Hear the Alumnus and History Columnist (y1969-131)

This is Gregg Lange, Princeton Class of 1970 and history columnist for Princeton Alumni Weekly.

Pablo Picasso’s Head of a Woman was constructed by Norwegian artist Carl Nesjar in 1971 from a twelve-inch maquette the master had completed in 1962; the huge project was poured and then sandblasted on-site. Picasso himself received no fee for the work, in which his own unique style is instantly recognizable—it depicts the essence of the female form, a topic with which he was obsessed throughout his life, even at ninety years old, his age at the time of the sculpture’s dedication. Originally built and located in front of the Art Museum, Head of a Woman was relocated in 2002 when the Marquand Library was expanded underground and usurped its site. The statue’s new home here, in front of I.M. Pei’s Spelman Halls, complements its lines and textures and puts it at the hub of the University Arts & Transit neighborhood being developed immediately to the west.