Pablo Picasso

Head of a Woman (Fernande), 1909

Plaster
18 1/2 x 14 1/8 x 13 3/4 in. (47 x 35.9 x 34.9 cm.)

Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas

Picasso first met Fernande Olivier in the autumn of 1904, while living in his studio in Montmartre, Paris, known as the Bateau Lavoir. She would be his mistress for the next seven years. During their lengthy relationship, Fernande was Picasso’s primary model and muse, appearing over and over in his work. This was a period of rapid evolution in Picasso’s art, and images of Fernande provide a connecting link between his different stylistic mutations. Over a ten-month period in 1909, Picasso created more than 60 paintings, sculptures, and drawings of her. Made during this creative surge, Head of a Woman was Picasso’s first attempt to translate into sculpture the faceted planes and multiple viewpoints developed in Cubist painting. The resulting cascade of curving and diagonal forms generates a dynamic impression of movement.

Richard Serra has expressed admiration for Picasso’s work in sculpture:

Picasso seems to be actually more inventive in sculpture than in painting. It seems like he has it in his fingertips, and he doesn’t have to fight the history of sculpture, whereas he always seems to be up against the history of painting. He’s a natural sculptor—he can see something three-dimensionally, from above and below and right and left, and can put it down in the blink of an eye.