43. Model Leaning on a Painting

The focal point of Model Leaning on a Painting is a delicate, feminine face on a painting. The thick crosshatching and dark lines of her hair are in sharp contrast with the style of the rest of the print. While the painting’s surroundings are drawn with single lines and lots of empty space, the face is thick with shading; while other parts of the print seem unfinished, close examination shows that Picasso traced the outlines of the cheeks and eyes of the figure on the canvas many times, suggesting that he was aiming for perfection. The captivating face almost obscures the figure’s true nature, drawing attention away from the male genitalia clearly visible. Is this a woman, after all?

Questions of identity and representation fill Picasso’s print. The central figure who seems so close and real is in fact a painting, enclosed on a canvas and seemingly just uncovered—a draped cloth still hangs on a top corner. This figure gazes up adoringly at a large sculpted head, crowned with ivy, which looks impassively across the room. The model seems to be an afterthought, relegated to the back, half-hidden behind the canvas, and sketchily drawn with unfinished hands and head. Picasso seems to be saying that the model is unimportant; it is her image, immortalized by the artist in paint, clay, or etching, that matters. We are left wondering: are the painting and the sculpture representations of the model who appears in the print or of another woman? Why did Picasso re-represent images he has already captured on canvas and in clay? Who is this model, and why does he capture her over and over in one medium after another? What does she mean to the artist, and—as she turns her face away from both the viewer and the works of art—what does art mean to her?

Nora Hill ’18