In his early experiments with Cubism, Picasso incorporated non-Western pictorial elements into his work. He looked in particular at Iberian and African sculpture, which he saw on frequent visits to Paris’s ethnographic museum, the Musée d’Ethnographie du Trocadéro. Here, the artist used a deep orange, rust, and brown color palette characteristic of African wood masks. The simplified yet haunting forms of the figure’s face, with its long nose and large lozenge-shaped eyes and mouth, recall the masks of the Dan people in northeastern Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
Leo and Gertrude Stein, Paris (ca. 1908–13/14; acquired from the artist); [Galerie Kahnweiler, Paris, by 1914, stock no. 1888; sequestered Kahnweiler stock, Paris, 1914–21; sale, "Vente de biens allemands ayant fait l'objet d'une mesure de Séquestre de Guerre: Collection Henry Kahnweiler [sic], Tableaux Moderne, deuxième vente," Hôtel Drouot, Paris, November 17–18, 1921, no. 197, for Fr 1,800, through Léonce Rosenberg, to Roché]; Henri-Pierre Roché, Paris (1921–26; consigned to Galerie Vavin-Raspail, Paris, November 14, 1925; sold on January 4, 1926, for Fr 17,500, probably to Loeb); [Galerie Pierre (Pierre Loeb), Paris, probably 1926–at least 1932]; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., New York and Warrenton, Virginia (by 1936–at least 1942); [Gimpel Fils, London, by 1954–1955; sold on January 24, 1955 for $22,800 to Marx]; Samuel and Florene Marx, Chicago (1955–his d. 1964); Florene May Marx, later Mrs. Wolfgang Schoenborn, New York (1964–d. 1995; on extended loan to the Museum of Modern Art, New York, from 1971; on extended loan to MMA from 1985; her bequest to MMA)
Paris. Galerie Georges Petit. "Exposition Picasso," June 16–July 30, 1932, no. 44.
Kunsthaus Zürich. "Picasso Retrospective, 1901–1931," September 11–October 30, 1932, extended to November 13, 1932, no. 37.
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. [1932].
Barcelona. Sala Esteva. "Picasso (organized by ADLAN [Amics de l'Art Nou])," January 13–30, 1936, no. 13 (as "Buste d'homme").
Bilbao. Arte: Salón de Exposiciónes. "Picasso (organized by ADLAN [Amics de l'Art Nou])," February 19–25, 1936, no catalogue.
Madrid. Centro de la Construcción. "Picasso (organized by ADLAN [Amics de l'Art Nou])," March 7–25, 1936, no. 2 (as "Busto de hombre").
New York. Valentine Gallery. "Picasso: Retrospective Exhibition, 1901–1934," October 26–November 21, 1936, no. 29 (as "Buste d'Homme," 1907–8, lent courtesy Mr. Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.).
Arts Club of Chicago. "The Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. Collection," January 8–31, 1937, no. 36.
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Selected Exhibition of the Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. Collection," October 5–31, 1937, no. 2.
Jacques Seligmann and Co., New York. "20 Years in the Evolution of Picasso, 1903–1923: Loan Exhibition," November 1–20, 1937, no. 6.
Boston Museum of Modern Art. "Picasso–Henri Matisse," October 19–November 11, 1938, no. 8.
Marie Harriman Gallery, New York. "Picasso: Figure Paintings," January 30–February 18, 1939, no. 3.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "The Sources of Modern Painting. A Loan Exhibition Assembled from American Public and Private Collections," March 2–April 9, 1939, no. 42.
New York. Wildenstein and Co., Inc. "The Sources of Modern Painting. A Loan Exhibition Assembled from American Public and Private Collections by the Institute of Modern Art," April 25–May 20, 1939, no. 31.
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Picasso: Forty Years of His Art," November 15, 1939–January 7, 1940, no. 78.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Picasso: Forty Years of His Art," February 1–March 5, 1940, no. 78.
City Art Museum of Saint Louis. "Picasso: Forty Years of His Art," March 16–April 14, 1940, no. 78.
Boston. Museum of Fine Arts. "Picasso: Forty Years of His Art," April 26–May 25, 1940, no. 78.
