Pablo Picasso

Overview Pablo Picasso was the greatest and most significant artist in the beginning of the twentieth century. Best known as the father of Cubism, Picasso also made important contributions to Surrealism and Symbolism and he was the inventor of collage. Although he primarily saw himself as a painter, Picasso 's sculpture work was highly significant, in addition he explored printmaking and ceramics. Pablo had a charismatic personality and was involved in many relationships with women which directed his path and filtered into his work.
Biography
Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born on October 25, 1881 in Malaga, Spain, into an artistic family. Pablo 's father was a painter and a drawing teacher. It wasn 't long before Pablo indicated that he would follow in his father 's footsteps. According to his mother, Pablo 's first word was “piz” which was short for the Spanish would meaning pencil. Pablo 's first art teacher was his father. At the age of 11, Pablo began his formal study of art. Many of Picasso 's works created in his teen years still exist, one example of this is First Communion (1895). Pablo 's father sought the best education he could afford for his son. In addition, they visited Madrid to observe works by old Spanish masters. In 1895, Pablo 's father landed a position at La Lonja, the school of Fine Arts in Barcelona, the family moved there and Pablo continued his education in art. Picasso first matured as a painter in Barcelona. He often visited a cafe known as the Els Quatre Gats. This cafe was popular with anarchists, bohemians and modernists. He gained familiarity with the movements of Symbolism and Art Nouveau, and artist like Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Edvard Munch. It was at the Els Quatre Gats cafe that Picasso met Jamie Sabartes, who later would become his loyal secretary. This marked Pablo 's introduction to the avant-garde. From 1900 to 1904, Picasso frequently traveled, spending time in Paris and Madrid in addition to Barcelona. Although he started working on sculptures during this time, critics coined this time as his Blue Period because of the blue/green palette that prevailed in his paintings. In 1904, Picasso 's palette started to brighten. For a little over a year he painted in a style that became known as his Rose Period. During this time his palette contained varying shades of reds and pinks. About 1906 Picasso met George Braque. At this time his palette darkened, his images became heavier and more solid and he began on the path toward Cubism. Critics had once dated the beginnings of Cubism to Pablo 's early masterpiece Les Demoiselles d 'Avignon (1907). Now, that work is viewed as transitional as it lacks the extreme distortions of his later works. Nevertheless, as it was greatly influenced by African sculpture and ancient Iberian art, it was obviously significant in Pablo 's development. This same work is believed to have inspired Braque to create his own beginning series of Cubist works. In the years to come, Braque and Picasso would mount one of the most notable alliances in modern art, at times eagerly learning from one another, sometimes trying to outshine each other. They visited each other every day during their creation of this technique. Picasso and Braque worked only in earth tones and depicted objects in splintered configurations. In 1912 Picasso developed collage. From Braque he learned the similar technique of papier colles, which used paper cutouts along with fragments of existing materials. This phase became known as the synthetic phase of Cubism. This method made way for more decorative and whimsical works an
Picasso continued to use this style into the 1920s.

Late in the 1920s, Picasso started a partnership with sculptor Julio Gonzalez. This was his most important artistic relationship since Braque. During this time, he created some welded metal sculptures which were greatly influential. In the 1930s political worries began to influence Picasso 's work. His contempt for the bombing of citizens in the Basque village of Guernica during the Spanish civil war was the motivation for his painting, Guernica (1937). Throughout WWII he remained in Paris where German authorities left him untouched so he could continue his work. The war had a great impact on Picasso. Some of his best Jewish friends were killed. Picasso created works memorializing them. These works included sculptors and a follow up to Guernica called The Charnel House (1944). After the war Picasso became involved with the Communist Party. Many of his works from that time, such as War in Korea, clarified this devotion. During the 1950s and 1960s, Picasso worked on his own variations of masterpieces by artists like El Greco, Nicolas Poussin and Diego Velazquez. In the last years of his life sought relief from fame and married Jacqueline Rogue in 1961. His later works were mostly portraits with ostentatious tones. These later works were thought to be inferior to his earlier paintings. Picasso also crafted several bronze and ceramic sculptures during this time. In 1973, Picasso passed away in South France.
Love life Picasso was influenced by Surrealism in the mid 1920s. At this time his work became erotic or violent and was more expressive. This period in his work can be connected to his personal life when his marriage to the dancer, Olga Koklova started to dissolve and he started a new relationship with Marie Therese Walter. Picasso 's style often changed whenever he began a new romantic relationship. During his relationship with Koklova he had an interest in dance. Later, Picasso 's obsession of his legacy with the old masters is associated with his relationship with Roque. Picasso often painted the women he loved. Picasso was a player in his day. He had several mistresses during his lifetime and was adulterous. His many women lovers included Eva Gouel, Francoise Gilot, and Dora Maar. He was twice married and fathered four children.
Blue Period From 1900 to 1904 is Picasso 's Blue Period. During this time he mostly painted monochromatic paintings in tones of blue and blue-green with other colors added in only occasionally. These works were inspired by Spain, however he painted them in Paris. Today, they are some of his most treasured works, however Pablo had trouble selling them at the time. Picasso 's Blue Period works seemed to illustrate his experience of instability and proverty. It depicted street urchines, the blind, beggars, and the frail elderly. When this period actually started is not certain. It could have started in Spain in spring of 1901, or later that year in Paris. A trip through Spain and the suicide of his friend, Carlos Casagemas, who killed himself in Febuary 1901, were major influences on Picasso during this period. Picasso himself stated: "I started painting in blue when I learned of Casagema 's death." Beginning late in the year of 1901, Picasso painted several postmortem portraits of Casagemas. Picasso visited St. Lazare, a woman 's prison in Paris in which nuns worked as guards. This visit was a significant influence on his works during his Blue Period. In his painting The Two Sisters, a prisoner and a nun are depicted. This painting shows how Picasso would mix Christian imagery with day to day reality.

