Head of a Woman (Fernande)

This bronze bust captures the fragmented yet powerful essence of Fernande Olivier, Picasso's companion at the time. Her head is rendered not as a smooth, continuous surface, but as a series of sharp planes and angles that intersect and jut out, particularly around her eyes and the bridge of her nose. This approach, characteristic of early Cubism, allows the viewer to perceive multiple viewpoints simultaneously, as if walking around the sculpture and seeing it from all sides at once. The deep shadows and bright highlights created by these facets emphasize the sculpture's three-dimensionality and weight. The work was cast in bronze from a clay original made in 1909, then a plaster model, with this particular cast made years later. It reflects the radical shift in how artists were beginning to represent the human form, moving away from traditional naturalism toward a more analytical and geometric interpretation.