“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”
“I don’t paint things the way I see them, but the way I think them.”
Movements: CUBISM, Surrealism, Modernism
Training: Child prodigy, trained first with Jose Ruiz y Biasco (father)
Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernandopainter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, designer
!!!: co-founder of Cubism; invented constructed sculpture (assemblage);
co-invented collage
Influences: Cezanne; African & Oceanic Art (Matisse collected by ’05, exhibited in Paris at Trocadero ’07); Gaugin; Matisse; Braque; early work infl by Lautrec & Symbolists
Picasso was a sponge: absorbing everything around him.
Early Works in Barcelona and Paris :
1896 First Communion (academic realism at 14 yrs old)
don’t memorize, just note his skill as a child
Blue Period 1901-1904: (suicide of his friend Casagemas)
Self portrait, 1901
*The Old Guitarist, 1903.
interesting blog post w/lots of Blue Period images, and ref to ties to blues
1896 First Communion (academic realism at 14 yrs old)
don’t memorize, just note his skill as a child
Blue Period 1901-1904: (suicide of his friend Casagemas)
Self portrait, 1901
*The Old Guitarist, 1903.
interesting blog post w/lots of Blue Period images, and ref to ties to blues
Rose Period 1904-1906: saltambiques (clowns and harlequins) & warmer palette
Boy with a Pipe, 1905
Family of Saltambiques, 1905.
page w/lots of images from Rose Period
Boy with a Pipe, 1905
Family of Saltambiques, 1905.
page w/lots of images from Rose Period
Pre-Cubism, African Influenced: 1906-09
Portrait of Gertrude Stein, 1905-6. (re archaic African/Iberian sculpture infl)
Self Portrait 1907
*Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907.
please, please, please what this smart history video (7 min) - you need to be familiar w/this painting(!):
CUBISM (1907-1914)
Analytical: Portrait of Ambrose Vollard, 1910 or Accordionist, 1911
*Ma Jolie, 1911-12
Synthetic: *Still Life with Chair Caning, 1912.
Please see the smart history video (13 min) covers evolution of cubism & this collage, which will almost certainly be on your test as an example of synthetic cubism:
1912- intro unconventional techniques & materials incl “papery”- newspaper, wallpaper, sheet music & “powdery”: paint w/grit, “faux bois”, “faux marbre”
Analytical: Portrait of Ambrose Vollard, 1910 or Accordionist, 1911
*Ma Jolie, 1911-12
Synthetic: *Still Life with Chair Caning, 1912.
Please see the smart history video (13 min) covers evolution of cubism & this collage, which will almost certainly be on your test as an example of synthetic cubism:
1912- intro unconventional techniques & materials incl “papery”- newspaper, wallpaper, sheet music & “powdery”: paint w/grit, “faux bois”, “faux marbre”
CUBIST SCULPTURE:
*Head of a Woman (Fernande), 1909.
considered the first cubist sculpture.
Picasso, Sculpture, and Picasso’s Women
Guitar sculptures, 1912-14 (of paper, cardboard, sheet metal).
Moma exhibition Picasso: Guitars 1912-14
1914-20s Classicism & some Surrealism
Collaborates w/Diagalev Ballet Russe “Parade” 1917
Women Running on the Beach, c 1922
*Three Musicians, 1921.
Figures by the Sea, 1929.
1930s: Picasso is the most famous artist in the world; minotaur common motif
The Dream, 1932 (or Girl Before a Mirror both Marie-Therese)
*Guernica, 1937. more info
Las Meninas (after Velasquez), 1957 (often reworks old master paintings).
