Gertrude Stein, 1906, by Pablo Picasso
Oil on canvas
Height 39 1/2 inches, Width 32 inches
47.106
Picasso's portrait of the writer Gertrude Stein marks a departure
in style for the artist, from observation to conceptualization. The
mask-like appearance of Stein's face has a pensive, meditative quality.
She appears to be deep in her own private thoughts, self-contained
and inaccessible.
The legend surrounding this portrait, as described by Stein, is that
Picasso had great difficulties painting Stein's image, and took over
80 sittings. At the last sitting, he said, "I can't see you any
longer when I look" and painted out the whole head. Picasso left
for Spain for several months, and when he returned, he completed the
portrait from memory, drawing upon the Iberian art he had been in
contact with. The resulting mask-like face has been interpreted as
the artist's difficulties in portraying the lesbian author, described
by Robert Lubar as an "impressive, forbidding, hard-to-place
subject for a painting" (Cowling, p. 110) Gertrude Stein was
pleased with the final result, and said that "for me, it is I,
and it is the only reproduction of me which is always I, for me."
(Belloli, p. 18)
Belloli, Lucy. "The Evolution of Picasso's portrait of Gertrude
Stein." The Burlington Magazine, v. 141, no. 1150, January
1999, p. 12-18.
Cowling, Elizabeth, et al. Matisse Picasso. London: Tate
Publishing, 2002.
Gopnik, Adam. "High and Low: Caricature, Primitivism, and the
Cubist Portrait." Art Journal, v. 43, no. 4, Winter 1983,
p. 371-6.
The Grove Dictionary of Art Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed
17 September 2002), <http://www.groveart.com>, "Picasso,
Pablo: Life and work, Primitivism and Cubism, 1906-15."
Lubar, Robert S. "Unmasking Pablo's Gertrude: Queer Desire and
the Subject of Portraiture." The Art Bulletin, v. 79,
March 1997, p. 57-84.
Monod-Fontaine, Isabelle, "Gertrude Stein," The Grove
Dictionary of Art Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed 17 September 2002),
<http://www.groveart.com>
