I went to the “Challenging the Past” Picasso exhibit at the National Gallery Thursday. Often when I go to free galleries and museums in London, I am overwhelmed with how much there is to see. I wander around aimlessly trying to soak in whatever interests me over centuries of art, invention and history. Though I periodically stop and try to educate myself on certain things, I normally end up leaving without capturing much. This is all especially true when I visit the National Gallery. But when I pay for something, my whole experience dramatically changes. It had been a while since I paid to visit something in London, and this exhibit was worth it.
How was it different? I enjoyed focusing on the particular theme of a particular artist because I came away appreciating and understanding something specific. I had taken an art and music appreciation course in college, which skimmed over the entire history of music and art in “the west”. The only thing I could really remember from Picasso was cubism, his abstract shapes, vibrant colors, sometimes grotesque portraits, and fascination with women. I remember some famous paintings like “Nude Descending a Staircase” and “Glass and Lemon”. I had understood him to be rebelling against the past way of seeing the world and portraying that world in art. Compared to the artistic giants of the past, Picasso didn’t fit. My memory was correct at points but I was definitely glad to revisit this great artist’s life and work.
As a student of history, I naturally am drawn to understanding Picasso’s background, who influenced him, what events surrounded his life and how all of that shaped his work. Even though this is just my memory, I admit that I sound like a curator already. The main theme for the exhibit was “Challenging the Past”. I was comforted to learn that I was not the only one who was confused about what to do with Picasso. I had thought of him as a painter but he also did prints, sculptures, drawings, ceramics, and even textiles. The basic thesis for the exhibit is that his themes, styles, and content were a challenge relating to, not breaking from, the past. View the Gallery of paintings here: http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/picasso/slideshow/default.htm . ("they didn't like my hyperlink for some reason) The “Cubism” he started, which pushed the limits on this thesis in my opinion, especially since he refused to write about his work, preferring to let his art speak for him-which easily leads to an interpretive “grey” area. He was a student of his artistic heritage and was very concerned with establishing his place within that tradition.
Pablo Picasso was born in the avande garde setting of Barcelona and always retained and valued his Spanish identity. The Blue period (1901-1904) had gloomy, sad paintings mostly in blue and blue-green. The suicide of his close friend and trip through Spain are said to be a major impact. He also spent some time in Paris. The Rose period (1904-1906) is identified by a more cheery, light hearted tone with pink, orange and rose colors depicting carnival characters, the favorite being the harlequin, a kind of jester wearing checkered patterned clothes. Picasso also reflected Gozal’s theme of women washing and working with each others’ hair at this time. He had a brief period of African-influenced art shown in Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. Upon seeing this painting you can see why this transitioned his move into the Cubist form. 1909-1912 brought Analytic cubism which used brown and grey colors. He and Georges Braque looked at aspects of reality as objects with shape. Cubism developed a multiplicity of perspectives which had different planes or facets like in “Seated Nude” 1910. I really liked “Glass and Lemon” even though it is hard to spot the glass and lemon at first. Synthetic cubism (1912-1919) was the initial use of collage as fine art and reminded me of other creative works done by my sister, especially “Violin and Bottle” With his models/muses, I liked “Fernande with Black Mantilla”, the shrouded women had a Hispanic influence. His seated portraits reflected an El Greco style at times, especially with the elongated features.
Random notes: Picasso took his mother’s surname b/c of the resemblance to his favorite artist Poussin, (17thc. painter). In 1918 he married his first wife, a ballerina named Olga Khokhlova. By 1923, their relationship was cold, seen in his portrait “Olga with Fur Collar”. His second wife was Jasqueline Roque, his volumptuos source for revived sensual still lifes.
some brief notes on his direct relation to older artists which I won’t give much detail on:
Velasquez: 17th c. Spanish artist “Las Meninas”, placed in the center of Prado in Madrid.
He humorously distorts the artist and royal family
Manet-“luncheon on the Grass” 1863 which alluded to another painting by Rafael
Picasso did a series of his own version-a huge controversy
Ingres-“aangra” heavily influenced his muses/models
Poussin-17th c. “Rape of the Sabines”
Picasso alluded to this with WWII and the Asian wars with themes of innocence, brutality and outcry (he also made perhaps the most famous anti war painting)
Delacroix-“Women of Algiers” clothed women facing threat
A very colourful portrayal with all kinds of shapes and angles with only one women being identifiable
Even though the place was completely silent, there were probably many minds like mine-buzzing as they processed what they saw. Ok, so I admit my thoughts were more random than most!
Several different moments stick out in my mind like trying to form a train and having one of them right me a thank you card but the best was on the last day. We finished with outdoor activities that were messy: a water balloon fight, having whipping cream pies stuffed in my face and hair, sliding on a tarp with oil, ice cream, water, whipping cream, and banana…I was a mess!
