Head of a Woman

In the spring of 1948, Picasso moved to Vallauris, a town renowned for its pottery. The six intensely productive years he spent there resulted in a series of drawings and engravings that influenced his ceramics and sculptures, including many modeled works like this one cast in bronze. Duncan Phillips thought that Head of a Woman, “although executed in 1950, [was] reminiscent of Picasso’s 1905–1910 period when he became interested in the artistic quality of African and Oceanic objects… . Whether he drew inspiration from the past or found he had a natural affinity with certain forms, Picasso stamped them unmistakably with his powerful personality.”