Head of a Woman

"Head of a Woman," created by Pablo Picasso in 1916 and formally published in 1919, is a significant example of the Spanish master's extensive graphic output during a key transitional phase in his career. This remarkable print is classified technically as an engraving, a demanding intaglio process that requires the artist to manually incise lines directly into a metal plate using a sharp tool called a burin. In this specific piece, the dramatic tonal range and subtle modeling of the face were achieved through the inclusion of roulette. The roulette is a specialized printmaking instrument, essentially a small wheel tipped with sharp points, which is rolled over the plate to create a field of minute indentations. When inked, these thousands of small depressions hold the pigment, resulting in the rich, speckled texture used by Picasso to define shadow and volume.

The subject matter, a woman's head rendered in somber detail, reflects the artist’s temporary move away from the intense fragmentation of Cubism toward the simplified, monumental classicism that marked his work in the mid-1910s. While the influence of his earlier geometric discoveries remains evident in the structured contours of the face, the overall impression is one of restrained naturalism and classical dignity. Picasso demonstrates masterful control over the engraving process, juxtaposing the hard, defined lines of the silhouette with the soft, velvety texture created by the roulette work.

This strategic choice of prints as a medium allowed Picasso to explore figure study with an immediacy and austerity that differed sharply from his concurrent oil paintings. The specific period of 1916, published 1919, places the work at the beginning of the artist’s decade-long dialogue with Neoclassical forms, a stylistic shift that profoundly influenced twentieth-century figurative art. The completed print of Head of a Woman provides valuable documentation of this pivotal moment in the history of modern art and is held today in the esteemed collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).