270-B - [ARTIFICIALIA]

[ARTIFICIALIA] Mario PRASSINOS (1916–1985) "BESSIE, FUNERAL PORTRAIT," 1963 Oil on canvas, signed lower right, titled and dated "SEPT 63" on the reverse 130 x 97 cm Provenance: - Galerie de France, Paris - Collection of Mr. Philippe Le Burgue, Paris Exhibition: - “TENTATIVE DE PORTRAIT DE B.S.”, February 28–March 23, 1964, Galerie de France, Paris, reproduced in the exhibition catalog - “De Menselijke figuur sedert Picasso [Figuration and Defiguration—The Human Figure Since Picasso],” July 10–October 4, 1964, Ghent, Museum voor Schone Kunsten (label on the back) Bibliography: Reproduced in the catalog of the 1964 Galerie de France exhibition The exhibition catalog, printed in an edition of 1,500 copies, will be included with the painting. (No. 1239) "Mario Prassinos – Bessie Smith" In his series dedicated to "Bessie Smith," Mario Prassinos goes beyond the simple exercise of portraiture. He seeks not so much to recreate the features of the famous blues singer as to evoke a presence, a memory, almost an apparition. The figure emerges from a dense, dark, and vibrant material, where the face seems to alternately reveal itself and dissolve. This tension between presence and disappearance lends the work an almost hypnotic power. With its strangeness, evocative power, and spectral quality, this series naturally finds its place in a “cabinet of curiosities”: no longer merely as a portrait, but as a memory-image—fascinating and mysterious, halfway between reality and apparition.