Descripción
This painting was painted by Picasso in Paris during the winter of 1907. It is owned by a private collection. Its last recorded sale was to Viscount Charles de Noailles. It was originally purchased by Gertrude and Leonard Stein.
Neither this poster nor its motif have been reproduced on other posters.
This painting already contains the germ of Cubism which “when it takes its first steps, begins by denying these aesthetic conditions that the Western soul breaks the unity of the universe into as many differences as there are beings.” “This unitary sense that Cubism inaugurates is in fact one of its essential characteristics.” The result was the suppression of the third dimension and the birth of “painting on the plane.” This was the origin of the “revolution of form.” Its consequences “[…] will last for many decades.” Picasso would pay for it with solitude, which is the price that almost all revolutionaries are accustomed to paying. As Pablo once said: “Nothing can be done without solitude. I have created a solitude that no one suspects.” Today it is very difficult to be alone, now we have clocks. Have you ever seen a saint with a watch?
In this work Picasso “[…] continues to suggest the Negroid type but in a more plastic, more solid way than before. It is the beginning of a more solid structure, a greater simplification of volumes and a severe and monumental sculptural quality, which constitutes a true challenge to the classical norms of the human body”. In the final realization of this work Picasso has been bolder than in his studies, “using well-defined features and long brushstrokes”.
