Monday, August 17, 2015

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(40E), and Rubens' (10I) all served as sources in Picasso's painting.
I believe the head of the woman in “La Vie” (10) may have developed from the figure on the right of a "Stele of a Father and Son" (10E). Note the small crouched figure on the left.
Picasso even borrowed from himself, as the woman holding the infant is a close relative of figures in the "Burial of Casagemas" / "Evocation" (2) by Picasso. The curved arch behind the figures reinforces this.

Picasso demonstrated an ability to relate all these references in his work.

L Ascete” 1903 (11)

One can see immediately the correlation that exists between "L Ascete (11) and El Greco's portrait of "Antonio de Covarrubias" (11A), and to a lesser extent, the portrait of "Diego Covarrubias" (11B). The modeling of the face and neck which resembles the folds in the surplice of Antonio, the shadows on the side of the head and cheekbones, the moustache which droops to one side (Picasso reversed this), the form of the nose and eyelids, beard, and hair, and finally the turn of the head on the neck demonstrate that the brothers Covarrubias were the source.

The Old Guitarist” 1903 (12)

In 1903, Picasso's slender figures approached mannerism, relating, as Barr has written, to 16th century Mannerist painting. He mentions the "elongations, the insistent pathos, the cramped postures or affected gestures" of the "Old Guitarist" (12), and states that it possibly was influenced by the Spanish Mannerist Morales and El Greco (Barr 29).

The identification with suffering and poverty in “The Old Guitarist“ has also been related to the bearded, cross-legged viol players of the twelfth century Gloria portal of the Church of Santiago de Compostela (Barr 254).

Other candidates that may have inspired the "The Old Guitarist" are the following:

George de la Tour's "Blind Beggar Playing the Hurdy-Gurdy" (12A) is close to the mood of the "Old Guitarist," as it contains a blind man playing a musical instrument with his mouth open, eyes closed, and head turned to one side. Compare the grace of the form of the hand playing the instrument in each work. Note also the crossing of the legs.

"The Last Communion of St. Jerome" (12B) by Domenichino may also have suggested the crossed legs.

Memories of Rodin's "The Old Courtesan" (12C) may account for the position of the head and legs and also the emaciation of the figure.

About 1890 Cezanne did a drawing based on Puget's "Flayed Man" (12D). In 1903 Matisse did a sculptural copy of the same statue which was present in the studios of many artists at that time. The dislocation of the head may derive from these examples.

Finally, a head of a figure in the lower right of Delacroix's "Bark of Dante" (12E) has much the same expression as Picasso's head. See also “Entrance of Crusaders into Constantinople” (12F) by Delacroix.


EXAMPLES FROM 1904


“Woman with a Crow” 1904 (13)

In the spring of 1904, Picasso moved permanently to Paris. There, he approached a flattening of form in his "Woman with a Crow" (13). Again, the elongations recall El Greco, but, by this time, Picasso was distorting his figures to such an extreme that the arms and fingers in a painful, almost abnormal, position are Picasso's invention.

At this time he seems to reach a peak in expressive sentimentality. Jennings reports that the first number of the magazine, "Joventut," contained a biography of Beardsley with illustrations, and he says that
"Beardsley seems spiritually akin to the Picasso of such works as . . . "Girl with a Raven"/”Woman with a Crow”” (Jennings 188).
“Woman with a Crow II” 1904 (14)

It is possible that Picasso perceived a woman with a crow in Delacroix's "Entrance of Crusaders into Constantinople" (12F). The central figure of that work may have suggested the woman, and the dark shadow to the left has the
implied form of a crow which could have a bearing on Picasso's second version of "Woman with a Crow" (14).
“Portrait of the Sculptor Manolo” 1904 (15)

Also in 1904, Picasso did what is called a "Portrait of the Sculptor
Manolo" (15). When this is compared with El Greco's "Portrait of a Dominican" (15A), it is obvious that Picasso's work is a mirror image or reversal of the El Greco. This is an example of Picasso's adapting the El Greco head as a model for his own work. Perhaps the reversal was an attempt to conceal the source.

During these formative years, Picasso was involved in developing his art, and this volume demonstrates the many and varied ways the young artist found teachers and mentors in other artists.


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