Grace Cossington Smith

Picasso

Picasso had many styles of art in his long career as an artist. The three commonly accepted styles which he did were the Spanish inspired sombre Blue Period, the cheerful French Rose Period and the extremely influential style of Cubism. Cubism can further be broken into Analytical and Synthetic periods. These are the 'periods' which are commonly accepted, although there are many other names used to describe the other different styles which he went through. These include his early Realist and Impressionist work, later political paintings, works based on African, Italian or Russian Art, experiments with sculpture and three dimensional mediums, as well as other forms of art. He is the most prolific artist ever, reflected by his many styles. I will be discussing the reasons for the changes between various periods and styles of his art.

Picasso had no trouble changing styles as it suited him. While he was wealthy and liked money, with his art he nevertheless did what he wanted, regardless of whether it was profitable. When in Paris his early works were starting to be able to be sold, yet he changed to the Blue Period style of painting without regard to the fact that this would be a style which dealers found difficult to sell. Likewise, when people had become used to his Rose Period, to the dismay of many around him, he changed to a Cubist style which they could not understand. The paintings would later be worth a fortune, yet when he changed styles it took the public a long time before they accepted the new style. Picasso continued to paint regardless of if they were selling or not.

Picasso's first paintings were done in a realist style of work, where he would usually copy what he saw. One example of this style is Science and Charity, which he painted in 1897. It shows a scene of a dying woman being attended by a doctor and nurse, with the doctor feeling the woman's pulse and looking at what looks to be a watch. He has a grim expression on his face and the picture seems to have a gloomy future. His signature changed during this early period, with him first signing his works "Pablo Ruiz Picasso", then "Pablo R. Picasso" and finally using only his well known middle name "Picasso". This was based partly on him liking the name because it had a double S, as with other famous artists Matisse, Poussin and Rousseau. Later Picasso would experiment in other ways than simply to copy an image.

Picasso began his Blue Period in 1901 after returning to Paris after being influenced by what he saw in Spain. This trip to his home country influenced him into starting the new style, made up of predominantly blue tones and cool colours. The style is a particularly Spanish one, sombre and moody. It has also been seen to be a reaction after the death of a friend. "The desolation he felt at this early experience of death and despair found expression in... his Blue Period." (Barnes 1992: 11) Another possibility is that he painted this way because he was forced to; because it was cheaper to paint in only one colour and only once his works began to sell for a higher price could he afford to paint in other colours such as in the Rose Period. Whatever the reason there is definitely a gloomy mood in the works, "an element of melancholy, intensified by pervading cold ethereal blue tones, began to dominate his work." (Humphries 1960: 14) During this Blue Period, he painted such works as The Old Guitarist, which does include other colours such as light brown for the guitar, yet the mood of the piece is definitely 'blue'. More blue is shown in Poor people on the Seashore, a painting where the mood along with the colours is very blue. The people face downwards, the man crosses his arms as though he is cold and trying to warm himself, the mood is solemn, sombre. Picasso also painted a self portrait in blue tones called Self portrait with cloak, which similarly shows a somewhat sad mood in blue and black tones, his face looking melancholy and cold.

In 1905, Picasso changed to a brighter, more cheerful style of painting when he began his Rose Period after being influenced by a long stay in Paris. This period was characterised by pinks and oranges; light colours which were French influenced. "His production upon his first definite contact with France was enormous. This was the Rose Period." (Stein 1959: 21) It was also influenced because he was happy because of the new woman in his life, Fernande Olivier, and thus painted in a more cheerful, rosy palette of pinks and reds. His painting of Boy with a pipe, which incidentally is the world's most expensive painting, shows a colourful background of pink roses and flowers, while the clothing of the boy remains the colour of the blue period. It shows this transition between the two periods in one painting; while the boy seems deep in thought, wearing blue clothing, there is a strong contrast with the cheerful flowers that he is wearing, and the colourful flowers in the background. A popular re-occurring figure in this period was the harlequin, and in fact the Rose period has also been called the 'Harlequin period' because of this figure which keeps coming into his work. The harlequin is usually represented in his paintings as a figure covered with diagonals, squares or diamonds of alternating colours. In Acrobat and Young harlequin he shows the harlequin dressed in clothing with a pattern of pink, blue, red and dull green diamonds, yet the pink and the red are the strongest colours which stand out; the colours of the Rose Period.

Between 1907 and 1909 Picasso painted in a style which was strongly influenced by African sculpture. After painting Demoiselles d'Avignon, Picasso began painting in a style influenced by the two figures on the right side of the painting, which were based on African art. Although the painting is seen as the first Cubist work, before beginning the Cubist phase of his painting, he spent several years exploring African art. During this time the French empire was expanding into Africa, and African artefacts were being brought back to Paris museums. The press was abuzz with exaggerated stories of cannibalism and exotic tales about the African kingdom of Dahomey. Also talked about was the mistreatment of Africans in the Belgian Congo with Joseph Conrad's popular book Heart of Darkness. It was natural therefore in this climate of African interest that Picasso would look towards African artefacts as inspiration for some of his work. This period has been called the Negro Period or Black Period, but both names could be considered offensive, so it is not surprising they are not often used as much as periods such as Cubism.

Picasso began Cubism in 1909 with the Analytical style of Cubism. His first Cubist painting had been Demoiselles d'Avignon, although it was only later when he experimented fully in the Cubist style. Although this was painted in 1907, it was not shown in public until 1916. It shows five women, using different angles and viewpoints in the same picture, a mixture of styles which was based partly on Cezanne and party influenced by African art. He changed to this Cubist style even though his friends could not understand why he would abandon paintings which they liked and begin a style which was not particularly liked by many. As a matter of fact in this style, Picasso and Braque broke down forms of objects and analysed them in terms of their shapes. They painted in colour schemes which were simple, and made of a palette which was subdued and tended to have a monochromatic colour scheme of browns. The type of painting was very new and unorthodox for the time. "This courage to explore the unknown... led in the years that followed to the creation of a new style, cubism." (Humphries 1960: 6) In his painting Ma Jolie Picasso shows a picture which is very similar to the work of Braque, and during this time both of them painted in a similar style.

A different style of Cubism emerged in Picasso's work in 1912 with Synthetic Cubism. Synthetic Cubism involved the use of collage and pieces of cut paper. One example of this work is his collage, Still life with Chair-Caning, which shows a variety of elements such as rope which frames it, and some cloth. This was the first time that anyone had used collage in a fine art work, so it was a revolutionary style. At the end of this style he painted The Three Musicians, actually painting two versions of the same idea. Both show distorted images of musicians playing, showing various instruments and an image of a sheet of music.

In the 1920s Picasso had a classic style which was influenced by the Russian ballet he often went to. He met his first wife, Olga, at the Russian ballet, and the work of the ballet dancers had a great influence on him as he was interested in the forms of the ballet dancers. The ballet "aroused in him a renewed interest in the natural and aesthetic beauty of the human body." (Barr 1939: 91) Picasso also worked for the ballet company designing their set. During this time he painted figures which were somewhat 'blocky', semi-naked human figures in pinks where the forms had been influenced by earlier cubist paintings. These included such works as Three Women at the Spring. He also began to paint scenes of the minotaur as his personal symbol, rather than the Harlequin, which he had used previously. He used the minotaur in such works as Minotauromachy. This was partly because of his contact with the Surrealists, where he drew a catalogue for them with the Minotaur on the front page. The Surrealists had used the minotaur as their symbol, and Picasso adopted it as his own.

When Picasso was with different women, his style changed and they would appear in his work. When he was having difficulty in his marriage to Olga in 1925, he painted in a style of expressionism which looked ominous. When he was happy with a new girlfriend, Marie-Therese, in 1932 he painted happy pictures of female figures asleep. "at least one phase of Picasso's art deeply reflected his contentment with Marie-Therese through a culmination of figure studies of women sleeping." (Leslie 1996: 91) Some of his lovers he painted more than others, Marie-Therese he painted the most, with many paintings between 1931 and 1939 painted of her. Picasso's other girlfriends included Fernande Olivier, Eva Gouel, Francoise Gilot and Dora Maar, while he was married to Olga Koklova and Jacqueline Roque. He had one son with Olga, Paul; a daughter with Marie-Therese; Maya, and two children with Francois; Claude and Paloma. All of his lovers and mistresses appeared in his work in some form or another. Dora Maar was often painted in a Cubist style. When he met Francoise Gilot in Paris during the second world war, her portrait appeared in his paintings.

Picasso's large mural about the German massacre in the Spanish town of Guernica is one of his most recognised and famous works. Although the First World War had not impacted him much into painting pictures of the events of the war, the situation changed in the time of the Spanish civil war. Now the war was in his home country. These political events that were happening around him influenced his work. Picasso painted the large mural of Guernica, named after the Basque town which was bombed by German planes on April 26, 1937. Picasso painted it very quickly, finishing it for the Spanish pavilion in Paris in July, only a couple months later. One way the work is powerful is that it does not directly show German planes or symbols, but the results of the massacre. There is no direct way in which it shows who is responsible for the massacre, but it still is obvious to everyone who knows about the events who is at fault. According to a story, he even indirectly blamed a German officer who came to his apartment asking about the painting. When he was asked if he did the painting, he replied that the German was the one who did it, meaning the Germans were responsible for the massacre. "One day one of the [Nazi officers] asked, indicating a reproduction of Guernica on the table: 'Did you do this?' 'No', Picasso replied, 'You did.'" (Russell 1974: 43)

Picasso continued to paint in a style with political overtones during the second world war and after. During the Second World War, Picasso lived in German occupied Paris, and this very much affected what he was able to paint. The Germans did not like his style of painting, so he was not able to show his works during this time, and retreated into his studio, continuing to paint nevertheless. While the Germans hated his style, they did not stop him from working, possibly fearing his fame, for Picasso was already a famous artist in America and around the world. Also, the Germans wanted to keep on good terms with Franco's fascist regime in Spain, so the fact that he was a Spanish citizen stopped them from acting against him. While the Germans outlawed bronze casting in Paris, Picasso was still able to continue because of the French resistance who would smuggle bronze to him. After the war, to the detriment of sales of his work in America, Picasso joined the Communist party. He visited Poland for a conference, as well as attending Party events in Paris. They supported him even though they hated his paintings, finding him useful for their propaganda, awarding him two 'Lenin peace prize' medals. He painted several works about themes of war and peace, such as Massacre in Korea, his painting of the massacre of civilians during the war in that country, a work which was similar to Guernica in the anti-war sentiment. However, much smaller than Guernica, it also lacks much of the subtlety, showing obviously a massacre occurring with soldiers pointing guns at civilians. Instead of a balanced composition where there is something to look at in every corner, this painting has simply been broken up into two areas, the civilians and the military. Picasso's style has changed from an image of implied murder and destruction showing the after effects, to where in this painting he shows the actual massacre about to occur. While the painting does not show which side the soldiers were on, it has been regarded to represent the American massacre of Korean civilians in 1950. The painting was not very well received by the public, and is not as well known as Guernica, partly due to the fact that in this widely held interpretation the painting is seen as anti-Western, whereas Guernica was definitely anti-Fascist. His involvement with radical left wing groups decreased after 1953, when he painted an unflattering portrait of Stalin, and he returned to painting less political, more colourful and artistic themes.

Near the end of his life, Picasso was very famous and hounded by the media, he nevertheless continued to produce many artworks right up until his death. In the 1950s his style changed once again as he began looking at the art of the masters, and making new art about it. He made a series of works based on Velazquez's painting of Las Meninas. He also based paintings on works on art by Goya, Poussin, Manet, Courbet and Delacroix. During this time he lived at Cannes and in 1955 helped make the film The Mystery of Picasso directed by Georges-Henri Clouzot. By the 1950s Picasso had accumulated a huge fortune and could afford large villas in the south of France, at Notre-dame-de-vie on the outskirts of Mougins. The media would give him much attention, though very little of it in these later years was to do with his art; they were more interested in his personal life. He has been regarded as the most famous artist in history, because never before or since had an artist received as much attention, with as large an audience. "No painter or sculptor, not even Michelangelo, had been as famous as this in his own lifetime." (time.com) He was popular around the world, with exhibitions in Japan and Moscow bringing many visitors, while he continued to be popular in Europe and America. He was commissioned to make a maquette in these later years for a huge sculpture to be built in Chicago. He approached the project with a great deal of enthusiasm, designing a sculpture which was ambiguous and became somewhat controversial. Whether the sculpture is of a person or animal or something else is unsure, people have thought it could be a bird, a horse, a woman or a totally abstract shape. The sculpture which has become the most recognisable in downtown Chicago was unveiled in 1967. Although it was worth much more, Picasso refused to be paid $100,000 for it, donating it to the people of Chicago. Picasso's final works were a mixture of styles, his styles and periods changing right until the end of his life. "His art kept changing, kept evolving to the very end" (artgallery.nsw.gov.au)

Picasso had many styles during his long career as a painter. Changes in his works were due to many circumstances, such as changes in mood which caused the Blue and Rose Periods. Popularity of African art and co-operation with Braque led to the African and Cubist styles of art. Political factors brought him to paint pictures which brought him at odds with the extreme left and the extreme right wings of politics. Different girlfriends and lovers influenced his work. There were many other changes in his work; his signature changed, his personal symbol changed from harlequin to minotaur; his political affiliation changed. Change in where he lived also brought about changes in his paintings. While outside factors certainly influenced him, he was more driven by an inner desire to change if and when he pleased.


Bibliography

Barnes, R. 1992, Picasso Artists by Themselves. Bracken Books, London
Barr, A. 1939, Picasso. Forty Years of his Art. Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Blunt, A. 1969, Picasso's Guernica Oxford University Press, Oxford
Cabanne, P. 1977, Pablo Picasso His life and times William Morrow & Co. New York
Humphries, L. 1960, Picasso. Arts Council of Great Britain, London & Bradford
Leslie, R. 1996, Pablo Picasso. A modern master. Smithmark Publishers, New York
Kahnweiler, D. 1981, Picasso in retrospect. Granada Publishing, London.
McCully, M. 1981. A Picasso Anthology: Documents, Criticism, Reminiscences. Arts Council of Great Britain, London.
O'Brian, P. 1976. Pablo Ruiz Picasso. A Biography. Collins, London
Penrose, R. 1981. Picasso. His life and work. Granada Publishing Ltd., St Albans and London
Russell, J. 1974. Picasso. His Life. His Art. Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd., London
Schiff, G. 1976, Picasso in Perspective. Prenticle-Hall, New Jersey.
Stein, G. 1959, Picasso, B.T. Batsford Ltd., London


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Pablo Picasso, Boy with a pipe, 1905. Oil on canvas, 100 x 81.3cm. Collection Mrs. John Hay Whitney