Two Heads

Artist Alfred Maurer (1868 - 1932)

Dateca. 1928

MediumOil on canvas mounted on board

Dimensions29 3/4 x 19 1/2 in. (75.6 x 49.5 cm)
Framed: 37 3/4 in. × 27 1/2 in. × 2 in.

ClassificationsPainting

Credit LinePromised Gift to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas

Signedu.r., in gray paint: A. H. Maurer

On View

Not on view

Label TextAround 1925 Maurer began a series of female head portraits, which he depicted singly or in pairs, like in Two Heads. The two figures with their exaggerated proportions and expressive brushwork combine early-Cubist and Expressionist influences. The women’s elongated, oval heads; long, column-shaped necks; and large, dark eyes are reminiscent of portraits by Amedeo Modigliani, an Italian painter who was in Paris at the same time as Maurer. The long, angular noses accentuate the figures’ large, haunting eyes that gaze beyond the picture plane into an empty space.

Like in his other “Twin” portraits, the two female figures are very close and look almost identical. Their mask-like facial expression reflects Maurer’s interest in African masks and sculptures and his knowledge of Picasso’s work. Maurer was more interested in formal investigations than in painting accurate, realistic likenesses of women. His tantalizing paired heads have been interpreted by some as expressions of an internal struggle or an attempt to explore the subconscious regions of the mind.
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