Head of a Man - Pablo Picasso

Hyperrealism 1967-2012
<exchanging gazes> 5

Hyperrealism. 1967-2012

22 March to 9 June 2013

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Autor:: Tom Blackwell
Título:: Triumph Trumpet (detail)
Fecha:: 1977

Técnica:: Oil on canvas
Medidas:: 180 x 180 cm.
Ubicacion:: Private Collection, New York.
image © Tom Blackwell photo © Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York

<exchanging gazes> 5: Interior Scenes. Women and Daily Life.

New Display of the Collections

From 26 February to 10 June 2013

Autor:: Nicolas Maes
Título:: The Naughty Drummer
Fecha:: c. 1655

Técnica:: Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. Nr. INV. 241 (1930.56)

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Head of a Man

Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection

Autor:: Pablo Picasso
Título:: Head of a Man
Fecha:: 1913

Técnica:: Oil on canvas
Medidas:: 65 x 46 cm
Úbicacion:: Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Numero de inventario: INV. Nr. 707 (1977.31)

More information about this work

Between 1912 and 1914, the years that synthetic Cubism developed, Picasso painted numerous portraits. The present Head of a Man in the museum collection, which according to Pierre Daix was executed at the end of 1913, combines the influence of the papiers collés with the new turn Cubist language had taken towards formal synthesis. As can be seen, various flattened parts of the person are superimposed with no references to depth, while the varied textures and a few specific recognisable fragments — such as the moustache, ear, eyes, hair, bow tie and fur collar — give a certain impression of reality. Christopher Green points out the similarities to the angular heads Picasso had produced during the months spent in Céret with Eva, and Douglas Cooper suggests that certain elements — such as the moustache, pipe and fur collar — denote of a distinguished personality who even displays the prestigious badge of the Légion d’honneur on his lapel. This may explain why Palau i Fabre calls the work Cabeza de hombre con pipa (El elegante) (Head of a Man with Pipe [The Elegant One]).

The early provenance of the painting is unknown, though before 1953 it belonged to the Galerie Jeanne Bucher in Paris, which opened in 1925; it was owned by G. David Thompson of Pittsburgh and the Leumann collection in Turin before entering the Collection.

Paloma Alarcó

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