Head and neck of a Cycladic figurine (canonical type, Spedos variety)

This head once belonged to a large Cycladic figurine of the canonical type (Spedos variety). It is lyre-shaped, with forehead tilted backwards. The broad triangular nose is the only plastically rendered feature. The simplicity, symmetry and abstract element of this work epitomize the virtues that made Cycladic art a source of inspiration for prominent twentieth-century artists, such as Brancusi, Modigliani, Archipenko, Giacometti, Moore and Hepworth, and established it as one of the most distinctive forms of artistic expression in the Western world.