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[[newspaper article]]

Museum Acquires Sculpture by Picasso;
Newspaper plant as Sketched by Artist

By LOUISE AARON
Journal Art Editor

There will be no change in exhibitions at the Portland Art museum until March 11 but visitors now have the opportunity to see the museum's latest purchase--a bronze cast of Pablo Picasso's "Head of a Woman," which the great modernist executed in 1909 when the cubistic movement, which contributed greatly to the contemporary art revolution, was in its youth.

The sculpture, one of an estimated 10 casts of the head in the world, has the cubistic planes and distortions but the essential form of a woman's head with its high headdress of the period is there.

The purchase of an original work by Picasso, whether it be sculpture, painting, print or ceramic, is important to any museum which has attempted or is attempting to build up a collection representative of outstanding artists and art movements of the 20th century.

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Acquisition of a Picasso sculpture means a considerable investment.  In this instance, the purchase was made from income from a fund earmarked by the donor for art purchases.  But the chief investment is in the historical and esthetic worth in the opinion of the museum art committee, which recommended the purchase, and the trustees, who approved.

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THE PICASSO head is exhibited in a mezzanine gallery, which is reserved for sculpture and painting by the more important 20th century artists represented in the collections and loans.  There one can study the changes in expression from the earlier Rodin "Brother and Sister," on loan from Mrs. Robert L. Sabin, and the much later "Sacrifice" and "Prometheus," by Lipchitz, which the museum bought last year.  Repesentative of other contemporary sculptors on the international level are Marini's "Cavalier," in the museum collection; Maillol's "Standing Nude," also in the collection; Kolbe's "Standing Nude," the gift of Jan deGraff; and Lehmbruck's "Head of a Woman," on loan from Mrs. John W. Blodgett Jr.  The massive bronze "Standing Woman," also by Lehmbruck, is alone in the large, high sculpture court of the first floor.  All the other sculptures are small.

The visitor attracted by sculpture has an extra treat in the Ayre galleries where five small sculptures by moderns--More, Marcks and Warneke--are included in the current exhibition of the collection owned by Mr. and Mrs. Abbot L. Mills Jr.

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[[image - black & white photograph of a bronze Picasso's "Head of a Woman"]]

IMPORTANT MUSEUM PURHASE--Bronze cast of Picasso's "Head of a Woman" shows early cubistic influence although essential form maintained.
[[/newspaper article]]