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La Main [The Hand or Arm with Sleeve]
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© Succession Picasso/DACS

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La Main [The Hand or Arm with Sleeve] 1948
Although Picasso is best known for his work as a painter, he also experimented extensively with sculpture. This bronze cast of a clay model almost certainly depicts the artist’s own right hand. Similarities can be drawn to an earlier self-portrait, painted in 1906, in which he holds a palette with his left hand and loosely clenches his right. Intriguingly, in preparatory drawings Picasso depicted a paintbrush in his right hand. By excluding it in the final painting, the artist gives testament to his belief that his skill as an artist went beyond his tools. Picasso encourages the viewer to contemplate his sculpture, ‘La Main’, it in a similar way by representing his hand with the distinct marks of the maker’s fingers.

Glossary Open

Cast

The production of a sculpture by use of a mould to make a copy, usually in a more durable material, of the original work. The term is used to describe both the process and the resulting object.

Palette

A hand-held board on which a painter lays out and mixes the colours he or she is using. By extension it is used to describe the range of colours employed by an artist.

Cast, Palette

Details

  • Acc. No. GMA 1996
  • Medium Bronze (3/10)
  • Size 6.70 x 24.00 x 9.50 cm
  • Credit Bequeathed by Hannah Gluck 1978

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