Drawing Detail
Man with his Arms CrossedArtist: Pablo Picasso
Medium: Drawings, Gouache, watercolour and tempera, 65.2x49.2 cm
Date: 1909
Genre: Genre Painting
Source: State Museum of New Western Art, Moscow, 1934
The treatment of the head, face and bust of the sitter reveals the same principle of geometrical simplification of the plastic form and colour solution that was typical of the works produced by Picasso in different techniques in Paris in the spring of 1909. The artist is interested here rather in the representation of the ulterior structure of the form than in the portrayal of the individual. Although the image is divided into independent sections, the artist unites them into a single ornamental design by means of a strict outline. The laconic, almost ascetic, and harmonious combination of ochreous and grey tones is in keeping with the whole composition. Here Picasso rather strove to convey light and space than to show the richness of colours.