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For every Pablo Picasso, there must be a Gertrude Stein

History would have you believe in the solitary virtuosity of Pablo Picasso, but his genius might never be known if it weren’t for the patronage of American novelist, poet and art collector Gertrude Stein.
Born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, Stein moved to Paris in 1903 and France would remain her adopted home until her death in 1946. In the city, Gertrude and her brother Leo frequented galleries and salons, purchasing works by contemporary Avant-Garde artists. Their collection included paintings by Henri Matisse, Paul Cezanne and Pablo Picasso.

Stein was instrumental to the development of Modern art, championing the new wave of rebellious artists seeking to make sense of their world at the turn of the century. She enabled the exchange of artistic ideologies through her Saturday evening salons, where she entertained artists, models, dealers and writers such as Georges Braque, Ernest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald at her apartment at 27 rue de Fleurus.
In the winter of 1905, Picasso began to paint a portrait in oils of his friend Gertrude Stein. This was an ordinary enough occurrence but the artist, more at home depicting nimble acrobats and harlequins, was confronted with the feat of translating the sitter, described by art historian Miles J. Unger as having a ‘hulking, fleshy, sculptural presence’, onto the canvas. This slightly scathing evaluation of Stein holds some truth, in contrast to the stereotypically feminine, fashionable Parisian women of the previous century. To capture the quality of his muse, Picasso worked antithetically: in lieu of artistic content and narrative devices, Stein’s likeness was accomplished through the very application of paint.

In his struggle for the portrait of Gertrude Stein, Picasso transitioned from the early Italian period into the movement to which he is now inextricably linked, Cubism.
Build Your Collection Like Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein (1905-6) is constructed with a pallet of earthy browns. The tones serve less to accurately render the sitter’s complexion, background and attire (though the lustreless, formless coat was a staple of her wardrobe) and more to excite an imposing presence. The blue and rose hues of Picasso’s previous periods would not suit the sturdy subject matter. No book lies open upon Stein’s lap as a symbol of her literary status, but an intellectual aura is achieved through form. Two dimensional planes of colour construct the head with angular highlights and shadows carving out the expression. The outcome is serious and sculptural. The inclined posture evokes a curiosity befitting of Stein’s intellectual endeavours, but the painting triumphs in its formal elements.

Beyond appearing as subject matter for one of the first Cubist paintings, Stein advocated the movement as a patron of Picasso’s formative work. She advertised them at her salons as groundbreakingly modern and her esteemed reputation as an art collector imparted the artworks with ideological and commercial value.
Picasso would not be the artist we know today without Stein’s support. As a radical thinker, she brought together the greatest minds of her generation both in her salon and her remarkable collection of art.

For any collectors looking to evoke the spirit of the genius writer Gertrude Stein, click below to browse through a selection of artworks we think she'd approve of.

Build Your Collection like Gertrude Stein