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Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler

A abstract painting in which numerous planes of brown and gray, along with highlights of black and white, compose the figure of a man. The most recognizable features are a pair of clasped hands and the wave of his dark hair.
© 2018 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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  • A abstract painting in which numerous planes of brown and gray, along with highlights of black and white, compose the figure of a man. The most recognizable features are a pair of clasped hands and the wave of his dark hair.

Date:

autumn 1910

Artist:

Pablo Picasso
Spanish, active France, 1881–1973

About this artwork

The subject of this portrait is Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (1884–1979), a German-born art dealer, writer, and publisher. Kahnweiler opened an art gallery in Paris in 1907 and in 1908 began representing Pablo Picasso, whom he introduced to Georges Braque. Kahnweiler was a great champion of the artists’ revolutionary experiment with Cubism and purchased the majority of their paintings between 1908 and 1915. He also wrote an important book, The Rise of Cubism, in 1920, which offered a theoretical framework for the movement.

Kahnweiler sat as many as thirty times for this portrait. No longer seeking to create the illusion of true appearances, Picasso broke down and recombined the forms he saw. He described Kahnweiler with a network of shimmering, semitransparent surfaces that merge with the atmosphere around him. Forms are fractured into various planes and faceted shapes and presented from several points of view. Despite the portrait’s highly abstract character, however, Picasso added attributes to direct the eye and focus the mind: a wave of hair, the knot of a tie, a watch chain. Out of the flickering passages of brown, gray, black, and white emerges a rather traditional portrait pose of a seated man, his hands clasped in his lap.

Status

On View, Gallery 127B

Department

Modern Art

Artist

Pablo Picasso

Title

Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler

Place

Spain (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1910

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

100.4 × 72.4 cm (39 9/16 × 28 9/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Gilbert W. Chapman in memory of Charles B. Goodspeed

Reference Number

1948.561

Copyright

© 2018 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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