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Picasso Pablo: (1881-1973), was the most painter of the 1900's.
His style
He also became known for his sculpture, drawing, graphics, and ceramics.
In some ways, he was the artist most characteristic of this century,
because he responded to changing conditions, moods, and challenges so
intensely and so rapidly. His searching style made him the leader in
expressing the complexity of the 1900's.
Modern art
Picasso's art challenges the viewer's traditional view of life. He
appeared drawn to tension and conflict. Picasso seemed to explore the
fantastic world of nightmare and deep imagination which modern
psychology and modern art cite as great influences on our daily actions.
He hoped to arouse and reveal unknown influences that lie hidden in the
viewer's unconscious life. His images radiate the strangeness of dreams,
yet have the appearance of fact. Perhaps Picasso was influenced by the
art of his native Spain, which often seems fascinated by the visionary
and the monstrous.
Early Career
Picasso was born in Mālaga, Spain, but lived in France from 1904 until
his death: he was a child prodigy, painting realistic works when he was
only 14. Picasso's first personal style, the Blue Period (1901-1904),
focused on the themes of loneliness and despair, and featured mainly
shades of blue. The style of this period gave way between 1904 and 1906
to a style that stressed warmer colors and moods. Abandoning the thin,
discouraged faces of the Blue Period, Picasso gave his subjects new
flexibility and frequently included circus scenes. By 1906, he began
painting great figures that are massive, as if to withstand potential
shock or fear. In 1907, Picasso painted "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon", a
landmark in art. This picture marked a decisive break with traditional
notions of beauty and harmony. Five monstrous female figures with masks
rather than faces pose in a convulsive, Jagged array distorted, shaken,
and savagely transformed. Out of this disruptive image grew the style
known as cubism.
Newspaper clippings
Early in 1912, Picasso began including newspaper clippings, bits of
debris, and stenciled words in his paintings. In this way he hoped to
break down the distinction between art and nonart and to make the viewer
rethink his relationship to traditional art.
Later Career
After World War I, Picasso extended his explorations of form, placing
special emphasis on brilliantly colored dreamlike images. From 1918 to
1924, he painted in a classical style, with huge and stately figures. In
the 1920's and 1930's, Picasso portrayed figures as thought from the
inside out, and the lifeless objects in these works appear to have a
life of their own. His "Guernica" 1937 was painted as a protest against
the bombing of the town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War
(1936-1939). The painting was Picasso's attempt to make a public
statement using his personal symbols of rage and despair. The picture in
an expression of crisis and disaster beyond individual control. In 1944,
Picasso joined the Communist Party because he felt the Communists had
been most effective in fighting the Nazis. But today Picasso's art is
officially condemned as "decadent" and "unacceptable" in most Communist
countries. After 1945, Picasso's painting sculpture, and ceramics
developed a more relaxed and gentle feeling. He appeared to make peace
with the emotions that had tormented him so often in the past. Some
critics feel this new Picasso had outlived the best days of his art.
Others feel this represented another advance in Picasso's visual and
mental adventures in art.
Guernica
Pablo Picasso became one of the leading artists of the 1900's. Guernica
is considered one of his masterpiece. Picasso painted this symbolic work
as a protest against the bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica.
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