Head of a Woman (Fernande)

Fernande Olivier was Pablo Picasso's model and lover from 1905 until 1912. This portrait retains the basic features of her distinctive face, translated into the faceted and fragmented geometric language of Cubism. The Art Institute's bronze is one of a small edition produced by the Paris art dealer Ambroise Vollard in 1910. It was sold in 1912 to the photographer and dealer Alfred Stieglitz, who loaned it to the New York presentation of the International Exhibition of Modern Art. Better known as the Armory Show, this groundbreaking exhibition presented European avant-garde art to American audiences for the first time and traveled to the Art Institute in March 1913.