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Nue aux mains serrées is in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Description
Nue aux mains serrées (1905-1906) is an early work by the Pablo Picasso. Devoid of the better known cubist characteristics of his later work this piece takes on a serene, almost classical appearance. While it has the air of a study no larger, more complete work exists, and as a gouache on canvas this piece is classified as a painting in its own right, and not as a drawing/study. The model has been identified as Fernande Olivier, Picasso’s mistress at the time of the work’s execution. She is the subject of a number of his works including the sculpture Head of Woman (Fernande) (1909; cast: 1910/1914) another work in the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario. The execution of this painting has been disputed among scholars. Some attribute it to late 1905 corresponding with Picasso’s trip to the Netherlands. Here Picasso may have been influenced by the more robust torsos of his Dutch models, which might explain the wide hips and solid torso in this portrait. However, others who attribute the piece to 1906 attribute the figure’s form to Picasso changing artistic temperaments and new influences from primitive Iberian sculpture. In this case Nue aux mains serrées becomes one more stepping stone towards the flat, distorted figures in his famous piece Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907). In either case this portrait shows as ever Picasso’s ability to derive influence from a variety of places and artistic practices, the exact nature of which will always be in question, to create his own absolutely unique style.

Acquisition
This work was a gift of Gift of Sam and Ayala Zacks in 1970. it was acquired by the Zacks in 1956 in Lucerne.