Wednesday, 19 January 2011

Lau Shuk Nam(Nesca) 1149499 talks on Pablo Picasso: Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907)

Artist Pablo Picasso
Year 1907
Type Oil on canvas
Dimensions 243.9 cm × 233.7 cm (96 in × 92 in)
Location Museum of Modern Art. Acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest, New York City



Les Demoiselles d’Avignon is painted by Pablo Picasso and it is widely considered to be seminal in the early development of Cubism. In Cubism, subject matter is broken up, analyzed, and reassembled in an abstracted form and fragmented into solid geometric constructions with sharp edges and angles. Color is reduced to a gray-tan cameo, applied uniformly in small brushstrokes creating vibrations of light. Light is also fragmented into multiple sources so that the observer’s point of view is constantly shifting.

Through this work, you can see Picasso had used different styles, e.g. he adapted traditional poses from earlier periods of Western art. On the far left, the standing figure nearly replicates the pose of ancient Egyptian kings. The left leg is forward, the right arm is extended downward, and the fist is clenched. He also borrowed from Egypt. For the two central figures, their arms stretch behind their heads, are based on traditional poses of Venus. Moreover, on the far right, the nude Like the wooden mask from the Congo which is based on African prototypes.

Picasso had applied some special technique in this artwork. E.g. the seated one in the right hand side of the artwork, she looks toward the picture plane while simultaneously turning her body in the opposite direction. Her face and back are visible by the viewers at the same time. This new technique has broken from tradition by abandoning the single vantage point of the viewer in favor of multiple vantage points along the lines pioneered by Cezanne. This simultaneous view was to become an important visual effect of Cubism. In this artwork, Picasso use some cold colors to depict objects, e.g. brown, blue, grey and green. All these colors make the viewers feeling blue. Moreover, the facial expression of the nudes is upset. It seems to bring out some negative message to the viewers.

As proportions, organic integrity and continuity of life samples and material objects are abandoned, one vicious critic noted that Picasso’s work like the combination of several fields of broken glasses. However, this geometrically analytical approach to form and color, and shattering of object in focus into geometrical sharp-edged angular pieces are the main characteristics of cubism. Thus, John Richardson commented in ‘A life of Picasso. The Prodigy, 1881-1906’ and said,
  It is at this point, the beginning of 1907, that I propose to bring this first volume to an end. The 25 year-old Picasso is about to conjure up a quintet of Dionysiac Demoiselles on his huge new canvas. The execution of this painting would make a dramatic climax to these pages. However, it would imply that Picasso's great revolutionary work constitutes a conclusion to all that has gone before. It does not. For all that the Demoiselles is rooted in Picasso's past, not to speak of such precursors as the Iron Age Iberians, El Greco, Gauguin and Cézanne, it is essentially a beginning: the most innovative painting since Giotto. As we will see in the next volume, it established a new pictorial syntax; it enabled people to perceive things with new eyes, new minds, new awareness. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon is the first unequivocally 20th century masterpiece, a principal detonator of the modern movement, the cornerstone of 20th century art. For Picasso it would also be a rite of passage: what he called an exorcism.' It cleared the way for cubism. It likewise banished the artist's demons. Later, these demons would return and require further exorcism. For the next decade, however, Picasso would feel as free and creative and 'as overworked' as God.

The question for discussion:

  Will you think that Cubism bring some negative emotional feeling to you?

My answer is yes, as the subject matter in Cubism is distorted and fragmented and the major color source is reduced to a gray-tan cameo. The function of color and the fragmented subject matter seems to be used to express some negative feelings from the artists. When the viewers are appreciating the artwork, they will receive the negative message from the artwork.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Nesca,
    Try to find some comments about this work, then you can comment on what others have said, and structure you own opinion and analysis. This can help you strengthen you discussion of the work, make the points clearer.Put your main focus on the formal qualities and then support your observations with other background information.

    Queenie

    ReplyDelete