Women*: “For me there are only two kinds of women - goddesses and doormats”
Fernande Olivier (1904-11, she was married, left her for her friend)
Eva Gouel (1911-15, she dies of tb or cancer and he has affair w/Gaby Lespinasse)
Olga Kaklova (1915-35 marries 1917, ballerina, son Paulo, don’t divorce to avoid giving her half his wealth)
Marie-Therese Walter (17 yr old, 1927-44, daughter Maya, hanged herself - pictured right)
Dora Maar (1936-44, later became recluse, dying poor and alone)
Fracois Gilot (1944-53, children Claude & Paloma, left P, married Jonas Salk)
Genevieve Laporte (1951-53, affair, she was 24, he 70)
Jacqueline Rogue (1953-1993, marries ’61, after 1st wife dies; later shoots herself)
Patrons: Gertrude Stein, Etta Cone, Claribel Cone, Kahnweiler (Dealer), Sergie Shchukin
See a very brief biography of Picasso fr Biography.com:
Pablo Picasso : Masters of the Modern Era 1 hr, but very good - fast forward through it if needed, but it covers blue period re: miles davis, ma jolie, and context
"The Steins Collect SFMOMA exhibition w/short videos
*it’s not that i think they’ll quiz on what a misogynistic rat P could be...but the woman roster helps b/c he’s all over the map after “initial cubism” - tries something new, next day back to cubism, next day figural, next surrealism...if you can recognize the babe, you can place the work chronologically.
Fernande Olivier (1904-11, she was married, left her for her friend)
Eva Gouel (1911-15, she dies of tb or cancer and he has affair w/Gaby Lespinasse)
Olga Kaklova (1915-35 marries 1917, ballerina, son Paulo, don’t divorce to avoid giving her half his wealth)
Marie-Therese Walter (17 yr old, 1927-44, daughter Maya, hanged herself - pictured right)
Dora Maar (1936-44, later became recluse, dying poor and alone)
Fracois Gilot (1944-53, children Claude & Paloma, left P, married Jonas Salk)
Genevieve Laporte (1951-53, affair, she was 24, he 70)
Jacqueline Rogue (1953-1993, marries ’61, after 1st wife dies; later shoots herself)
Patrons: Gertrude Stein, Etta Cone, Claribel Cone, Kahnweiler (Dealer), Sergie Shchukin
See a very brief biography of Picasso fr Biography.com:
Pablo Picasso : Masters of the Modern Era 1 hr, but very good - fast forward through it if needed, but it covers blue period re: miles davis, ma jolie, and context
"The Steins Collect SFMOMA exhibition w/short videos
*it’s not that i think they’ll quiz on what a misogynistic rat P could be...but the woman roster helps b/c he’s all over the map after “initial cubism” - tries something new, next day back to cubism, next day figural, next surrealism...if you can recognize the babe, you can place the work chronologically.
The Cubists: Paris 1908-1914
revolutionized attitudes regarding the depiction of form in space
Key Figures: Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Georges Braque (1882-1963),
also: Gris (1876-1958), Leger (1877-1953),
Introduced: 1st organized exhibition of cubists at the Salon des Independents 1911, Paris
Name: art critic Louis Vauxcelles called Braque’s series of landscapes from L’Estaque “bizarreries cubiques” --> “cubism”
Manifesto: Du Cubisme, published by Jean Metzinger & Albert Gleizes 1912 (minor cubists)
Characteristics: muted color; multi-faceted view
per Gardner: Cubism rejected naturalistic depictions and conventional pictorial illusionism. [They] dissected visual reality into its constituent optical features, which they then recomposed into a coherent aesthetic object.
Analytical Cubism (1909-11): dissected the formal elements of the subject & rearranged them on th canvas as if allowing us to view the subject from multiple perspectives at the same time.
Synthetic Cubism (1912-14): artists began to incorporate collage into their work
Key Works:
*Braque, Houses at L’Estaque, 1908. video
*Picasso Portrait of Ambroise Vollard, 1910
Braque, Violin and Candlestick, 1910.
*Braque, Portuguese, 1911.
*Picasso, Still Life with Chair Caning, 1912.
Braque, Le Courier, 1912
Leger, The City, 1919.
Influences:
Legacy: Through the development of Cubism, proposed a redefinition of traditional perspective. Cubism has been called the most important innovation in Western painting since the Renaissance.
Read Cold Coffee and Analytical Cubism (Smarthistory, few paragraphs). It’s a very good way to explain cubism:
Key Figures: Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Georges Braque (1882-1963),
also: Gris (1876-1958), Leger (1877-1953),
Introduced: 1st organized exhibition of cubists at the Salon des Independents 1911, Paris
Name: art critic Louis Vauxcelles called Braque’s series of landscapes from L’Estaque “bizarreries cubiques” --> “cubism”
Manifesto: Du Cubisme, published by Jean Metzinger & Albert Gleizes 1912 (minor cubists)
Characteristics: muted color; multi-faceted view
per Gardner: Cubism rejected naturalistic depictions and conventional pictorial illusionism. [They] dissected visual reality into its constituent optical features, which they then recomposed into a coherent aesthetic object.
