The simplistic sketches of Picasso show off his raw skills perfcetly. They have also proved popular as reproductions, particularly some of his animal portraits such as Lump the Dog and his Camel drawing.
There is only fleeting information available regarding this particular artwork, many believe the portrait is of a historical figure of which the artist respected.
No connection to anyone specific has yet been confirmed and so most who appreciate this drawing do so because of the simplisticty of it's form.
Picasso created endless numbers of female portraits during his career, often just of the bust. He would go well beyond just pencil drawings, also producing sculpture portraits and more complex work in oils.
There are currently several related artworks from his career which are displayed prominently in American and European galleries, but the original sketch for this artwork is far harder to track down.
Due to the similarity with his animal sketches, it is likely that this portrait would also have been created around that same time. The paper and medium used is also much the same as that found in Dog, Penguin and several other animal sketches.
Femme (Woman) again makes use of Picasso's minimalist technique for drawing form and shape, actually even managing to be simpler than the portrait found here.
As passioniate as he was talented, Pablo created thousands of artworks during his life. This means that some of them are hard to understand, with little background information available.
A career of around 70 years for a productive artist has left us with a wealth of styles of mediums across all manner of genres. There is room for exhibitions to cover just individual aspects of his work.
You will find female portraits in his blue and purple periods, as well as metal sculptures, pencil drawings and cubist oil paintings.
