This head is made from a wooden fruit crate into which Picasso carved abstracted ears. He once explained that his playful daily practice of assembling found objects felt to him only natural: "It seems strange to me that we ever arrived at the idea of making statues from marble. I understand how you can see something in the root of a tree, a crevice in a wall, a corroded bit of stone, or a pebble....But marble?"
Gallery label from Focus: Picasso Sculpture, July 3–November 3, 2008.