Spotlight on Pablo Picasso

MEET PABLO PICASSO

Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain on October 25th, 1881 to Don José Ruiz y Blasco and María Picasso y Lópe. In fact, his legal name was Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso, honouring several saints and relatives, which was typical of his Spanish heritage. While his lengthy name is remarkable, this incredible man went on to be one of the founding members of the Cubist movement and one of the most renowned artists of the 20th century.

LIFE AND TIMES: The Early Years

Couple in Cafe - 1903

Picasso's mother claimed that her son's first words were "piz, piz" or a shortened version of the Spanish word for pencil. He showed an early propensity for artistic ability, and was taken under his father's wing to be formally taught oil painting and figure drawing at the age of seven. Not surprising, considering his father was an artist in his own rights, specializing in naturalistic depictions of birds and other game, as well as being a professor at the School of Crafts. With the help from his father's early teachings, Picasso went on to enrol in advanced classes at the Royal Academy of Art in Barcelona at the age of 15. From there, he moved to Paris in 1900, where he quickly took to the then Art Capitol of Europe.

While Paris may have been the Art Capitol of Europe, it did nothing for Picasso's financial status in the early years. He was said to have burned many of his paintings just to keep warm during his "Blue Period" that lasted from 1901-1904. Not surprisingly, much of the art work that he created during that time was related to poverty and forms of melancholy. The dominant colour palette was in shades of blue and blue-green, a darkness that perhaps reflected the world around him.

La Famille Acrobate au Singe

It is no wonder then that the "Rose Period", from 1905-06, followed up his more sombre years, for that is when he met Fernande Olivier. He met this Bohemian artist in the middle of a storm in 1904 and began a love affair with her, that ushered in a lighter colour-palette and subject matter to his work. The circus figured largely during this time period. Picasso also began to explore the medium of sculpture at the tale end of the Rose Period.

MATURE STYLES & CUBISM

Ma Jolie

As Picasso moved out of the Rose Period, a fascination with African-inspired art followed between 1907-1909. It was during this time that he began developing a new style of art with Georges Braque that would eventually be called Cubism.

By 1909, Picasso was entering his Analytic Cubism period. It was characterized by monochromatic colour palettes with a heavy use of brown, but more importantly, featured objects in terms of their analytic shapes. As he morphed into Synthetic Cubism in 1912, the use of cut paper fragments dominated his style forming the collage-type images that he is now best known for. This period grew and developed until after the First World War, when Picasso again took his art in another direction. By the 1920s, his work featured many graphic and often grotesque nudes that had many describing his work as a forerunner of Surrealism.

THE LATER YEARS

Not content to settle on any one style, Picasso continued to develop his mediums. By the 1950s, he was experimenting with reinterpreting paintings by other artists such as Goya, Manet, Delacroix and Velazquez. He was also heavily into sculpture, ceramics, copperplate etchings and drawings. By the time he died in 1973, it is estimated that he produced over 50,000 pieces of artwork, making him one of the most prolific and well-known artists of his day. While he can be said to have been influenced by Gertrude Stein, Toulouse-Lautrec, Matisse and Cézanne, Picasso's sphere of influence is much harder to define. You can see his effects in such varied artists as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Juan Gris, Lee Krasner and of course any Cubist artists that followed him. With individual pieces of his artwork selling  for over $100 million dollars each, it would seem that his fame is here to stay and that the appreciation for it is alive and well.

PICASSO AND BUDDING ARTISTS

Budding Artists is well aware of Pablo Picasso's fame and influence. We admire his variety of mediums, as well as the scope of his work. That is why, on Saturday September 24th, 2011, we will be focusing on Pablo Picasso during our first art workshop of the season at the Western Fair's Farmer's Market. The 90-minute workshop will contain art history through games, stories and cool art projects that your Budding Artists will create and take home at the end of the day. Geared for 5-12 year olds, they will be sure to have a lot of fun and perhaps discover a new medium that speaks to them. If Picasso could explore so many styles over his lifetime, imagine what your child could accomplish in theirs.



*Written By Katherine Krige