Art of the 20th Century




A Revolution in the Arts




 

Art Styles in 20th century Art Map



 

Politics and Art   1943-1953


 

 

Balzac
1952

 

Picasso's playful mastery of new techniques can also be seen in his revived commitment to printed graphics, and in particular lithography, which had hitherto played only a marginal part in his interests. Now, working together with members of Fernand Mourlot's Paris workshop, Picasso produced over zoo lithographs between November 1945 and 1950, exploring an entire range of new technical possibilities. Planographic printing inspired Picasso. It was possible to duplicate line drawings, crayon studies or Indiaink work, and to print from different surfaces, from limestone to sheet zinc, which created particular effects and expressive potential. The work process happened in stages, which permitted interruptions to scrutinize the state of the work in hand. Originally lithography had been purely a reproductive art because, unlike woodcuts, copper engravings or etchings, it can produce an absolutely faithful copy of an original drawing. The specific technique does not necessarily affect or change colours and lines. It was this that appealed to Picasso. He used the plates and paper, crayons and oils unconventionally, and regularly turned lithographic orthodoxy topsy-turvy, making seemingly difficult or senseless demands on Tuttin the printer. Broad though their thematic range is, Picasso's lithographs ultimately have but one true subject: the artist's own virtuosity.

We see that virtuosity in the famous series of bullfight scenes, variations on a single theme printed from a single type of plate, increasingly radical in the simple sense of form, detailed and realistic or else purely linear as if to satisfy oriental ideals. We see it in Picasso's portraits of his young lover Francoise Gilot. From silhouette sketches of bullfight scenes to portrait sketches, Picasso is forever demonstrating his mastery of complex methods. That demonstrative will is present throughout the lithographic work. He used the draughtsman's entire repertoire, from classical outlines to painterly gradations of grey values, deploying his craft deliberately and affording us a full documentation of his creative process. This may account for the thematic disunity and qualitative unevenness of Picasso's lithographs.
 

It was a period of considerable revival for the graphic arts. Many artists were working in the medium, in an attempt to meet the expansionist demands of a market keyed to the mass media. Picasso took up a position all his own, satisfying commercial demands but at the same time using the medium to profile himself. One work dating from 1949 nicely illustrates his practice and its impact. Picasso had been asked to design a poster for the world peace conference in Paris. Aragon, visiting the studio in the Rue des Grands-Augustins, chose a lithograph of a dove which Picasso had done on 9 January 1949. Reproduced millions of times on posters, it was to become probably Picasso's most popular graphic work. Ironically, though, it had never been meant as propaganda.

 

The Dove
1949

 

 It was simply one of a number of pictures of doves with no ideological implications at all. The dove was of course a conventional symbol of peace; Picasso had liked the motif ever since early youth. In 1943, during the war, he had painted "Child with Doves", expressing the longing for peace. The lithograph of 9 January 1949 was an experiment in nuance, an attempt at using thinned India ink on a zinc plate to achieve subtle effects. The white plumage of the dove, with gentle touches of brown, was the perfect subject. Aragon, for his part, chose the picture because it had an Impressionist flavour and was thus in line with a kind of art then seen as folk-like and thus acceptable. The Communist appropriation and popularization of his work had nothing to do with Picasso's own intentions and was in fact at odds with them.

 

Claude in Polish Costume
1948
 

In the immediate post-war years, the reception of his work continued to be governed by misunderstanding. The dissatisfaction of the Party, which tolerated Picasso's art for opportunist reasons, was matched by vituperative right-wing defamation. Both the 1944 autumn Salon in Paris and the great London exhibition of Matisse and Picasso in 1945 prompted imprecations that were widely parroted. At the same time a number of cultural commentaries influenced by Jose Ortega y Gasset's "The Dehumanization of the Arts" (1925) were appearing in many places. At heart, the attacks were all targeted at a supposed destruction of the image of mankind by the societal non-answerability of art - a lightly veiled demand that art and artists be subordinated to ideologies, to the binding value systems of specific political creeds. It was not only because of his fame, his avowed political commitment, and his distinctive formal idiom that Picasso attracted many of the attacks aimed at modern art. More than any other, he epitomized the autonomy of the modern artist who refuses to be squeezed into the moulds of others.

Thus his art at that time, like his life, was Janus-faced. Freedom and commitment, expansionism and withdrawal, went hand in hand. Picasso tended increasingly to retreat from Paris, where he had lived and worked for half a century, and spend his personal and creative time on the Cote d'Azur. His new-found political and artistic freedom was accompanied by a new partnership, with a young painter, Franchise Gilot; in 1947 and 1949 their children Claude and Paloma were born. His exploration of new artistic media and techniques was a counterbalance to his political involvement. If he was to be avowedly committed, adopting political positions with all the limited vision that that could often imply, then Picasso would also be absolute in his art, a creative human being who recognised no constraints.

 

Claude Writing 1951

Paloma 1951

Mother and Child
1943

 

The Sideboard at the "Catalan"
1943

 

Woman with Brooch
1944

 

Tomato Plant
1944

 

Child with Flower
1945

 

Head of a Woman with Green Curls
1946


 

Still Life with Skull, Book and Oil Lamp
1946

Head of a Woman 1947

Still Life on a Table 1947

Still Life
1947

 

Seated Woman in an Armchair
1948

 

Portrait of a Painter (after El Greco)
1950

 

Girls on the Banks of the Seine (after Courbet)
1950

 

Pages at Play
1951

 

Seated Woman with a Bun
1951

 

Mediterranean Landscape
1952

 

Nude Wringing Her Hair
1952

 

Portrait of Madame H.P. (Helene Parmelin)
1952

 

Portrait of Madame H.P. (Helene Parmelin)
1952

 

Seated Woman
1953

 

Nude in the Studio
1953

 

Woman Playing with a Dog
1953