The dejection of social outcasts, such as beggars, prisoners, poverty stricken, etc, was a reccurring theme in Picasso 's Blue Period. This theme responded both to his depressed mood and the spirit of the times.
Rose Period 1904 to 1906 was Picasso 's Rose Period. This is the period in which Picasso 's style switched from the somber blue tones to cheerful pink and orange colors. During this time, Picasso was in a happy relationship with Fernande Olivier, whom he met 1904. It has been suggested that this may have been a reason for his change in painting style. Harlequins, clowns and circus performers are often the subjects of Picasso 's works during this time. Although his Blue Period is more popular today, Picasso 's Rose Period has greater significance in art history. During this time, Picasso would, for the first time in his career, develop techniques that would become part of his style. It is Picasso 's style that made him the most significant artist of the 20th century. In 1904, Picasso 's work shows a romantic quality. Although Picasso 's Rose Period works continue to show resignation, they do not show mourning. As his Blue Period works expressed Picasso 's sorrow, his Rose Period works took on a life of their own. Picasso continues to experiment in a style that makes his subjects anonymous, resulting in a general human form, rather than a specific person. For example, in his painting, Seated Female Nude (1905), the sort of person is recognizable, not the actual person.
In 1904 Picasso began to accomplish a fluency of line, which would become his Rose Period breakthrough. In his painting, Family of Acrobats with Monkey (1905), the line is suggestive, as in Picasso 's later, more abstract, works. This line subtlety is Picasso 's original contribution to expressionism. The Rose Period is the end of the time in which Picasso 's primary style is that of a figurative painter. During his time spent in Paris, he took in the French culture, replacing the solemness of his Blue Period the elegance of Paris. From the Rose Period onward, Picasso would create figurative art on occasion, but it would no longer be his primary style.
African Period From 1907 to 1909, Picasso painted in a style that was greatly influenced by African sculpture. This is known as his African Period, also referred to as his Negro or Black period. Prior to the start of his African Period, Picasso gained possession of some ancient Iberian sculptures. In his famous work, Les Demoiselles d 'Avignon, the women on the left are based on these sculptures. The faces of the women on the right are based on some African totem art which he also owned. Picasso admitted that a visit to the Trocadero museum changed him. References to some of the African masks Picasso saw at the Trocadero are present throughout his works. After painting Les Demoiselles d 'Avignon, Picasso started painting in a style influence by the women on the right side of the painting, which were based on African art.
Cubism
One of two main branches of Cubism, Analytical Cubism, was developed between 1908 and 1912. Unlike Synthetic cubism, Analytic cubist reduced images into basic geometric shapes on a two dimentional plane. The only color used was a monochromatic scheme usually including grey, blue and a yellowish-orange. Rather that focus on color, Analytic cubist were concerned with the use of cones, spheres and cylinders to represent the real world. Throughout this movement the works of Picasso and Braque shared similar styles. Both Picasso and Braque moved toward abstraction. An example of Picasso 's work during this time is Ma Jolie (1911). George Braque developed the technique of faceting. Although Picasso didn 't facet objects, he used the geometry of Braque 's faceted works to develope a style that was abstract in nature, almost pure abstract art. Cubism, therefore, refers to the techniques of both Picasso and Braque. However, Braque 's cubism contains a recognizable image, whereas Picasso 's cubism was a link between Braque 's technique and pure abstract art which followed cubism.
Classicism and Surrealism After cubism, Picasso went back to more traditional patterns. This is known as his Classicist period. An example of his works from this period is The Lovers (1923). On occassion, Picasso would revert back to cubism. After 1927 much of Picasso 's work takes on a fanciful quality. Woman with Flower (1932) is a distorted portrait of Marie Therese in the style of Surrealism. At the time, Surrealism was gaining popularity and strength. Picasso was influenced by the surrealist even though they thought of him as their artistic stepfather.
Later Works In 1944 Picasso joined the Communist Party and was active in the Peace Movement. In 1949, the World Peace Conference in Paris adopted a dove created by Picasso as the official peace symbol. Twice, Picasso was awarded the International Stalin Peace Prize by the USSR, once in 1950 and again in 1961. Picasso protested the American intervention in Korea and the Soviet occupation in Hungary. Picasso was an humanitarian. By 1955 Picasso had settled in South France. He lived and worked in several villas and chateaus. His works were as diverse as ever and included a mural for the UNESCO building and wooden sculptures. Picasso 's last works were a combination of styles. Picasso 's work became expressive and colorful. From 1968 to 1971 he created a great deal of paintings and hundreds of copperplate etchings. Back then these works were shrugged off as pornographic fantisies of an old man. Only after Picasso 's death were these works appreciated.

Works Cited
Styles Schools & Movements By Amy Dempsy
The Art Story. Org http://www.theartstory.org/artist-picasso-pablo.htm Pablo Picasso. Org
http://www.pablopicasso.org/index.jsp

References: Both Picasso and Braque moved toward abstraction. An example of Picasso 's work during this time is Ma Jolie (1911).