Pablo Picasso
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Lauren MaksymiukHNRS-3202-100 – Modernism in Art and Lit(Re-grade)Pablo Picasso On October 25, 1881, Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Crispiniano de la Santísima Trinidad–better known as Pablo Picasso–was born. He showed great interest in art at a young age. This was no surprise though; his father was a curator at a museum and also a professor at the School of Crafts. To Picasso’s benefit, his father began formally teaching him figure drawing and oil painting. Twelve years later, he began his life as an art student after being accepted to the school of Fine and Applied Arts in La Coruna. This helped him to create his first oil paintings; he began selling and showcasing his work as early as 1885. Within the same year, Picasso’s sister died of diphtheria. In addition to this milestone in his life, his family moved to Barcelona. In order to continue his path as an artist, Picasso’s father urged the officials at the nearby School of Fine Arts to allow Picasso to take an entrance exam for the upper-level class. After completing the exam in a week, he was accepted into the academy. Picasso residence in Barcelona was only the start of his life as an artist; he began working with and creating friendships with other artists and writers. With the encouragement of his father and uncle, Picasso attended Madrid’s Royal Academy of San Fernando at the age of sixteen. This, however, did not last long–due to his distaste for instruction, Picasso quit attending his classes. In 1900, Picasso went to Paris with his friend Carlos Casagemas, another artist who he would share a studio with there. Less than a year later, Casagemas committed suicide. Later that year, Picasso moved in with a sculptor, Namolo. Here, he created paintings depicting Casagemas, thus beginning the Blue Period. “I started painting in blue when I learned of Casagemass death,” Picasso recalls. There is no questioning this statement, as one can observe his paintings from 1901 to 1904 and their common monochromatic theme. The one noticeable difference is with his first exhibition in Paris in June 1901; all paintings were colorful and Impressionistic. Eventually, Picasso moved away from this, and began developing his own style. This included moving away from traditional perspective, and a less varied color palette. At first, accents of blue were found in all of his paintings. Eventually, he strayed away from other colors and primarily used shades of blue and beige. The Portrait Of Jaime Sabartes marked the official start of the Blue Period. Sabartes found this painting to be an impressive representation of both his character and Picasso’s, claiming it was “a fugitive hallucination of his own restlessness, tormented by the discovery of his friend peering into the abyss of his loneliness.” The color was not the only part that played a strong role in the mood of the paintings–the subject matter was substantial too. Picasso chose to study beggars, prostitutes, the blind, and even himself in his Blue Period paintings. During 1904, Picasso’s paintings began to take a dramatic shift; instead of the monotonous, gloomy blue, he began working with warm and cheery colors. This may have been a result of his new relationship with Fernande Olivier. The two met at the the Bateau-Lavoir, a meeting place for artists in Paris. One year later, they began living together. Picasso’s color palette was not the only change, but his subject matter was too. Picasso focused heavily on actors, acrobats, athletes, matching his updated bright palette. The Cirque Medrano, a French circus allowed the artist to find eccentric people, from children to adults. Although the colors suggested cheerfulness, the subjects portrayed the opposite; the performers often seemed like outcasts. People often isolated these individuals, so Picasso decided to do the opposite and paint them beautifully in his artwork. Picasso began to stray away from his typical type of work. For example, he became more expressive with his use of line and color–the way most people remember his work today. In addition to this, during the Rose Period, he began making prints. This was a new form of media for Picasso, instead of his traditional paintings.
In the beginning of the 1900s, African sculpture heavily influenced European artists. Picasso and other artists, such as Henri Matisse, used the African sculpture figures to create new painting styles. These included vivid colors, a flat surface, and slight cubist shapes. This began Picasso’s African-influenced Period, also known as the Negro Period or Black Period–lasting from 1907 to 1909. For political reasons, Picasso denied that he was inspired by African art. Although references to African art can be recognized from Picasso’s work, he refused to give the art credit. Picasso’s style of painting continuously began to change, and he eventually moved to the Cubism Period around 1908. This style was created by Picasso and Georges Braque, as the moved towards abstraction. Both developed unique techniques; Braques used “faceting,” where he depicted natural objects. On the other hand, Picasso’s art was geometric, but less recognizable. Picasso observed organic forms and broke them down into basic geometric shapes, playing with dimensions. Instead of a focus on color, shape was more important. Both Picasso and Braque have many similar stylistic elements, but had their own technique to make their work distinguishable from one another. French art critic, Louis Vauxcelles, created the term Cubism, after seeing the works of Braque and Picasso. A unique style that Picasso had was the continuous use of the third dimension. Unlike artist Piet Mondrian, Picasso never fully removed the third dimension to become a pure abstract artist. During 1912, Picasso created many papers collés, a technique where he used colored or printed papers within his composition. This inspired many other artists, such as Fernand Léger and Robert and Sonia Delaunay. This period seems to define Picasso for several reasons. Although his Blue and Rose periods both have many iconic paintings, neither played large roles in the inspiration of other artists. On the other hand, he was one of the creators of Cubism, giving him a reputation for that style of art. This period lasted much longer and was something no other artist had ever done before. This new abstract form of art shocked the world, as people were used to realistic art. Artists were beginning to break the traditional rules of art. One of Picasso’s most iconic pieces, Les Desmoiselles d’Avignon, shocked even his closest friends who were artists. Nudity at this time was not highly uncommon, but the way in which the woman were portrayed was. The postures of the women were considered aggressively sexual, and the geometric forms were found immoral by the public. Although Picasso’s Cubism Period ended in 1915, his artwork still contained elements of cubism. One of his paintings, Femme en pleurs, contained both cubism and fauvism. This style of art became known as Picasso’s style.