Standing Woman

Pablo Picasso

Sorgues, summer 1912 · Ink, charcoal dipped in oil, and gouache on two sheets of off-white wove paper · Modern and Contemporary Art

Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, who was a pioneering historian of Cubism as well as its preeminent dealer, wrote that in the summer of 1910, Picasso "pierced the closed form." In doing so, he made "the decisive advance which set [C]ubism free from the language previously used by painting." As seen in this ink drawing, space flows freely through the mass of the figure, producing a scaffolding of planes. Without the title, there is little to suggest the subject matter, let alone the gender of the figure, which was likely rendered without a model. Only the vertical orientation and varying combinations of curved and diagonal lines prompt us to visualize the head, breasts, shoulder blades, and limbs.

Artist

Pablo Picasso

Date

Sorgues, summer 1912

Medium

Ink, charcoal dipped in oil, and gouache on two sheets of off-white wove paper

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, Gift of Leonard A. Lauder, 2016