Add to Collection

Add this item to an existing or new collection.
Harvard Art Museums
Incorrect Username, Email, or Password
A painting of a woman seated with her arms on a table, her chin on her hands.

The painting shows a woman from the waist up, her elbows rest on a table, her chin rests on her raised hands. She is wearing a long-sleeved gold colored shirt. Her hair is put up in a bun, she looks straight out from the picture. Behind her in the upper right is a partial view of a framed picture. The wall behind her is dark gray, the bottom half of the wall is painted dark brown.

Gallery Text

Picasso painted this portrait during his early-career “Blue Period,” so named for the color that predominated in his work at the time. The muted palette, blocks of interrupted color, and abstracted forms with strong outlines typify the artist’s approach at this stage, one of the most celebrated of his career. The discordant styles and confrontational poses in the portraits on both sides of this canvas represent a bold and humorous assertion of his developing style. While it stands in stark contrast to Toulouse-Lautrec’s technique, which Picasso imitates on the other side of the canvas, his depiction of a dour, solitary figure in a café interior reinterprets a subject long favored by the impressionists. Picasso’s paintings from 1901 include numerous depictions of a dark-haired woman with this “chignon” hairstyle, a tight bun on the crown of the head.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1951.55.1
People
Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Spanish (Malaga, Spain 1881 - 1973 Mougins, France)
Title
Woman with a Chignon
Other Titles
Original Language Title: Femme au Chignon
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1901
Culture
Spanish
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/229046

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1220, European Art, 19th–20th century, Collection of Maurice Wertheim, Class of 1906
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
sight: 68.6 x 47.6 cm (27 x 18 3/4 in.)
framed: 95.3 x 74 x 7.6 cm (37 1/2 x 29 1/8 x 3 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: dark blue oil, u.l.: Picasso

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Pablo Ruiz Picasso; to [Ambroise Vollard]. [Carroll Galleries, New York (? - 1915) sold]; to John Quinn, New York (1915-1926), sold (by his estate); to [Paul Rosenberg]. Dr. and Mrs. Harry Bakwin, New York NY, 1926. Maurice Wertheim, New York, (1936-1951) bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1951.

Notes
Per correspondence with the owners' grandson, the painting was sold during World War II, this seems unlikely as Wertheim purchased the painting in 1936.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest from the Collection of Maurice Wertheim, Class of 1906
Copyright
© Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Accession Year
1951
Object Number
1951.55.1
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

THIS WORK HAS SIGNIFICANT LOAN RESTRICTIONS BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Descriptions

Description
Verso of a two-sided canvas (recto: 1951.55.2)

