Thin, flat, industrially produced sheets of metal were available as a building or roofing material in early-twentieth-century Paris. The artist formed his Guitar (1914) out of the ferrous (iron-containing) metal without special equipment, just shears to cut, an awl to punch holes, and wire to sew. This sheet metal may have been gray or black before progressively developing a reddish-brown oxidation layer.

• Detail of:

• Guitar.

  Paris, after mid-January 1914. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the artist, 1971. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Department of Imaging Services: Photo Jonathan Muzikar. © 2011 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York