Seated Nude

Pablo Picasso

1943 · Graphite on paper · Modern and Contemporary Art

Picasso remained in Paris throughout the Nazi Occupation, working at his studio at 7, rue des Grands-Augustins, close to the cafés of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. This nude belongs to a group of drawings made in January 1943 of quiet, classicized female figures that descend directly from Picasso's neoclassical bathers of the 1920s. The sitter's hand-to-face gesture was borrowed from Ingres's portrait of Madame Moitessier (1856, National Gallery, London), but the quality of the line and the placement of the figure on the page recall the contemporary drawings of Picasso's friendly rival, Henri Matisse.

Artist

Pablo Picasso

Date

1943

Medium

Graphite on paper

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Bequest of Ann Eden Woodward (Mrs. William Woodward Jr.), 1975