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Pablo Picasso

Seated Woman with a Book (Femme assise au livre)
Now On View

Maker

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973, b. in Malaga, Spain)

Title

Seated Woman with a Book (Femme assise au livre)

Year

ca. 1910

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

oil paint

Supports

Geography

Place Made: France

Dimensions

41.3 x 24.1 cm (16 1/4 x 9 1/2 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signature: Signed on reverse UR in black:Picasso

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum Works of Art Fund

Object Number

51.094

Type

Publications

Exhibition History

European Galleries
Sep 02, 2017

Label copy

In Picasso’s early Cubist paintings, subjects were often fragmented and presented from multiple points of view. Here he transforms a female figure into a rhythmic scaffold in which tonal modeling shifts through armatures of angled lines. Clues to her pose and physical identity appear in the ambiguous hieroglyphics that suggest her breasts and the references to her crossed legs, the book in her lap, and the chair on which she is perched. The subtle shift of palette from gray-brown to a soft blue suggests that the model is seated before an open window looking out on the sea.

Re-Viewing the Twentieth Century
Jul 21, 2006 – Apr 22, 2007
Celebrating the Jewish Contribution to Twentieth-Century American Art
Nov 12, 2004 – Mar 05, 2005
"The Center Cannot Hold"
Art from 1900-1920
Mar 01, 1999 – Jul 01, 1999
Cubism and Its Affinities
Sep 01, 1995 – Dec 10, 1995

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In copyright This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973, b. in Malaga, Spain)
Seated Woman with a Book (Femme assise au livre), ca. 1910
Oil on canvas
41.3 x 24.1 cm (16 1/4 x 9 1/2 inches)
Museum Works of Art Fund 51.094

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