"M'Amenez-y"
Francis Picabia
French, 1879–1953
Paris, November 1919 - January 1920
A painted cardboard panel in oil and enamel in which Picabia treats a mechanical spindle as a tongue‑in‑cheek “portrait,” using commercial lettering and machine parts to mock traditional portraiture and advertising alike.
The composition reads like a flattened advertising device—split vertically into pale green and cream, encircled by a thick black arc and punctuated by a red central column and stenciled words (notably “M'AMENEZ‑Y”), giving it the blunt, graphic force of a poster or technical diagram.
Coming after Picabia’s Dada experiments, this piece fuses mechanomorphic imagery, typography, and irony to undermine artistic authenticity and anticipate later modernist and Pop strategies that borrow from industry and commerce.
Medium
Oil and enamel paint on cardboard
Dimensions
50 3/4 x 35 3/8" (129.2 x 89.8 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Helena Rubinstein Fund
Accession
1309.1968
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
