Read More (y1969-131)

In the fall of 1971, Norwegian artist Carl Nesjar turned Picasso’s 1962 maquette for Head of a Woman into this sixteen-foot-high sculpture by building wooden forms on-site to establish the basic shapes of the pedestal and the head. A mixture of multicolored crushed stones—granite and quartzite imported from Norway—were packed into the structures, and liquid concrete was injected under pressure from the base, creating a flush, smooth surface when the wooden structures were removed. Finally, Carl Nesjar sandblasted the outer “skin” to reveal the colorful, textured aggregate within and to refine the details of the face.