Analytical Cubism (1909-11): dissected the formal elements of the subject & rearranged them on th canvas as if allowing us to view the subject from multiple perspectives at the same time.
Synthetic Cubism (1912-14): artists began to incorporate collage into their work
Key Works:
*Braque, Houses at L’Estaque, 1908. video
*Picasso Portrait of Ambroise Vollard, 1910
Braque, Violin and Candlestick, 1910.
*Braque, Portuguese, 1911.
*Picasso, Still Life with Chair Caning, 1912.
Braque, Le Courier, 1912
Leger, The City, 1919.
Influences:
- CEZANNE: Picasso is quoted as saying, “He is the father of us all”. A large retrospective of his work in 1907 (a year after he died) was very influential and greatly affected the avant-garde artists in Paris. Cezanne’s explorations of geometric simplification and optical phenomena inspired Picasso, Braque and Gris. He was one of the most influential artists of the 19th century and greatly inspired cubism.
- “Primitivism” :Non-European tribal arts exhibited in Paris @ turn of the cent.
Legacy: Through the development of Cubism, proposed a redefinition of traditional perspective. Cubism has been called the most important innovation in Western painting since the Renaissance.
Read Cold Coffee and Analytical Cubism (Smarthistory, few paragraphs). It’s a very good way to explain cubism:
The influence of Cezanne...
Pablo Picasso, Ma Jolie, 1911-12, o/c, 100 x 64.5 cm (39 3/8 x 25 3/4 in) MOMA.
- Ma Jolie (My pretty girl) was a refrain from a popular song. The musical association is suggested by the treble clef and musical staff near the stenciled letters.
- “Ma Jolie” was also Picasso’s nickname for his lover Marcelle Humbert (aka Eve Gouel), who’s figure he loosely built using the signature shifting planes of Analytical Cubism. Far from a traditional portrait, but there are clues to its representational content.
- Central triangular mass subtly indicated the shape of a woman’s head and torso, and a group of 6 vertical lines in the paintings lower center represent strings of a guitar, which the woman strums.
- Multiple modes of representation simultaneously: language (black lettering), symbolic meaning (treble clef), and near abstraction (depiction of the subject).
- See "Interpretations of Ma Jolie"
Numerous elusive clues connect "Ma Jolie" to reality: a triangular form in the lower center, strung like a guitar or zither; below the strings, four fingers, with an angular elbow to the right; and in the upper half, perhaps a floating smile. Together these elements suggest a woman holding a musical instrument, but the picture hints at reality only to deny it. Planes, lines, spatial cues, shadings, and other traces of painting's language of illusion are abstracted from descriptive uses; the figure almost disappears into a network of flat, straight-edged, semitransparent planes.
Yet "Ma Jolie," an example of high Analytic Cubism, is actually a painting on a very traditional theme—a woman holding a musical instrument. The palette of brown and sepia is reminiscent of the work of Rembrandt, and Picasso emphasizes the handmade nature of the brushstrokes, underlining the artist's human presence. At the bottom of the canvas Picasso also inscribes a treble clef and the words "Ma Jolie," (my pretty one)—both a line from a popular song and a reference to his lover Marcelle Humbert. A kind of stand-in for the woman who can barely be seen, the phrase "Ma Jolie" is clear, legible, colloquial, and suggests conventional prettiness—although this was one of the most complex, abstract, and esoteric images of its day. [excerpt from MOMA publication]
See further re: Cubism
Yet "Ma Jolie," an example of high Analytic Cubism, is actually a painting on a very traditional theme—a woman holding a musical instrument. The palette of brown and sepia is reminiscent of the work of Rembrandt, and Picasso emphasizes the handmade nature of the brushstrokes, underlining the artist's human presence. At the bottom of the canvas Picasso also inscribes a treble clef and the words "Ma Jolie," (my pretty one)—both a line from a popular song and a reference to his lover Marcelle Humbert. A kind of stand-in for the woman who can barely be seen, the phrase "Ma Jolie" is clear, legible, colloquial, and suggests conventional prettiness—although this was one of the most complex, abstract, and esoteric images of its day. [excerpt from MOMA publication]
See further re: Cubism