Their forms had no more influence on me than they did on Matisse. Or Derain. But for them, the masks were sculptures like all others. When Matisse showed me his first African head, he spoke to me of Egyptian art.

Andre Malraux cites Picasso in: Anatoliĭ Podoksik, Marina Aleksandrovna Bessonova, Pablo Picasso (1989) Picasso: The Artists Work in Soviet Museums. p. 13