Spanish, 1881-1973
Head of a Woman (Tête de femme), 1931 (cast 1973) Bronze, 34 x 14 3/8 x 19 1/4 in. (86.4 x 36.5 x 48.9 cm.)
Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection, Dallas, Texas
1986.A.01
Label Text
The women in Picasso's life always became subjects for his art. This expressively modeled bust depicts Marie-Thérèse Walter, Picasso's mistress in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It belongs to a series of sculptural busts he made of her, which range stylistically from classical naturalism to almost total abstraction. The sculpture displays a raw, primitive power influenced in part by a large African fertility mask that Picasso owned. In keeping with concepts of fertility and eroticism, Picasso shaped features of the head and face to suggest both male and female genitalia, producing in effect a portrait of love making.