Richmond. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," January 16–March 4, 1941, no. 158.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," March 29–May 11, 1941, no. 158.
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: A 25th Anniversary Exhibition," May 31–September 5, 1955, no. 112.
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," November 2, 1965–January 2, 1966, unnumbered cat. (p. 17).
Art Institute of Chicago. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," February 11–March 27, 1966, unnumbered cat.
City Art Museum of Saint Louis. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," April 26–June 13, 1966, unnumbered cat.
Mexico City. Museo de Arte Moderno. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," July 2–August 7, 1966, unnumbered cat.
San Francisco Museum of Art. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," September 2–October 2, 1966, unnumbered cat.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Picasso in the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art," February 3–April 2, 1972, unnumbered cat. (p. 6).
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective," May 22–September 16, 1980, not in catalogue (suppl. brochure no. 5).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Florene M. Schoenborn Bequest: 12 Artists of the School of Paris," February 11–May 4, 1997, extended to August 31, 1997, brochure no. 14.
Paris. Musée Picasso. "Picasso 1901–1909: Chefs d'oeuvre du Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," October 21, 1998–January 25, 1999, unnumbered cat. (pl. 17).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Painters in Paris: 1895–1950," March 8–December 31, 2000, extended to January 14, 2001, unnumbered cat. (p. 66).
Madrid. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. "A. C.: La revista del G.A.T.E.P.A.C., 1931–1937," October 28, 2008–January 5, 2009, not in catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 27–August 1, 2010, no. 46.
Kunsthaus Zürich. "Picasso by Picasso. His First Museum Exhibition, 1932," October 15, 2010–January 30, 2011, no. 13.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde," May 21–September 6, 2011, no. 243.
Paris. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. "Matisse, Cézanne, Picasso . . . L'aventure des Stein," October 5, 2011–January 22, 2012, no. 136.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde," February 28–June 3, 2012, no. 243.
"Revue des ventes: Séquestre Kahnweiler, 2me vente." Gazette de l'Hôtel Drouot 30 (November 22, 1921), no. 197.
Genaro Estrada. Genio y figura de Picasso. Mexico, 1936, p. 55, no. 44 (Exh. Paris 1932 checklist).
C. J. Bulliet. "[Review of Chicago 1937]." Chicago Daily News (January 9, 1937), sec. 3, p. 2, ill.
James Thrall Soby. "Picasso: A Critical Estimate." Parnassus 11 (December 1939), p. 10.
E[mily] G[enauer]. "Ten Paintings Throw Light on Picasso's Development." New York World Telegram (February 4, 1939), p. 13.
Alfred M. Frankfurter. "The Sources of Modern Painting: A Concrete Exposition by the Boston Institute of Modern Art." Art News 37 (March 11, 1939), p. 10, ill.
Howard Devree. "Work by Dutch and French Masters." New York Times (February 5, 1939), sec. 9, p. X9.
Howard Devree. "Ten Ring Circus: PIcasso Exhibit Shows Diversity and Shallowness of Modern Art." Boston Evening Transcript (November 18, 1939), p. 7, ill.
"Modern Art Confesses All." Art Digest 13 (April 1, 1939), pp. 8–9, ill.
"Moderns' Debt to Antiquity Shown at Boston Exhibition." Newsweek 13 (March 13, 1939), p. 37, ill.
"An Illuminating Survey of Picasso's Figure Pieces." Art News 37 (February 4, 1939), p. 13.
Jean Cassou. Picasso. London, 1940, pp. 59, 165, ill.
Christian Zervos. Pablo Picasso. Vol. 2a, Works from 1906 to 1912. Paris, 1942, p. 39, no. 76, ill.
Ramón Gómez de la Serna. Completa y veridíca historia de Picasso y el cubismo. Turin, 1945, pl. XI.
Alfred H. Barr Jr. Picasso: Fifty Years of His Art. New York, 1946, pp. 62–63, 65, ill.
Joan Merli. Picasso, el artista y la obra de nuestro tiempo. 2nd ed. (1st ed.,1942). Buenos Aires, 1948, pl. 172.
