Head of a Woman
spring 1909
Pablo Picasso Spanish, 1881-1973
Spain
This remarkable drawing, likely modeled on Fernande Olivier, shows how Picasso approached the human head as a group of faceted planes as if it were a sculpture in two dimensions. Instead of delineating her face as a portrait likeness, the artist formed her cheeks, eye sockets, nose, and hair out of geometric shapes that reflect light and shadow in earth tones of beige, brown, and black.
Gouache, watercolor, and black and ochre chalks, manipulated with stump and wet brush, on cream laid paper