Head of a Woman (Fernande)

© Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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Head of a Woman (Fernande)

Spain, 1909, cast 1960
Sculpture
Bronze, cast number 2/9
16 3/16 × 9 5/16 × 9 7/8 in. (41.12 × 23.65 × 25.08 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Smooke in memory of Joseph and Sarah Smooke and Museum Purchase with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Jo Swerling, Mrs. Harold M. English in memory of Harold M. English, and Mr. James Francis McHugh (78.6)
Modern Art
Currently on public view:
Broad Contemporary Art Museum, floor 3

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Label

Picasso created his first Cubist sculpture—of Fernande Olivier, his companion and frequent model—following their 1906 summer trip to the village of Gósol in the Spanish Pyrenees....
Picasso created his first Cubist sculpture—of Fernande Olivier, his companion and frequent model—following their 1906 summer trip to the village of Gósol in the Spanish Pyrenees. (Olivier is also the subject of the 1906 painting Head of a Woman, on view nearby.) Here, as in Picasso’s Cubist paintings of this period, the head is broken into small facets, which suggest the plaits of the model’s hair and the muscles and ligaments that underlie her face and neck. The slightly downward tilt of her head gives the impression of melancholy reflection.

Wall label, 2021.
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Bibliography

  • Eliel, Carol S.  Degas To Picasso: Modern Masters from the Smooke Collection. Los Angeles; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1987.
  • Spies, Werner. Picasso: the Sculptures. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2000.