Deux femmes nues

Accession Number
1997/1.95

Title
Deux femmes nues

Artist(s)
Pablo Picasso

Artist Nationality
Spanish (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
circa 1905

Medium & Support
sepia ink on woven paper

Dimensions
4 7/16 in x 3 9/16 in (11.27 cm x 9.05 cm);19 1/4 in x 14 5/16 in (48.9 cm x 36.3 cm);7 3/16 in x 6 3/16 in (18.2 cm x 15.7 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of the Lannan Foundation in Honor of the Pelham Family

Subject matter
Likely created during Picasso's "Rose Period" when he took up permanent residence in Paris, the text to the upper right sheds light on the subject matter of this drawing. These women are prostitutes; the text roughly translates to "the poor things fix up their sheen in order to earn a living." During this period, Picasso produced a number of drawings of prostitutes and nude women, as well as large-scale paintings of the subject, including his famous "Les Demoiselles d’Avignon" (1907, MoMA). The subject of the two nudes became a particular favorite motif for Picasso in print media throughout his career.

Physical Description
In the center of the paper there are two nude women standing side by side. The body of the figure on the left is more visible because her arms are above her head revealing her breasts and torso, while the figure on the right is hunched over working on her hair. There is text inscribed in ink at the top right that says "las pobrecito arreglar las visos para ganare la vida."

Primary Object Classification
Drawing

Primary Object Type
life drawing

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Figures
bending
nudes
nudes (representations)
prostitutes
standing
women (female humans)

3 Related Resources

Spanish Avant-Garde
(Part of 2 Learning Collections)
Translate-a-thon: Asian Languages
(Part of: 2019 Translate-a-thon)
#5 Cubism / Modernism / Postmodernism / Primitivism
(Part of: <b>PSYCH 114 Honors Intro to Psychology</b><b></b>)

& Author Notes

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