Picasso first met Jacqueline Roque (1927–1986) in Vallauris in the summer of 1952. They were married in 1961. He recorded her distinctive features—high cheekbones, enormous eyes, and dark, straight hair—in hundreds of works in a variety of styles between 1954 and 1972. Head of a Woman appears to be the culmination of a series of ten wash drawings made on November 12, 1960. They in turn derive from several of his paintings from 1949 of painter Françoise Gilot. In recapitulating these earlier works, Picasso essentially transmuted images of Françoise into this 1960 portrait of Jacqueline.
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Inscription: Signed (upper left): Picasso; dated on verso in red paint, upper center: 28.11.60./30.
[Kootz Gallery, New York, until 1962; sold in 1962 to Field]; Mr. and Mrs. Leonard S. Field, New York (1962–90; their gift to MMA)
Art Gallery of Toronto. "Picasso and Man," January 11–February 16, 1964, no. 271.
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. "Picasso and Man," February 28–March 31, 1964, no. 271.
Washington, D.C. Corcoran Gallery of Art. "Five Years: The Friends of the Corcoran, 'The Contemporary Spirit'," October 7–30, 1966, no. 69.
University of California, Berkeley Art Museum. "Excellence: Art from the University Community," September 1970, no. 540.
Naples, Fla. Naples Museum of Art. "Pablo Picasso: Preoccupations and Passions," January 29–May 18, 2008, unnum. brochure (fig. 21).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 27–August 1, 2010, no. 92.
New York. Pace Gallery. "Picasso & Jacqueline: The Evolution of Style," October 31, 2014–January 10, 2015, unnumbered cat. (p. 123).
Christian Zervos. Pablo Picasso. Vol. 19, Œuvres de 1959 à 1961. Paris, 1968, p. 126, no. 408, ill.
Mariel Jardines. The Picasso Project: Picasso's Paintings, Watercolours, Drawings, and Sculpture: A Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue 1885–1973. Ed. Herschel Chipp and Alan Wofsy. Vol. 12, The Sixties I, 1960–1963. San Francisco, 2002, p. 106, no. 60-326, ill.
Kevin Costello. "Exhibit Offers Glimpse of a Picasso's Passions and His Vast Creativity." Herald Tribune (March 23, 2008), p. E1, ill.
Gary Tinterow inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, p. 11.
Marla Prather inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, pp. 249–51, no. 92, ill. (color).
Isabelle Duvernois inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, p. 250, fig. 92.3 (X-radiograph).
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
1921
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