Bust of Sylvette, (sculpture).

Bust of Sylvette, (sculpture).

Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973, sculptor.

Nesjar, Carl, 1920- , sculptor.

Frager, Sigurd, sculptor.

Bust of Sylvette, (sculpture).

1968. Dedicated Dec. 9, 1968.

Digital Reference:

Concrete, sandblasted, using the "Betograve" technique, and black basalt stone aggregate.

Sculpture: approx. H. 36 ft. W. 20 ft. D. 12 1/2 in.

(Bronze plaque on eastern side of sculpture:) BUST OF SYLVETTE/PABLO PICASSO/GIFT OF MR. & MRS. ALLAN D. EMIS/TO NEW YORK UNIVERSITY 1968/EXECUTED BY CARL NESJAR unsigned

This colossal sculpture combines a profile and frontal view of a young woman's head, neck, and shoulders. The outlines of bangs and a ponytail emerge through the textured surfaces on both sides of the flat, concrete slabs. It has no front or back, but rather a series of angles.

Portrait female -- David, Sylvette -- Bust

Outdoor Sculpture -- New York -- New York

Administered by New York University, Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, 33 Washington Place, New York, New York 10003

Located New York University, 1 Washington Square Village, University Plaza, inner lawn of apartment complex at Bleecker Street & Sixth Avenue, New York, New York 10012

This sculpture is a greatly enlarged version of a painted metal construction from Picasso's Sylvette series, inspired by Sylvette David, a young woman Picasso met in 1954. Sigurd Frager and Carl Nesjar executed this piece using the Betograve technique of sandblasting which Nesjar introduced to Picasso in 1956. In Betograve sandblasting, a colored aggregate stone is tightly packed around a metal armature and placed in a strong wooden box. Cement grout is pumped into the box and then drawings made on the cement surface are sandblasted to reveal the colored aggregate underneath. Carl Nesjar executed this sculpture after, I. M. Pei, the architect of the building selected "Bust of Sylvette" from Picasso's Sylvette Series.

Gayle, Margot & Michele Cohen, "Guide to Manhattan's Outdoor Sculpture," New York: Prentice Hall, 1988, pg. 79-80.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, New York, New York survey, 1993.

Gayle, Margot & Michele Cohen, "Guide to Manhattan's Outdoor Sculpture," New York: Prentice Hall, 1988, pg. 79.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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