My art week
On Monday I watched a Sky Arts programme on the Young Picasso which covered his early life in his birthplace Malaga, the family move to Corunna and then Barcelona where he launched himself.
In 1900 he came to Paris.
The quality of his work for one so young was staggering.
Many – including me – find this blue and rose periods their favourite.
His seminal Les Desmoisselles d’Avignon, painted in 1906, I find too geometric and harsh.
Our art courses are up and running.
We are studying art and visual culture 1950 – to the present day on Tuesday and 1850- 1950 on Thursday.
The Tuesday course focused on the New York school – chiefly Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko – but was rather depressing as both took their own lives.
Some say of a Pollock that it looks like he rode a bicycle on a canvas with paint on its wheels but, by painting horizontally rather than vertically, he too changed the way we view art.
Gustav Klimt was coming into fashion in the 1950s too and, though his subject matter was different, he cultivated the same swirling effect which can hypnotise the viewer.
Viewing is an important element of Edouard Manet whom we studied on Thursday.
I find many of the so-called great works of art are so well-known that they lack impact as the museum shop puts them on coffee mugs and coasters.
Manet’s three great works – Dejeuner sur L’Herbe, Olympia and The Bar at the Folies Bergers – still attract conjecture from art critics and one of the reasons is that the subject in each confronts the viewer with her stare seemingly ignoring her company.
This represents a breakthrough in art and one which led to rejection by the Salon and vitriol from critics. One person who recognised his talent early on was the dealer Amboise Voillard who brought his entire studio.
Our teacher is strong on the life of the painters.
Of Monet’s Young Piper Boy there is speculation that this was his son by a liaison with his piano teacher.
As his father also had an affaire with her the young lad might be his half-brother.
