Containing eighty-two color illustrations and sixty-eight duo-tones, the catalogue explores the Fernande portraits and related works as a single oeuvre culminating in the magnificent Head of a Woman (Fernande) - one of Picasso's rare pre-1912 excursions into sculpture. By so doing, it allows us to examine Picasso's process in an unprecedented fashion. What emerges is a new picture of the artist developing a single portrait motif with obsessive repetition and struggling to resolve artistic problems during a time of crisis in his work. Also included are studio photographs that offer further insight into the conceptual nature of the artist's process. The next narrates the internal development of the Fernande portrait series, with particular emphasis on the sculpted Head, and relates it to other themes, including likeness, serial repetition, and the history of melancholy. The book also addresses the complex nature of Picasso's interest in the work of Paul Cezanne.
Report an error with this book