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Oracle of DelphiPablo Picasso: the canonised analytic cubist
June 2nd 2006 06:54
'We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth, at least the truth that is given to us to understand.' -Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso is popularly and criticially regarded as one of the twentieth century's most important artists. And for that reason, Picasso's body of work has become canonised. In the words of John Goodrich, "It's safe to say that no artist has been so over-exposed as Picasso. It isn't simply the seemingly countless exhibitions and critical studies; his styles (all of them!) have so thoroughly infiltrated popular culture that no one thinks twice about the Picassoid typefaces in travel posters or the Picasso doves on hand-woven rugs from Mexican villages."
So when one views a work by Picasso, one is not struck by its originality in the way that a contemporary of Picasso would have been. Its subversion of traditional modes of artisitic realism, its confronting aesthetic, and its play with the human form are aspects that, while affecting for an early twentieth century audience fail to move many spectators today.
However much the emotional impact of Picasso's work may have diminished it is important to remember his contribution to the history and development of visual art, especially the role that he played in the Analytic cubist movement one of two major branches of the artistic movement of Cubism (Synthetic Cubism being the other) which was developed between 1909 and 1912.
Analytic Cubists "analyzed" natural forms and reduced the forms into basic geometric parts on the two-dimensional picture plane. Colour was almost non-existent (monochromatic), instead they focused on forms like the cylinder, sphere and the cone to represent the natural world. During this movement, Picasso's and Braque's paintings were very similar.
Pablo Picasso is popularly and criticially regarded as one of the twentieth century's most important artists. And for that reason, Picasso's body of work has become canonised. In the words of John Goodrich, "It's safe to say that no artist has been so over-exposed as Picasso. It isn't simply the seemingly countless exhibitions and critical studies; his styles (all of them!) have so thoroughly infiltrated popular culture that no one thinks twice about the Picassoid typefaces in travel posters or the Picasso doves on hand-woven rugs from Mexican villages."
So when one views a work by Picasso, one is not struck by its originality in the way that a contemporary of Picasso would have been. Its subversion of traditional modes of artisitic realism, its confronting aesthetic, and its play with the human form are aspects that, while affecting for an early twentieth century audience fail to move many spectators today.
However much the emotional impact of Picasso's work may have diminished it is important to remember his contribution to the history and development of visual art, especially the role that he played in the Analytic cubist movement one of two major branches of the artistic movement of Cubism (Synthetic Cubism being the other) which was developed between 1909 and 1912.
Analytic Cubists "analyzed" natural forms and reduced the forms into basic geometric parts on the two-dimensional picture plane. Colour was almost non-existent (monochromatic), instead they focused on forms like the cylinder, sphere and the cone to represent the natural world. During this movement, Picasso's and Braque's paintings were very similar.
'Le guitariste' by Pablo Picasso
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