Style and periods in Pablo Picasso's Art - Essay Example

? Pablo Picasso would never say he adapted different styles of painting throughout his life because of the different influences that he received. He would say that he changed his styles depending on the emotional need he had to express. He does have distinct periods but he says they are independent periods and have no relationship to each other. "If an artist varies his mode of expression this only means that he has changed his manner of thinking, and in changing, it might be for the better or the worse." "Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth""The several manners(styles) I have used in my art must not be considered as an evolution, or as steps toward an unknown ideal of painting."'(Picasso 1923) He goes on to say that different subjects requires different forms of expression but that art is only the present and is not a manifestation of past or evolutionary events. His concept of his periods were as though they were independent of each other. Though most of his paintings are so full of emotions, there is one specific painting in each period which has been designated as a "summary" painting. (Schneider 91) which shows the lost he had experienced in his life. He lost his mother as a young boy; he suffered when he left Spain during the Spanish revolution; he suffered severe poverty in Paris. His emotions are implicit though the paintings they represent show the parallel of the troubled times. Picasso lived during 4 wars. Three major periods will be discussed with one summary painting for each period. Blue period 1901 - 1904: it was quite common for artist to use monochromatic techniques. His blue period is the use of blue and green hues to show sadness and suffering. He started his blue period as a consequence of the suicide of his good friend, Castemegas.(National 1997) As he had been a prolific classicism artist, he suddenly threw himself into the abstract influence of Van Gogh Starry Nights where paintings were no longer meant to tell a story. His blue period often showed women in prison with the children, poverty stricken prostitutes. melancholy. La Vie 1903, is a summary painting, it represents loss, grievance and hostility.(Schneider 92) The mother has a hostile face as though she is blaming her child that she is going to die. The young man is Casagemas who is elongated and has the lover he thought he lost at the cafe. There are two interpretations. In both, Picasso leaves his sad and melancholic blue period. He loved copying other artists but keeping to his own style. The Absinthe Drinker shows how he had been influenced by Gauguin. He used bright colors but shows the blue of the water bottle. (Warncke, blue-period) The blue and green colors were a work of experimenting with lighting. El Greco gave him the death like skin color that would epitomize the death like quality of 20th century suffering of the lower social classes in France. Picasso liked to be melodramatic "the starving intellectual artist" and the bohemian life are often contributed to having come from him. (Warncke, blue-period) Rose period 1904-1906. He uses red hues and sometimes blue. He didn't like that it be called his transitional year. It is his period of circus and street performers. (Picasso 1923) The Family of Acrobats 1905 shows a group of performers and one woman performer separate from the group. It close examination of this painting, once again the theme of pity and abandonment can be seen in relationship to the way the fat red clown is looking away; the men and young girl are elongated as was Castegamas to show that they are posed. They are looking down to the woman, a sign of rejection and shame.(Schneider 92) He continued doing portraits and drawing circus performers. He was raised in the school of 19th century romanticism. His use of colors in the rose period started to show that the painting was more important that the subject. Eventually his subject became completely anonymous. The basis of this period was to completely transform the classicism use of the line. He stops being a portrait painter as his principle style of painting.(Warncke rose-period) Black period 1906-1907 'Epoque negre "African Art" was significant in proving to himself that he could break away from classism. It is the beginning of abstract art or Picasso's cubism. (Warncke, black-period) As he always said, art was an experience, he had found some ancient artifacts that he used in Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. The faces of the left are based on the Iberian art and on the right on African art which was in his possession..(A friend had taken them from the Louvre) He wanted to use African art as a means to be able to innovate as Van Gogh used Japanese art. He was fascinated by the African art at the Trocadero Museum in Paris. It is most fascinating in seeing the progress from his blue period two years before with his distinct bodies and the harsh angles of the bodies and faces. It is not in the scope of this paper to discuss the symbolism and the angles and studies, Picasso did, in order to paint the final painting in 1907. Before his blue period he depended on romanticism. In his blue period, his biggest influence was El Greco and the grief of having lost his good friend. In his rose period, he started to show his own style which was completely manifested in his Black period. His black period gained him followers who became interested in his abstract style of painting. George Braque went from Matisse to study with Picasso. This was the being of his new period . Some call it the beginning of analytical cubism because of the monochrome and still lives. It was the breakthrough from classism once and for all. Cubism: 1907 -1915 the birth of abstract art. His Demoiselles d'Avignon had several angles in which the viewer could see. "The language of Cubism was to see an object independently from different viewpoints" (Warncke 2004) When George Braque associated himself with Picasso he used cubism to show natural objects: technique of faceting. Picasso used Braque's geometrical shapes to create his own style. It would take the link of Braque to Picasso to abstract art of such artist as Mondrian to understand true abstract art. It is important to note that Picasso remained eclectic to a multitude of styles. His cubist period ended shortly. He uses the style but does not limit himself. In Girl Before a Mirror 1932, there is cubism, symbolism, dualism…The mirror represents what was used in the 19th century called in French as a "psyche" or the soul. (Gottlieb 512) Picasso gave permission to future artist to work on the content and not on the subject matter changing the whole concept of art. He created geometrical cubism in its abstract form. Until the end of his life, he would use current artists' works and conform the works to his style and colors. He borrowed from the classical artists and he learned from his contempories. His good friend was Toulouse-Lautrec and his arch rival was Matisse. He adored El Greco and depended on his influence in his art. (National 1997) The School of Paris was a history of its own. Though Picasso had developed his own style, he missed the friends and influence he was able to take in order to constantly innovate his own art. Works Cited Kultermann Udo .Picasso in Contemporary Art Vie des Art, 30:119 (1985) p30-102 Gottlieb Carla, The Joy of Life: Matisse, Picasso and Cezanne, College Art Journal Vol 18:N°2(1959) , pp 106-116 Web 02/05/2011 httpp://www.jstor.org/stable/774178 Gottlieb, Carla, Picasso's "Girl before a Mirror" The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism Vol 24, N° 4 (1966), pp 509-518 Web 01/05/2011 http://www.jstor.org/stable/4287775 National Gallery of Art, Picasso The Early Years 1892-1906, Washington March 30-July 27,1997 Picasso, Pablo "Statement to Marius de Zayas" The Arts , 1923 New York Schneider, Daniel E, The Painting of Pablo Picasso: A psychoanalytic Study, College Art Journal, Vol. 7. No. 2(Winter 1947-1948) pp 81-95 Web: http://www. jstor.org/stable/772674 Warncke, Carsten-Peter, Pablo Picasso: 1881-1973, 2004 Taschen Web: 01 May 2011 www.pablo-picasso.paintings.name Warncke, Carsten-Peter, Pablo Picasso: 1881-1973,2004 Taschen Web: 01 May 2011 www.pablo-picasso.paintings.name/rose-period Warncke, Carsten-Peter, Pablo Picasso: 1881-1973, 2004 Taschen Web: 01 May 2011 www.pablo-picasso.paintings.name/blue-period Warncke, Carsten-Peter, Pablo Picasso: 1881-1973, 2004 Taschen Web: 01 May 2011 www.pablo-picasso.paintings.name/black-period Read More