ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Pablo Picasso's influence on Gertrude Stein. It argues that his Portrait of Gertrude Stein raises challenging questions of value that adumbrate the writer's contribution to the debate on modern aesthetics. Modern aesthetics may hinge on the seduction of merchandise. But this seduction runs parallel to a transformation of the way in which individuals think of themselves. From an aesthetic tenet of innovation, anxiety becomes a private drama to be played out within the enclosure of a school of two and to be kept under control by the casual recording of the details of ordinary life. The piece illustrates the drama of paper: it is actually an accretion of exercises, a series of numbered pages. The material metaphor for reading, paper, is haunted by the specter of value. As Mario Perniola explains, in ancient Greece agalma indicated the divine image and the economic notion of value, before the invention of money.
