Kelly Richman

October 2015

Prompt:

Suggest comparative images for Pablo Picasso’s : Tête de femme (Fernande), 1909.

Picasso and the Cubist Dichotomy

An avant garde artist of myriad talents, Pablo Picasso is undoubtedly a key Modernist

figure. In order to trace and understand his evolving style, his work is often neatly organised

into distinctive periods – Rose, Blue, and Cubist being among his most well known.

However, while a useful approach to understanding his retrospective oeuvre, his individual

works do not always appear stylistically identical to other pieces of the period; even a couple

of years’ difference can result in a clear shift in style. A prime example of such discord is

found when comparing a painting and sculpture from his Cubist (1907-1912) period: Tête de

femme (Fernande) (Figure 1) from 1909 and Tête, created in 1911 (Figure 2).

At the turn of the century, Africanism1 dominated the Western art consciousness. To

the Post-Impressionists and Fauvists, this manifested as a unique colour palette and spanned

exotic landscapes to primitive portraits. To Picasso, it materialised as inadvertent homages to

African mask and ancient sculpture. While famously evident in his renowned Les

Demoiselles d’Avignon (Figure 3) from 1907, a lesser-known but equally pertinent

embodiment of such influences is his Tête de femme. Produced approximately two years

after the movement’s onset, the sculpted plaster bust exhibits Cubism’s (and Picasso’s) key

considerations: soft curves contrast sharp angles, and, as in the case of Les Demoiselles

d’Avignon, a strong African influence is evident in the figure’s face, whose carved features

allude to a wooden tribal mask. While Cubist pieces by Picasso are commonly defined by

ambiguity, Tête de femme is instantly identifiable. Though somewhat fractured and clearly

unrealistic, the piece is neither abstract nor so broken down that it becomes imperceptible; it

is certainly a face, but also clearly Cubist.

Cubist paintings – even those spawned by the same artist — thus, often range in their

ability to be reasoned or recognised, as evident when comparing Tête de femme (Fernande)

to Tête. Produced in Paris in 1911, Tête, too, is characteristically a work of Picasso.

Comprised of imperfect lines, sketched curves, and a dappled, muted background, the

painting is a relatively simple piece; from a purely aesthetic perspective, Tête may even

appear as a completely abstract study. However, when observed more closely (and once

                                                                                                               1 Patricia Leighten, ‘The White Peril and L’Art negre: Picasso, Primitivism, and Anticolonialism,’ The Art Bulletin, vol. 72, no. 4, December.1990, p. 609-630.

aware of its revealing title2), it becomes clear that this work is a fractured, deconstructed

portrait; a circle and oval comprise the figure’s eyes, while a large 45-degree angle suggests a

nose and a rounded contour represents the chin. Though Cubist by nature, it is void of

African influence and instant discernibility, proving that, a mere two years later, Picasso was

already adapting the Cubist sensibility.

Ultimately, while often imagined as a homogenous period in the artist’s life, for

Picasso, Cubism was an intrinsically and intricately changing style. Whether a nearly

abstract painting or a figurative sculpture, it is evident that comparing the Cubist work of

Picasso is not only essential to understanding the isolated period itself, but his lifelong artistic

approach, too.

                                                                                                               2 The English translation of ‘tête’ is “head.”

Figures:

Figure 1.

Pablo Picasso, Tête de femme (Fernande), 1909

Plaster, 405 x 230 x 260 mm.

Figure 2.

Pablo Picasso, Tête, 1911

Oil on canvas, 18 ¼ x 15 in. (46.1 x 38.1 cm)

Figure 3.

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, 1907

Oil on canvas, 8 x 7.8 ft. (243.9 x 233.7 cm)

Bibliography:

Leighten, Patricia. ‘The White Peril and L’Art negre: Picasso, Primitivism, and

Anticolonialism.’The Art Bulletin, vol. 72, no. 4 (December.1990): 609-630.