Juan Antonio Gaya Nuño. Picasso. Barcelona, 1950, pl. 18.
Introduction by Alfred H. Barr Jr. "Paintings from Private Collections." Museum of Modern Art Bulletin 22 (Summer 1955), pp. 20, 34, ill.
Henri-Pierre Roché. "Adieu, brave petite collection!." L'Oeil no. 51 (March 1959), p. 40.
Roland Penrose. The Eye of Picasso. New York and Toronto, 1967, p. 16, pl. 7.
Franco Russoli and Fiorella Minervino. L'opera completa di Picasso cubista. Milan, 1972, pp. 95–96, no. 177, ill.
Pierre Daix and Joan Rosselet. Picasso, The Cubist Years, 1907–1916: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings and Related Works. 2nd ed. [1st ed., 1979, French]. Boston, 1979, p. 217, no. 143, ill.
Malcolm Gee. Dealers, Critics, and Collectors of Modern Painting: Aspects of the Parisian Art Market Between 1910 and 1930. PhD diss., Courtauld Institute of Art. New York, 1981, appendix F, sect. 2, p. 42, no. 116.
Roland Penrose. Picasso: His Life and His Work. 3rd ed. (1st ed., 1958). Berkeley, 1981, pl. V-3.
Anatoli Podoksik. Picasso: La Quête perpétuelle. Paris, 1989, p. 166, fig. 281.
Josep Palau i Fabre. Picasso: Cubism, 1907–1917. New York, 1990, pp. 102, 498, no. 276, ill.
Christian Geelhaar. Picasso: Wegbereiter und Förderer seines Aufstiegs, 1899–1939. Zürich, 1993, p. 190, ill.
Pierre Daix. Dictionnaire Picasso. Paris, 1995, pp. 69, 148.
Carol Vogel. "32 Works of Art by Masters Left to Met and the Modern." New York Times (November 25, 1996), ill. p. C12.
Grace Glueck. "A Surprise, and Then a Collection." New York Times (February 28, 1997), p. C31.
Scarlett Bonduelle-Reliquet. "Henri-Pierre Roché, collectionneur (1879–1959)." PhD diss., Université de Lille III, 1997, pp. 119, 210–11.
Ruben Charles Cordova. "Primitivism and Picasso's Early Cubism." PhD diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1998, pp. 137, 409, fig. 1.77.
Henri-Pierre Roché. Écrits sur l'art. Ed. Serge Fauchereau. Marseilles, 1998, p. 426.
Scarlett and Philippe Reliquet. Henri-Pierre Roché: L'Enchanteur collectionneur. Paris, 1999, pp. 200, 279.
Brigitte Leal, Christine Piot, and Marie-Laure Bernadac. The Ultimate Picasso. New York, 2000, pp. 133, 508, fig. 290.
Julia May Boddewyn in Michael FitzGerald. Picasso and American Art. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 2006, pp. 339, 344–46, 348, 351, 355, 373.
Gary Tinterow inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, p. 3.
Sabine Rewald inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, pp. 130–32, no. 46, ill. (color).
Lucy Belloli inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, p. 133, figs. 46.2, 46.4 (X-radiographs).
Robert McD. Parker and Maxime Touillet inThe Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde. Ed. Janet Bishop, Cécile Debray, and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco, 2011, pl. 352 (installation photo).
Robert McD. Parker inThe Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde. Ed. Janet Bishop, Cécile Debray, and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco, 2011, pp. 431, 465, no. 243.
Janet Bishop, Cécile Debray, and Rebecca Rabinow, ed. The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde. Exh. cat., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco, 2011, pp. 275–76, colorpl. 222.
Pepe Karmel. "The Negro Artist's Dilemma: Bearden, Picasso, and Pop Art." Romare Bearden, American Modernist. Ed. Ruth Fine and Jacqueline Francis. Washington, D.C., 2011, p. 253, fig. 4.
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
1921
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's engagement with art from 1890 to today includes the acquisition and exhibition of works in a range of media, spanning movements in modernism to contemporary practices from across the globe.
