drops. Over 100 of these glass droplets are hung on the steel of the necklace, achieving an apparently random effect. The necklace expresses my feelings for the beautiful Dora Maar who, according to the visual records of Picasso, wept many tears. The beauty of the colours may detract from her sadness and crying. Dora Maar's tears are lifted into another realm, as one might find in a fairy tale, which might not necessarily have a happy ending.' (Quoted in Picasso's Ladies: Jewellery by Wendy Ramshaw, p.168)
One of the series was also exhibited at a Wendy Ramshaw exhibition in Damstadt in 2001 (27 January to 18 March 2001), and two of the four examples are help in the collections of the Museum of Art and Design, New York and the Aberdeen Gallery & Museums, Aberdeen.
