“One sees what one sees”:
an introduction to
Gertrude Stein
English 434
Spring 2015
In Paris in 1905, the Spanish painter
Pablo Picasso is studying some African
masks in which the human face is
represented by a simple disc with the
eyes, nose and mouth added on as
separate geometric elements.
At the same time, he is trying to paint a
portrait of his American friend Gertrude
Stein. After ninety posing sessions, he
still doesn’t have the face right.
So he goes on vacation alone,
taking with him nothing but
the painting and a head full of
African shapes.
And there it happens:
Gertrude understands
what she is seeing. As she
will later explain in her
book Picasso (1938):
And as to Guillaume
Apollinaire . . .
French poet, 1880-1918. Coiner of the
term “surrealism.” Here he is in his World
War I corporal’s uniform with one of his
many wounds.
He will die during the great flu
pandemic of 1918, on the day the war
ends. The last thing he will ever hear is
the cheering crowd beneath his hospital
window chanting about the downfall of
Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II:
“A bas Guillaume!”
-- that is, “Down with Guillaume!”
Here is his poem about the
beginning of the war.
And here, by the American
surrealist photographer Man
Ray, is a picture of Gertrude
with her portrait by Picasso.
As you see, the portrait
doesn’t look anything like the
real Gertrude.
But are you sure, now,
that you know what
“looks like” means?
Or “real”?