The African Art Influence on Pablo Picassos Work - Research Paper Example

The African Art influence on Pablo Picasso’s work Slight Overview Pablo Picasso y Ruiz was a Spanish painter, sculptor, and stage designer who lived between 1881 and 1973. He was one of the most influential artists to have existed in his time as he invented the constructed sculpture. During the dawn of the twentieth century, Picasso changed his artistic techniques and applications, which in the end brought him immense fame and fortune globally. As part of developing his career, he travelled to the world’s most artistic city Paris where he would share his time between Madrid and Paris. The objective of this paper will be to illustrate the ways in which African art inspired Pablo’s artistic work by basing the argument on supportive answers. His most famous work of art was the "Les Demoiselles d' Avignon"1907 that portrayed the proto cubist1 as part of the movement that he had cofounded with Georges Braque. His paintings were astounding pieces of art as he demonstrated his prowess at an early age. The paintings he did carried with them the realistic aspect during his adolescent years. While in Paris, he revolutionized his tact by incepting art expressions by African artists. Picasso described artifacts from Africa as forms that did not represent ideas that existed in the natural world. For him, this was the beginning of an untainted carrier as his works stood above those of his rival artists. His style was unique, as he became one of the first artists not to draw influence from the western art. Remarkably, he became the pioneer of the new aesthetic form of communicative art that dwelled on expressions and ideas from Africa. In essence, the European Scramble for Africa aided the growth of African art in France. Traditional art found its way to France through the travels of the Frenchmen across its vast territory as part of their expeditions. Essentially, Pablo first encountered traditional African art at the Musee d’ Ethnographie, which was a museum in central Paris that interred antiques from the African continent. To other scholars and artists, this form of art was primitive2 as the continent had not yet experienced any form westernization. Ironically, Matisse, a French artist also influenced Picasso to majoring in to African art. During one of the dinners at their friend Getrude Stein, Matisse showed Picasso a Congolese piece that he had purchased from a supplier of African artifacts who went by the name Emile Heymann3. Picasso could not have enough of the piece that evening, and eventually it led him into making apiece inspired by the artwork he had seen. Les Demoiselles d ’Avignon Les Demoiselles d ’Avignon became a painting that a French critic viewed as one which had erupted from an ever-blazing fire. For instance, the fire that the critic referred to was the constant artistic battle between Matisse and Picasso. By doing the painting, Picasso tried proved to prove to the world that he was better than Matisse was. It was a reply to Matisse’s painting Le Bonheur de Vivre which he unveiled during an exhibition for the emerging artists. During the exhibition, the spotlight was on him because of the Le Bonheur de Vivre enormous piece that had captured the entire audience. This stirred up emotions in Picasso’s mind as Matisse’s painting had utilized color and form to create an incredible blend of the two concepts. As a result, Picasso did Les Demoiselles d ’Avignon as a counter attack to Matisse. The Les Demoiselles d ’Avignon painting involved two stages to complete it. The first stage had the original concept of women at a Barcelonan brothel that which he had visited. The second stage of doing this painting drew inspiration from his visit to the Trocadero museum of African art, which totally revolutionized the idea. He opted to use masklike faces that synchronized with a two dimensional plane instead of the initial attractive females who were nude. The Bakota people from Gabon inspired the figures while the Dan4 people from Ivory Coast inspired the masks within the Les Demoiselles d ’Avignon. For instance, the aspect of the Dan Masks is visible in the figures on the right of the painting on the two women who have elongated chins with almost invisible mouth features. Their features depicted heavy influence of geometric shapes, which were characteristics of the Dan masks. The shapes and the shading faces5 were a trait found in the Bakota sculptures that had exaggerated ovoid forms. The facial features such as the foreheads, the eyes, and the absolute ears used in this painting brought out the Bakotan aspect. The implementation of these artistic variations in his line of trade portrayed Pablo’s maturity and growth art wise. Essentially, Pablo became an immense admirer and collector of artifacts from the African continent. This period in his carrier became the Epoque Negre or the African era. Bust of a man 1908 This piece was a haunting image of the traditional art forms that Picasso incorporated and perfected in 1908. The medium used was oil and canvas, a material that he utilized for the better part his artistic carrier. The painting had heavy African influence, as it showed the unique traits and aspects that exist among African societies. The color aspect used by Picasso denoted his remarkable ability to blend color and aspect to bring out his expressions. Head of Woman 1907 Ideally, this painting can trace its roots to the beginning of cubism. It was among the pioneer works that Picasso did when he cofounded the cubism movement. The nose and protruding chin features resembled those of a mask from the Dan community of Africa. Picasso used Fernande Olivier to pose for this painting as a model. Fernande was a long time mistress of Picasso as at some point they lived together. Ironically, Picasso lived a controversial life as he had many Clandestine. However, this did not detract him from his work. This painting was one of the sixty paintings that Picasso did of her. Conclusion The works of Paul Cezanne, a French painter also, and Pablo Picasso were contrast but had similarities at the same time. These two artists both used the cubism form of art in most of their pieces. This was the breaking down of objects through analysis then reassembling of the same objects in an abstract form. Both these artists depicted the view of objects from multiple angles in order to bring out the larger picture. On the other hand, Henrie Matisse’s and Picasso were rivals in the painting arena but friends in public. Amazingly, they both used color and ovoid forms to present their works they were both fanatics of the African art as they continually sought to outdo each other with their artistic pieces. In contrast, Matisse also had an interest in ancient Asian artwork, which a trait above Picasso. They were both remarkable ambassadors of visual art. Bibliography Books Cowling, Elizabeth. Interpreting Matisse Picasso. Millbank: Tate Publishing, 2002. Goldwater, Robert. Primitivism in Modern Art. Cambridge Massachusetts and London England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1986. Grimaldi, Forum. Arts of Africa. Monaco: Skira Publishing, 2005. Huffington, Arianna Stassinopoulos. Picasso: Creator and Destroyer. New York, Simon and Shuster, 1998. O’Riley, Michael Kampen. Art Beyond the West. New York: Harry and Abrams, 2002. Internet Sources Metropolitan Museum of Art. Bust of a Man 1995. 10 October 2012 Woman http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1990.192 Read More