Artist :Pablo Picasso
Year :1907
Type : Oil on Canvas
Dimensions:243.9 cm × 233.7 cm (96 in × 92 in)
In fact, it is the first one work of cubism. Therefore, it is important for us to know that how the work fits into Cubism.
*How the work fits into Cubism
-space is fragmented into geometric facets, all figures are angular. especially the two women at the right-hand side of the painting , their faces are distorted and features just like a mask.
-Picasso abandoned the single viewpoint and depict the subject from a multitude of viewpoints, which means creating abstract shapes of 3 dimensional objects on a two dimensional surface. Because he depicted rhe object and the person from different views, we can see the face and the back of the women who sitting at the same time.
*The description of the work
-space is fragmented into geometric facets, all figures are angular. especially the two women at the right-hand side of the painting , their faces are distorted and features just like a mask.
-Picasso abandoned the single viewpoint and depict the subject from a multitude of viewpoints, which means creating abstract shapes of 3 dimensional objects on a two dimensional surface. Because he depicted rhe object and the person from different views, we can see the face and the back of the women who sitting at the same time.
*The description of the work
The pictures deals with 2 genres-both the nude and the still life.
The name of the work is about a red-light district in Picasso's home town. The three nudes to the left with their severe facial features while the two right-hand women had the frightening and Alfrican mask-like features. For viewers, just like sitting in place of the sailor at the table in front of the fruit which was an age-old symbol of lust.
But refer to Picasso's sketches of this work, the early composition was different. Brothel scenes was the original subject of the work. In the early work, the women groiped round a table offer themselves to the visitor entering on the left.
It is clear that 2 male figures were depicted, the first who entered into the scene from the left, just stand at the edage of the curtain. According to Picasso himeself, the man was a student of medicine. He held a skull and a book in his right hand, which is the symbol of scientific knowledge. And he never look at the nude women and participate in the scene. On the contrary, the second figure was placed in the center of the bothel, which means he was a sailor. From his early work, it revealed Picasso's personal ambivalance towards women and his intense fear of veneral disease.
However, the later sketch showed that the student has been transformed into a female figure, and the sailor has been elimiminated, but the theme remains. It was about the male lust and castracting women.
*The key quote about the work
The name of the work is about a red-light district in Picasso's home town. The three nudes to the left with their severe facial features while the two right-hand women had the frightening and Alfrican mask-like features. For viewers, just like sitting in place of the sailor at the table in front of the fruit which was an age-old symbol of lust.
But refer to Picasso's sketches of this work, the early composition was different. Brothel scenes was the original subject of the work. In the early work, the women groiped round a table offer themselves to the visitor entering on the left.
It is clear that 2 male figures were depicted, the first who entered into the scene from the left, just stand at the edage of the curtain. According to Picasso himeself, the man was a student of medicine. He held a skull and a book in his right hand, which is the symbol of scientific knowledge. And he never look at the nude women and participate in the scene. On the contrary, the second figure was placed in the center of the bothel, which means he was a sailor. From his early work, it revealed Picasso's personal ambivalance towards women and his intense fear of veneral disease.
However, the later sketch showed that the student has been transformed into a female figure, and the sailor has been elimiminated, but the theme remains. It was about the male lust and castracting women.
*The key quote about the work
“No pleasant composition but uncompromising, organically articulated structure…He applied the colours in thread-like fashion to serve as lines of direction, and to build
up, in conjunction with the drawing, the plastic effect" (Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler)
*Question about the work for the class
up, in conjunction with the drawing, the plastic effect" (Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler)
*Question about the work for the class
What is the main change between Picasso's ealier decision and the final painting? and why he did such changes?
Reference:
Elke Linda Buchholz/Beate Zimmermann(1999), Picasso,Konemann.
Christopher Green(2001), Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, Cambridge University Press.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Les Demoiselles d‘Avignon,Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Demoiselles_d'Avignon
Hi Macy,
ReplyDeleteI think you can develop each part in full detail. Start by giving a detail description if each formal quality. You have a good observation on the perspective of the work, analyses other features like color, the form of these figures, the composition, in the way like you did with the perspective.And use reference to make your point more convincing.
Queenie