About This Artwork

Pablo Picasso
Spanish, worked in France, 1881–1973

Nude with a Pitcher, summer 1906

Oil on canvas
39 3/8 x 32 in. (100 x 81.4 cm)
Signed, l.r.: "Picasso"
Gift of Mary and Leigh Block, 1981.14

© Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories

Exhibition History

Frankfurt, Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Vom Abbild zum Sinnbild: Ausstellung von Meisterwerken Moderner Malerei im Städelschen Kunstinstitut, June 3–July 3, 1931, p. 44, cat. 184, as Mädchen mit Krug.

The Hague, Gemeentemuseum, Hedendaagsche Fransche Kunst, February 15–March 15, 1936, cat. 89, as Hebe, Halffiguur Naakt in Rooden Toon.

London, Tate Gallery, Picasso, July 6–September 18, 1960, p. 19, cat. 27, pl. 5i, as Girl with Pitcher.

Washington, National Gallery of Art, 100 Paintings and Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Leigh B. Block, May 4–June 11, 1967, cat. 36 (ill.), as Girl with a Pitcher; traveled to Los Angeles County Museum of Art, September 21–November 2, 1967.

The Art Institute of Chicago, Picasso in Chicago, February 3–March 31, 1968, pp. 17 and 112, cat. 9 (ill.).

The Art Institute of Chicago, The Art of the Edge: European Frames 1300–1900, October 17–December 14, 1986, as Girl With Pitcher.

Leningrad, Hermitage Museum, Ot Delakrua do Matissa, March 15–May 10, 1988, cat. 48 (ill.); traveled to Moscow, Pushkin Museum, June 10–July 30, 1988.

Malaga, Palacio Episcopal, Picasso Clasico, October 10, 1992–January 11, 1993, pp. 68, 87, and 203, cat. 9 (ill.), as Desnudo con jarra.

Nagaoka, Japan, Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Masterworks of Modern Art from The Art Institute of Chicago, April 20–May 29, 1994, pp. 88–89, cat. 22 (ill.); traveled to the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya, June 10–July 24, 1994, and the Yokohama Museum of Art, August 6–September 25, 1994.

Washington, National Gallery of Art, Picasso: The Early Years, 1892–1909, March 30–July 27, 1997, pp. 8, 320–321, 364, cat. 152 (ill.), as Girl with a Pitcher; traveled to Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, September 10, 1997–January 4, 1998.

Publication History

Oscar Schürer, Pablo Picasso (Berlin: Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1927) n.p. (ill.), as Hebe.

Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Vom Abbild zum Sinnbild: Ausstellung von Meisterwerken Moderner Malerei im Städelschen Kunstinstitut, exh. cat. (Frankfurt: Städelsches Kunstinstitut, 1931), p. 44, cat. 184.

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso I (Paris: Cahiers d’Art, 1932), p. 154, no. 330 (ill.).

Joan Merli, Picasso (Buenos Aires: Editorial Poseidon, 1948), n.p., fig. 139, as Muchacha Desnuda.Tate Gallery, Picasso, exh. cat. (London: Tate Gallery, 1960), p. 19, cat. 27, pl. 5i.

Pierre Daix and Georges Boudaille, Picasso 1900-1906: catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint (Neuchâtel: Editions Ides et Calendes, 1966), pp. 100, and 298. no. XV.23 (ill.).

National Gallery of Art, 100 Paintings and Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Leigh B. Block, exh. cat. (Washington D. C.: National Gallery of Art, 1967), cat. 36 (ill.).

Denys Sutton and Paolo Lecaldano, The Complete Paintings of Picasso: Blue and Rose Periods (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1968), p. 113, no. 305 (ill.), as Nude Woman with Water Jug.

The Art Institute of Chicago, Picasso in Chicago, exh. cat. (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1968), p. 17, cat. 9 (ill.).

Francine du Plessix, “The Flawless Eye: Mary and Leigh Block,” in The Collector in America (New York: A Studio Book, 1970), p. 111 (ill.), as Girl with Pitcher.

Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report 1980–81 (1981), cover (ill.).

Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 75:4 (Oct.–Dec. 1981), p. 9 (ill.), as Girl with Pitcher.Alan Artner, “Art Institute gets four major pieces,” Chicago Tribune (May 1, 1981) p.1 (ill.), as Girl With Pitcher.

Alan Artner, “Art Institute’s new ‘jewels’,” Chicago Tribune (May 1, 1981) section 4, p. 20, as Girl with Pitcher.

Josep Palau i Fabre, Picasso: Vivent (1881–1907) (Barcelona: Ediciones Poligrafa, 1980), pp. 451 and 550, fig. 1254, as Girl with a Pitcher.

Mary Matthews Gedo, “A Youthful Genius Confronts His Destiny: Picasso’s Old Guitarist in The Art Institute of Chicago,” Museum Studies 12:2 (1986), pp. 156–157 and 159, fig. 6.

James N. Wood and Katherine C. Lee, Master Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1988), p. 114 (ill.), as Girl with Pitcher.

Hermitage Museum, Ot Delakrua do Matissa, exh. cat. (Leningrad: Hermitage Museum, 1988), cat. 48 (ill.).

Patricia Leighten, Re-Ordering the Universe: Picasso and Anarchism, 1897–1914 (Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1989), p. 81, fig. 54.

Anatoly Podoksik, Picasso: The Artist’s Works in Soviet Museums, trans. by Vladimir Malakhov (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1989), p. 56 (ill.), as Girl with Pitcher, Pierre Daix, Picasso (Paris: Chêne, 1990), p. 151, fig. 2.

Gary Tinterow, Picasso Clasico, exh. cat. (Malaga: Palacio Episcopal, 1992), pp. 68, 87, and 203, cat. 9 (ill.).

Elizabeth Cowling and John Golding, Picasso: Sculptor/Painter (London: Tate Gallery, 1994), p. 230, fig. 57, as Girl with a Pitcher.

Judith A. Barter, Douglas W. Druick, and Charles F. Stuckey, Masterworks of Modern Art from The Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat. (Nagaoka, Japan: Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, 1994), pp. 88–89, cat. 22 (ill.).

Marilyn McCully, Picasso: The Early Years, 1892–1909, exh. cat. (Washington, D. C.: National Gallery of Art, 1997), pp. 8, 320–321, 364, cat. 152 (ill.), as Girl with a Pitcher.

Marylin McCully, Picasso, Painter and Sculptor in Clay, exh. cat. (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1998), p. 29 (ill), fig. 17.

Marilyn McCully, Picasso: scolpire e dipingere, La ceramica, exh. cat. (Ferrara: Ferrara arte, 2000), p. 34 (ill.), as Regazza con Brocca.

Jan van Adrichem, De ontvangst van de moderne kunst in Nederland 1910-2000: Picasso als pars pro toto (Amsterdam: Prometheus, 2001), pp. 200–201 (ill.).

María Dolores Jiménez-Blanco, “Picasso clásico,” in Picasso (Madrid: Fundación Cultural Mapfre Vida, 2002), p. 79 (ill.).

Washington DC, The National Gallery of Art, Picasso: The Cubist Portraits of Fernande Olivier (Washington DC: The National Gallery of Art, 2003), p. 7, fig. 2, as Girl with a Pitcher.

Ownership History

Dr. Gottlieb Friedrich von Reber (1880–1959), Lausanne, by 1927 [Schürer 1927]. A. E. von Saher, by 1936 [The Hague 1936]. Alfred Richet (1893–1992), Paris, until around 1960 [Daix and Boudaille 1967, and email from Pierre-Jean Furet, June 15, 2001 in curatorial file]. Edward F. W. James (1907–1984), California, Xilitla, Mexico, and London, by 1960 [London 1960]. Mary and Leigh Block, Chicago, by 1967 [Daix and Boudaille 1967]; given to the Art Institute, 1981.