Pablo Picasso
Woman Plaiting Her Hair (Fernande)
1905-1938
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Pablo Picasso
Woman Plaiting Her Hair (Fernande)
1905-1938
Physical Qualities
Bronze, 16 3/8 x 10 1/4 x 12 5/16 in. (41.6 x 26 x 31.3 cm.)
Credit Line
The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland
Object Number
1950.452
Picasso sculpted this work (also known as Woman Combing
Her Hair) in ceramic in 1906 at the Paris studio of Francisco
(“Paco”) Durrio, who owned a large ceramics kiln.
During much of the summer of 1906, Picasso stayed in the
remote Spanish mountain village of Gósol. There he painted
and drew numerous studies of his mistress Fernande Olivier,
several of which depict her combing her hair. The motif goes
back in Picasso’s art to a drawing from 1905, inspired by
Ingres’ Turkish Bath (which also features women combing
their hair). Returning to Paris, Picasso transferred the motif
to sculpture. As he experimented with this fairly unfamiliar
medium, it seems likely that he was very aware of Rodin’s
Eve, a sculpture that is similarly self-contained. Fernande
and Eve share the gesture of the self-enfolding arm, but
where Rodin uses the gesture to convey the sense of Eve’s
shame, Picasso avoids any larger literary meanings.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1949; Etta Cone, Baltimore, by purchase; Buchholz Gallery, New York, 1940; possibly Ambroise Vollard
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "A Century of Baltimore Collecting 1840-1940", June 6- September 1, 1941.
Fine Arts Associates, New York, "Picasso Sculpture", January 15-February 9, 1957.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, "Picasso, 75th Anniversary Exhibition", May 22-September 8, 1957; circulated to The Art Institute of Chicago, October 29-December 8, 1957.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, "Picasso, A Loan Exhibition of His Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, Ceramics, Prints and illustrated Books", January 8-February 23, 1958.
Otto Gerson Gallery, New York, "Picasso: An American Tribute", April 24-May 12, 1962.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, "The Sculpture of Picasso", October 9, 1967-January 7, 1968.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, "Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective", May 14-September 30, 1980.
Wildenstein Galleries, New York, "Cone Collection from The Baltimore Museum of Art", March 29-May 11, 1974.
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, "Gauguin to Moore: Primitivism in Modern Sculpture", October 6, 1981-January 3, 1982.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The Spirit of Appreciation: Masterpieces from the Cone Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art", Los Angeles County Museum of Art, October 6-November 24,1985; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, December 14, 1985-February 9, 1986.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Matisse, Picasso and Impressionist Masters from the Cone Collection", Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, October 2, 1991-January 19,1992.
Tate Gallery, London, "Picasso: Sculptor / Painter", February 16-May 8, 1994.
Jay Fisher, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Picasso: Portrait and Figure", August 8, 2001-October 28, 2001.
Katy Rothkopf, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Matisse, Picasso and the School of Paris", North Carolina Museum of Art, October 10, 2004-January 16, 2005; Naples Museum of Art, February 5, 2005-May 1, 2005.
Oliver Shell, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Rodin: Expression and Influence", August 1, 2007-April 6, 2008.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, "Picasso Looking at Degas", June 6-September 12, 2010; Museum Picasso, October 14, 2010-Jaunary 16, 2011.
Katy Rothkopf, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore", circulated to The Jewish Museum, New York, May 6-September 25, 2011; Vancouver Art Gallery, June 2-September 23, 2012; Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, November 3, 2012-February 10, 2013.
Fine Arts Associates, New York, "Picasso Sculpture", January 15-February 9, 1957.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, "Picasso, 75th Anniversary Exhibition", May 22-September 8, 1957; circulated to The Art Institute of Chicago, October 29-December 8, 1957.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, "Picasso, A Loan Exhibition of His Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, Ceramics, Prints and illustrated Books", January 8-February 23, 1958.
Otto Gerson Gallery, New York, "Picasso: An American Tribute", April 24-May 12, 1962.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, "The Sculpture of Picasso", October 9, 1967-January 7, 1968.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, "Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective", May 14-September 30, 1980.
Wildenstein Galleries, New York, "Cone Collection from The Baltimore Museum of Art", March 29-May 11, 1974.
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, "Gauguin to Moore: Primitivism in Modern Sculpture", October 6, 1981-January 3, 1982.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The Spirit of Appreciation: Masterpieces from the Cone Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art", Los Angeles County Museum of Art, October 6-November 24,1985; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, December 14, 1985-February 9, 1986.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Matisse, Picasso and Impressionist Masters from the Cone Collection", Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, October 2, 1991-January 19,1992.
Tate Gallery, London, "Picasso: Sculptor / Painter", February 16-May 8, 1994.
Jay Fisher, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Picasso: Portrait and Figure", August 8, 2001-October 28, 2001.
Katy Rothkopf, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Matisse, Picasso and the School of Paris", North Carolina Museum of Art, October 10, 2004-January 16, 2005; Naples Museum of Art, February 5, 2005-May 1, 2005.
Oliver Shell, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Rodin: Expression and Influence", August 1, 2007-April 6, 2008.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, "Picasso Looking at Degas", June 6-September 12, 2010; Museum Picasso, October 14, 2010-Jaunary 16, 2011.
Katy Rothkopf, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore", circulated to The Jewish Museum, New York, May 6-September 25, 2011; Vancouver Art Gallery, June 2-September 23, 2012; Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, November 3, 2012-February 10, 2013.
Cahiers d'Art, No. 7-8, 1927, ill. p. 285.
Christian Zervos, I:329, 1932, ill. p. 153.
Handbook of the Cone Collection (Baltimore: BMA, 1955) 47, # 166.
Handbook of the Cone Collection (revised edition) (Baltimore: BMA, 1967) 53, # 155.
Roland Penrose, "The Sculpture of Picasso" (New York, NY: MOMA, 1967), 221, ill. p. 49.
Rubin, William, ed. Pablo Picasso, A Retrospective. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1980, p. 74 ill.
Werner Spies and Christine Piot, "Picasso Das Plastische Werk," exh. cat. to Picasso Plastiken (Berlin: Nationalgalerie, 1983), 372.
Elizabeth Cowling and John Golding, "Picasso:Sculptor/Painter," (London: Tate Gallery Publications, 1994) 42, 255, #2.
Elizabeth Cowling and Richard Kendall, "Picasso Looks at Degas," (Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; Barcelona, Spain: Museu Picasso, 2010), pp. 180-181, plate #201, ill.
Karen Levitov, "Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore," New York: The Jewish Museum, 2011, pp. 65, 77, pl. 43, ill.
Inscribed: Signed "PICASSO" on the proper right near the bottom of the sculpture. An attached bracket on the back is inscribed with the words "Made In France."
On View at the BMA