Publication History

  • Earl Horter, Picasso, Matisse, Derain, Modigliani (Philadelphia, PA, n.d.), repr. pl. 1
  • [Unidentified article], The Arts (May 1921), vol. I, ill. p. 21
  • Loan Exhibition of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY, 1921), repr., no. 79
  • John Quinn, 1870-1924, Collection of Paintings, Water Colors, Drawings & Sculpture, Pidgeon Hill Press (Huntington, NY, 1926), repr. p. 100
  • Christian Zervos, "Picasso, oeuvres inédites anciennes", Cahiers d'Art (1928), vol. III, repr. p. 220
  • Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, Cahiers d'Art (Paris, France, 1932), repr. vol. I, pl. 96
  • Pablo Picasso, exh. cat., Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art (Hartford, CT, 1934), repr., no. 6
  • Jacques Seligmann, Picasso's "Blue" and "Rose" Periods 1901-1906, exh. cat., Jacques Seligmann Galleries (New York, NY, 1936), repr. no. 8
  • "Why Artists Paint Ugly Women", Unidentified journal (December 30 1945), repr.
  • Alfred M. Frankfurter, "Today's Collectors: Modern Milestones", Art News (June 1946), vol. XLV, no. 4, p. 63
  • French Painting since 1870, lent by Maurice Wertheim, Class of 1906, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1946), repr. p. 49, pp. 46-49
  • La Peinture Française Depuis 1870: Collection Maurice Wertheim, exh. cat., Tom Taylor (Québec, Canada, 1949), repr. no. 19, p. 51-54
  • A. Cirici-Pellicer, Picasso avant Picasso, P. Cailler (Geneva, Switzerland, 1950), p. 112
  • John Coolidge, "The Wertheim Collection", Harvard Alumni Bulletin, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, July 7, 1951), repr.
  • Howard Devree, "By French Masters: The Metropolitan Shows Wertheim Collection", The New York Times (New York, NY, July 6 1952), p. 6, p. 6
  • Howard Devree, "By French Masters: Memorable Loan Show in Philadelphia", The New York Times (New York, NY, July 7 1957), p. 70, p. 70
  • The Maurice Wertheim Catalogue: Modern French Art-- Monet to Picasso, exh. cat., North Carolina Museum of Art (Raleigh, NC, 1960), p. 32-35, repr. p. 35
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection: Manet to Picasso, exh. cat., The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Houston, TX, 1962), p. 36, pl. 13
  • "Modern French Art", The Baltimore Sun, Sunday magazine (Baltimore, MD, July 14 1963), ill. p. 9
  • Pierre Daix and Georges Boudaille, Picasso: Blue and Rose Periods, Idees et Calendes (Neuchatel, Switzerland, 1966), V. 69 and VI. 23
  • B. L. Reid, The Man from New York: John Quinn and His Friends, Oxford University Press (NY) and Oxford University Press (UK) (New York, NY, 1968), p. 207
  • Jacques Lassaigne, Toulouse-Lautrec e la Parigi dei Cabarets, Fratelli Fabbri Editori (Milan, Italy, 1969), repr.
  • Sidney Finkelstein, Der Junge Picasso, VEB Verlag der Kunst (Dresden, Germany, 1970), repr.
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection, exh. cat., Maine State Museum (Augusta, ME, 1972), no. 24, repr. in color on cover
  • Judith Zilczer, 'The Noble Buyer': John Quinn, Patron of the Avant-Garde, exh. cat., Smithsonian Institution Press (Washington, D.C, 1978), repr. in b/w page 34, fig. 11, p. 176
  • Josep Palau i Fabre, Picasso, the Early Years, 1881-1907, Rizzoli (New York, NY, 1981), p. 257, no. 633
  • John O'Brian, Degas to Matisse: the Maurice Wertheim Collection, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. and Fogg Art Museum (New York, NY and Cambridge, MA, 1988), no. 23, repr. in color p.103; text pp.101-104; p. 156
  • Edgar Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum: A Summary Catalogue including Paintings in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 124; repr. as no. 834
  • Seiji Oshima, Musee Picasso 2, Spadem and BCF (Paris, France and Tokyo, Japan, 1990 - 1991), repr. in color, no. 71
  • Pierre Daix, Picasso, Profils de l'Art, Chene (Paris, France, 1990), repr. in color, no. 4, p. 31
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection and Selected Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings and Drawings in the Fogg Art Museum, exh. cat., Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1990), repr. in color no. 35, p. 101
  • Denys Chevalier, Picasso: the Blue and Rose Periods, Crown Publishers Inc. (New York, NY, 1991), repr. in color p. 32
  • Marilyn McCully, Picasso: The Early Years, 1892-1906, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C, 1997), p. 356, in checklist
  • Dorothy Kosinski, The Artist and the Camera: Degas to Picasso, exh. cat., Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, 1999), p. 306, n. 8
  • William H. Robinson, Picasso and the Mysteries of Life: La Vie, exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art and D. Giles (Cleveland,OH and London, 2012), p. 81, fig. 80, ill. (color)
  • Barnaby Wright, ed., Becoming Picasso: Paris 1901, exh. cat., The Courtauld Gallery and Paul Holberton Publishing (London, 2013), pp. 50-51, fig. 17, ill. (color)
  • Elizabeth M. Rudy, "Researching the Wertheim Collection at the Harvard Art Museums", Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals (Summer 2014), Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 301-6, pp. 302-4

Exhibition History

  • Loan Exhibition of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 01/01/1921 - 12/31/1921
  • Modern European Art, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 01/01/1933 - 12/31/1933
  • Pablo Picasso, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, 02/06/1934 - 03/01/1934
  • Picasso "Blue" and "Rose" Periods, 1901-1906, Jacques Seligmann & Co., New York, 11/01/1936 - 11/30/1936
  • French Painting since 1870 lent by Maurice Wertheim, Class of 1906, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 06/01/1946 - 09/07/1946; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 07/01/1953 - 09/13/1953
  • Picasso Before 1907, Knoedler & Co. Inc., New York, 10/01/1947 - 10/31/1947
  • La Peinture Française depuis 1870, Musée de la Province de Quebec, 07/12/1949 - 08/07/1949
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 07/01/1952 - 09/14/1952
  • French Paintings Since 1870 from the Maurice Wertheim Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 06/01/1953 - 09/30/1953
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 06/15/1957 - 09/15/1957
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 06/10/1958 - 08/31/1958
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection: Modern French Art--Monet to Picasso, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 06/17/1960 - 09/04/1960
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection: Manet to Picasso, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, 06/13/1962 - 09/02/1962
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, 06/20/1963 - 09/01/1963
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, 06/24/1965 - 09/07/1965
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, 09/03/1968 - 09/22/1968
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Montgomery Museum of Art, Montgomery, 06/01/1971 - 09/30/1971
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Maine State Museum, Augusta, 06/01/1972 - 09/01/1972
  • Manet to Matisse: The Maurice Wertheim Collection, IBM Gallery of Science and Art, New York, 04/09/1985 - 05/25/1985
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection and Selected Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings and Drawings in the Fogg Art Museum, Isetan Department Store, Tokyo, 03/01/1990 - 04/10/1990; Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, 04/14/1990 - 05/13/1990
  • Picasso: The Early Years, 1892-1906, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 09/10/1997 - 01/04/1998
  • Re-View: S427 Impressionist & Postimpressionist Art, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 08/02/2008 - 06/18/2011
  • 32Q: 1220 Wertheim, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Related Articles

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu