PICASSO, Pablo Ruiz y
Picasso was a Spanish painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. As one of the most recognized figures in twentith century art, he is best known for co-founding the Cubist movement and for the wide variety of styles embodied in his work. Picasso's work is often categorized into periods, while the names of many of his later periods are debated, the most commonly accepted periods in his work are the Blue Period, the Rose Period, the African-influenced Period, Analytic Cubism, and Synthetic Cubism.
During the 1930s, the minotaur replaced the harlequin as a common motif in Picasso's work. His use of the minotaur came partly from his contact with the surrealists, who often used it as their symbol, and it appears in Picasso's Guernica.
Arguably Picasso's most famous work is his depiction of the German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, Guernica. This large canvas embodies for many the inhumanity, brutality, and hopelessness of war. After the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, Picasso responded with an outburst of political imagery. In November 1936, the artist began work on a portfolio of etchings, Sueño y Mentira de Franco (The Dream and Die of Franco), directed at General Francisco Franco, leader of the nazi-backed nationalist forces.
The portfolio consists of a poem by the artist and eighteen etched images printed on two large sheets of paper. Picasso had intended that the small images be cut into postcards to be sold at the Spanish Pavilion during the 1937 World's Fair in Paris in support of the fight against Franco.
Picasso was exceptionally prolific throughout his long lifetime. The total number of artworks he produced has been estimated at 50,000, comprising 1,885 paintings; 1,228 sculptures; 2,880 ceramics, roughly 12,000 drawings, many thousands of prints, and numerous tapestries and rugs.
At the time of his death many of his paintings were in his possession, as he had kept off the art market what he didn't want to sell. In addition, Picasso had a considerable collection of the work of other famous artists, some his contemporaries with whom he had exchanged works. Since Picasso left no will, his death duties to the French state were paid in the form of his works and others from his collection. These works form the core of the immense and representative collection of the Musée Picasso in Paris. In 2003, relatives of Picasso inaugurated a museum dedicated to him in his birthplace, Málaga, Spain, the Museo Picasso Málaga.
Research compiled by Adam Belovari, Humanities student, 2009
Sources:
Baer, Brigitt. Picasso the Printmaker: Graphics from the Marina Picasso Collection. Dallas: The Dallas Museum of Art, 1983.
Berg, William. Imagery and Ideolody: Fiction and Painting in Nineteenth-Century France. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2007.
Berger, John. "How Silent Images can Break the Silence." Aperture.191 (2008): 44-9.
Byrne, Louis. "Picasso, Guernica, History." Art Book (London, England) 14.3 (2007): 11-55.
Clergue, Lucien. "Pablo Picasso." Beaux Arts Magazine.292 (2008): 3.
Chipp, Browning. Picasso's Guernica: History, Transformations, Meanings. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.
Dagen, Philippe, and Charles Penwarden. "Les Representations De Representations / Representations of Representations." Art Press.346 (2008): 48-128.
Freeman, Judy. Picasso and the Weeping Women. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1994.
Granell, Eugenio. Picasso's Guernica: The End of a Spanish Era. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1981.
Greben, Deidre Stein. "'Picasso Printmaker' Queensborough Community College Art Gallery." ARTnews 107.8 (2008): 150-1.
Green, Christopher. "Anthony Blunt's Picasso." The Burlington Magazine 147 (2005): 26-33.
Harris, Lucian. "Modern Prints." Apollo (London, England) 165 (2007): 81-2.
Jouffroy, Jean Pierre. Picasso and Printing. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1981.
Leal, Brigitte. The Ultimate Picasso. New York: Abrams Ltd, 2003.
Lotz, Corinna. "Art that Scared Picasso." Apollo (London, England) 166 (2007): 122-4.
Mendez, Noemi. "La Coleccion Del Museo Nacional Picasso, Paris." Arte y Parte.74 (2008): 99.
Monahan, Laurie. "[Surrealism and the Spanish Civil War]." The Art Bulletin 90.3 (2008): 493-6.
Oppler, Ellen C. Picasso's Guernica: Illustrations, Introductory Essay, Documents, Poetry, Criticism and Analysis. New York: Norton, 1988.
Picasso, Pablo. "The Dream (Le Reve)." Art in America 96.10 (2008): 14.
---. "Minotaure Aveugle Guide Par Une Petite Fille Au Pigeon." ARTnews 106.7 (2007): 25.
---. "Minotaure Caressant Une Femme." (2008).
---. Picasso and the War Years, 1937-1945. New York: Thames and Husdon, 1998.
Russell, Frank D. Picasso's Guernica: The Labyrinth of Narrative and Vision. London: Thames and Hudson, 1980.
Silver, Joanne. "'War and Discontent': Museum of Fine Arts." ARTnews 106.7 (2007): 203-4.
Torre, Ivan de la. "Picasso Ilustrador." Arte y Parte.76 (2008): 102.
Tully, Judd. "Impressionist & Modern Art." Art & Auction 31.8 (2008): 182.
Wilkin, Karen. "Spain & Picasso." The New Criterion 25.5 (2007): 48-7.
Cubism Bibliography:
Carrier, David. ""Picasso, Braque and Early Film in Cubism": Pace Wildenstein, New York, NY." ArtUS.19 (2007): 48-9.
Coignard, Jerome. "1914 Et Les Avant-Gardes a Madrid." Connaissance des Arts.664 (2008): 56.
Dagen, Philippe, and Charles Penwarden. "Les Representations De Representations / Representations of Representations." Art Press.346 (2008): 48-128.
Day, Susan. "Visual Poetry: Sonia Delaunay and Orphic Cubism." Hali.136 (2004): 76-88.
Einstein, Carl, and Charles W. Haxthausen. "Notes on Cubism." October (Cambridge, Mass.).107 (2004): 158-68.
Garcia, Francoise. "Bordeaux: Musee Des Beaux-Arts: Le Fonds Andre Lhote s'Enrichit." La Revue du Louvre et des Musees de France 57.5 (2007): 18-56.
Gilmour, Pat. "Picasso." Print Quarterly 22.3 (2005): 346-8.
Green, Christopher. "Anthony Blunt's Picasso." The Burlington Magazine 147 (2005): 26-67.
Jover, Manuel. "Le Cubisme Experimental De Picasso." Connaissance des Arts.652 (2007): 124-9.
Maine, Stephen. "Inside the Harlem Renaissance." Art in America 96.9 (2008): 154-7.
Monnin, Francoise. "Fauve Tendance Vert-De-Gris." Beaux Arts Magazine.285 (2008): 112.
Nichols, Matthew Guy. "Picasso, Braque and Early Film in Cubism at Pace Wildenstein." Art in America 95.9 (2007): 213-4.
Perlman, Bennard B. "Driven to Abstraction." ARTnews 107.2 (2008): 114-5.
Poirier, Herve. "Pablo Picasso & Albert Einstein: Deux Genies, Une Meme Revolution." Beaux Arts Magazine.279 (2007): 100-3.
Rothman, Roger, and Ian Verstegen. "Arnheim's Lesson: Cubism, Collage, and Gestalt Psychology." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 65.3 (2007): 287-98.
Smee, Sebastian. "The Gentleman Patriot Who Invented Cubism." Art Newspaper 15 (2006): 42.
