Standing Figure by Picasso in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, June 2010

Standing Figure

1908

Pablo Picasso, Spanish (worked in France), 1881–1973 Spanish


Dimensions: 150.2 x 100.3 cm (59 1/8 x 39 1/2 in.)

Accession Number: 58.976

Medium or Technique: Oil on canvas


This painting of a nude woman with her arms crossed behind her head was created during a key period of invention and experimentation, as Picasso began to construct his paintings in a new way. The figure is translated into simplified, geometric forms, reflecting Picasso's interest in the art of Africa and Oceania. Using only a few colors, he focuses our attention on the intersection of these forms, linking figure and ground in a dynamic, curving rhythm.

Inscription: Reverse of original support: Picasso

Provenance: 1909, sold by the artist to Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (b. 1884 - d. 1979), Paris [see note 1]; June 13-14, 1921, Kahnweiler sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, lot 83, to Winberg [see note 2]. Private collection, Germany. Private collection, Paris. By 1958, Galerie Nathan, Zurich; 1958, sold by Galerie Nathan to MFA. (Accession Date: October 9, 1958) NOTES: [1] According to letters of March 7, 1961 and March 18, 1961 from Kahnweiler to Mrs. Emay Buck of the MFA in curatorial file. This painting was among the possessions of Kahnweiler that were sequestered by the French government as legalized retribution against German citizens in the wake of World War I. [2] The buyer's name is annotated in a copy of the auction catalogue (reproduction in MFA curatorial file).

Credit Line: Juliana Cheney Edwards Collection

Text from: www.mfa.org/collections/object/standing-figure-33620