Gertrude Stein

Picasso's "Gertrude Stein" holds many historians' interests from several reasons. First, Gertrude Stein holds significant status by herself, aside from Picasso's painting. She was a homosexual modernist artist and author, and she befriended many cultural titans including Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemmingway, and Pablo Picasso. The painting itself took longer than usual to paint, as Picasso continued to put more and more paint on the work. He actually finished the head in Stein's absence, and many people stated that with the mask-like face, she looked nothing like the painting. "She will", he said, and he was right. Picasso's prolonged exposure to Stein as a model and his observation of her in different settings somehow managed to render a portrait that exceeded temporality. The painting offers much ambiguity as to whenther Picasso meant to paint a blatant portrait of physical features or the long-shifting, hard-faced features of Stein's personality. This unusual rendering style which sparked Cubism, combined with the popularity of both the artist and model, makes the piece rich with interesting details.

 http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=jGnXrfaioxQC&oi=fnd&pg=PT10&dq=gertrude+Stein%3B+picasso&ots=IwUrCL3I2e&sig=m1k0Pc8tkZR7ve5IXxCDGjcNJo8#v=onepage&q=gertrude%20Stein&f=false

http://www.jstor.org.lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/stable/465172?seq=2



http://www.biography.com/people/gertrude-stein-9493261