Pablo Picasso
Head of a Picador with a Broken Nose
1900-1923
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Pablo Picasso
Head of a Picador with a Broken Nose
1900-1923
Physical Qualities
Bronze, 7 11/16 x 5 11/16 x 4 1/2 in. (19.5 x 14.4 x 11.4 cm.)
Credit Line
The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland
Object Number
1950.453
This work, made in Barcelona, is one of Picasso’s first sculptures. The expressive portrayal of the picador’s tortured face is related to the mask-like visages of Picasso’s Blue Period portraits. Just as Auguste Rodin’s influence is evident in Matisse’s sculpture, The Serf, 1900–1903 (on view nearby), so too is Rodin’s influence present here. Rodin’s Man with the Broken Nose, 1863, was recognized as one of his greatest portraits. Picasso utilized Rodin’s asymmetrical composition, as well as the expressive modeling of the facial features, though with less detail. The portrait might also be an homage to Paul Gauguin’s self-portrait of 1889.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1949; Etta Cone, Baltimore, by bequest 1929; Claribel Cone, by purchase from Sally Stein 1925; ex collection Gertrude Stein.
Baltimore Museum of Art, "A Century of Baltimore Collecting 1840-1940", June 6 - Septembar 1, 1941.
Fine Arts Associates, New York, "Picasso Sculpture", January 15-February 9. 1957.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, "Picasso, 75th Anniversary Exhibition", May 22-September 8, 1957; The Art Institute of Chicago, October 29-December 8, 1957.
Philadelphia Museum of Art "Picasso, A Loan Exhibition of His Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, Ceramics, Prints and illustrated Books", January 8-February 23, 1958.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, "The Sculpture of Picasso", October 9, 1967-January 2, 1968.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, "Four Americans in Paris: The Collection of Gertrude Stein and Her Family", December 18, 1970-March 1, 1971; The Baltimore Museum of Art, April 4-June 13, 1971; San Francisco Museum of Art, September 15-October 31, 1971.
Arts Council of Britain, Hayward Gallery, "Pioneers of Modern Sculpture", July 20-September 23, 1973.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Van Gogh to Matisse: Impressionist and Modern Masters from the Cone Collection", Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, November 21, 1993-January 30, 1994.
Jay Fisher, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Picasso: Portrait and Figure", August 8-October 28, 2001
Oliver Shell, "The Persistent Figure in Modern Sculpture", The Baltimore Museum of Art,
October 25, 2006-June 17, 2007.
Ann Temkin , Anne Umland, "Picasso Sculpture," New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2015.
Fine Arts Associates, New York, "Picasso Sculpture", January 15-February 9. 1957.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, "Picasso, 75th Anniversary Exhibition", May 22-September 8, 1957; The Art Institute of Chicago, October 29-December 8, 1957.
Philadelphia Museum of Art "Picasso, A Loan Exhibition of His Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, Ceramics, Prints and illustrated Books", January 8-February 23, 1958.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, "The Sculpture of Picasso", October 9, 1967-January 2, 1968.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, "Four Americans in Paris: The Collection of Gertrude Stein and Her Family", December 18, 1970-March 1, 1971; The Baltimore Museum of Art, April 4-June 13, 1971; San Francisco Museum of Art, September 15-October 31, 1971.
Arts Council of Britain, Hayward Gallery, "Pioneers of Modern Sculpture", July 20-September 23, 1973.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Van Gogh to Matisse: Impressionist and Modern Masters from the Cone Collection", Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, November 21, 1993-January 30, 1994.
Jay Fisher, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Picasso: Portrait and Figure", August 8-October 28, 2001
Oliver Shell, "The Persistent Figure in Modern Sculpture", The Baltimore Museum of Art,
October 25, 2006-June 17, 2007.
Ann Temkin , Anne Umland, "Picasso Sculpture," New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2015.
André Level, "Picasso," (Paris: G. Crès & Cie, 1928) 29.
Etta Cone, "The Cone Collection of Baltimore, Maryland" (Baltimore:
1934) 124.
Christian Zervos, "Pablo Picasso Vol. VI" (Paris: Edition Cahiers D'Art,
1954) 73, cat. # 597.
"Handbook of the Cone Collection" (Baltimore: BMA, 1955) 47.
"Life Magazine" 14 Oct. 1957, color illustration p. 77.
Peter Anselm Riedl, "'Masque d'Homme' Ein Fruhwerk Pablo Picassos," Jahrbuch der Hamburger Kunstsammlungen, Band 7, Hamburg: Ernst Hauswedell & Co, 1962, pp. 83-92.
"Handbook of the Cone Collection" (revised edition) (Baltimore: BMA,
1967) 49.
Roland Penrose, "The Sculpture of Picasso" (New York, NY: MOMA,
1967) 221.
Irene Gordon, Lucile M. Golson, Leon Katz, Douglas Cooper, Ellen B.
Hirschland, "Four Americans in Paris: The Collection of Gertrude Stein and Her Family," exh. cat. (New York, NY: MOMA, 1970) 165, cat # 38.
Werner Spies and Christine Piot, "Picasso Das Plastische Werk," exh. cat. to
"Picasso Plastiken" Berlin: Nationalgalerie, 1983, p. 372.
Brenda Richardson, "Dr. Claribel & Miss Etta" (Baltimore: BMA 1985) 175.
Janet Bishop, Cécile Debray, and Rebecca Rabinow, eds., "The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde," San Francisco: The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2011
Ann Temkin and Anne Umland, "Picasso Sculpture," New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2015, p. 36-38, Cat. no. 2, ill. p. 45.
Dallas Museum of Art, "Pablo Picasso: Imitation, Transformation, Innovation (working title)" September 15, 2024 - January 12, 2025. Circulated to Portland Art Museum (Oregon) February 16, 2025 - June 8, 2025.
Inscribed: Lower left: "PICASSO 04 1905." The way the inscriptions is made suggests separation and perhaps a difference of inscription methods between the "04" and the "1905."
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