Picasso, Pablo

Watermark: illegible, cut off.
"People say that I have abandoned Cubism to make this sort of thing," Picasso said, referring to drawings such as this one. "That's not true." In a remarkable instance of stylistic diversity, from about 1915 to 1923, Picasso worked in a classical and representational mode at the same time that he was pursuing his radical experimentation with Cubism. The fluidity and clarity of this portrait exemplify the pure linear style he adopted in his neoclassical works. Lydia Lopokova (1892-1981) was a dancer with the Ballets Russes, for which Picasso designed sets and costumes. She would later marry the British economist John Maynard Keynes.