Head of a Man

Paris, 1912

Not on view

With the barest scaffolding of lines and curves, Picasso evokes the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and chin of a man—not to mention the crown and brim of his hat. Columns of charcoal lines on the white paper ostensibly provide shading, yet refuse to define the volume of any object. The newspaper article concerns the Bulgarian general Georgi Todorov (1858–1934) and the Balkan Wars, one of the main political crises of the day, news of which appears in several Picasso collages from the fall of 1912. The hand-painted area of wood grain is an insider’s wink at Braque, who was the first to use mechanically printed, faux bois wallpaper in his collages.

Artwork Details

Title: Head of a Man
Artist: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
Date: Paris, 1912
Medium: Charcoal, watercolor, cut-and-pasted newspaper, and gray laid paper on white laid paper
Dimensions: 24 5/8 × 18 1/2 in. (62.5 × 47 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, Gift of Leonard A. Lauder, 2016
Object Number: 2016.237.35
Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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291, No. 1, March 1915, Pablo Picasso Spanish — 291, No. 1, March 1915
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