let's talk art

"Art is not the application of a canon of beauty but what the instinct and the brain can conceive beyond any canon. When we love a woman we don’t start measuring her limbs."
- Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881 - 1973)


whatever that means.

alright, so i do feel just that little bit more cultured than a tub of yogurt (bad joke, pun intended) now but by no means am i qualified to be referred to as a 'genteel young lady' or to be launched into 'polite society'.

on the other hand, i'm quite proud to announce that my 'phrasebook of art critique' has now expanded to more than just "oh my, that painting is pretty."
*although that's still my main comment.

lo and behold, the PICASSO Love & War 1935 - 1945 (Melbourne Winter Masterpieces 2006) collection currently on display at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).

enough nonsense.
now let's really talk art. sort of.

so this is Picasso.
if memory serves me well, this photo of him posing as a Minotaur (complete with skull) / a blind mythical figure (with stick) was taken by his lover & muse at that time, Dora Maar.
red 'stains' and all. i suppose they're there for artistic purposes. you know, to bring attention to the mythical character in the centre. they were, after all, supposedly experimenting with glass negatives or some gelatin thing. i can't remember.
or i could be totally wrong & it's possible that Dora Maar simply spilled ink over the photo.

p.s: we thought Picasso was a little too self absorbed. the number of self portraits & posed photographs! but then again, we might've been wrong too.

all in the name of art.

this is Dora Maar.
friend, muse, lover. at least for from 1935 to 1945, i think.
quite pretty, i must say.
accomplished photographer in her own right, even before she met Picasso.
i think this photo by Man Ray captured her sultry, mysterious aura.

what fascinated me when i was viewing the paintings at the NGV was how frequently Picasso painted Dora Maar in this 1 particular posture.

these are just 2 examples
& if you observe the picture below, it appears that it's just who she is.

& now, the famed Weeping Women series, with Dora Maar as his muse and subject.
observe the very distinct cubism style synonymous to Picasso & Braque.
what i liked about this piece was its complexity and bold yet intricate lines (especially of the face and hankerchief).
but hey, i can't even handle drawing stick figures. so anything'll look complex to me, i guess.
saz (you'll read about her later) thought it looked rather depressing.
fair enough.

next up, works by Dora Maar.
Picasso's progress on his masterpiece Guernica, a mural portraying his horror at the bombing of Guernica (1937), was immortalised by Dora Maar in the first ever photographic record of a work in progress.
the actual Guernica wasn't on display at the NGV, only video clips of it were shown via the overhead projector.
Dora Maar's photos of Guernica's progress were exhibited though.

Picasso at work.


Guernica.
"modern art's most powerful antiwar statement"
-Treasures of the World.

i thought i'd finish this blog with what i think is "a pretty painting" by Picasso.
the Dora Maar au Chat.
(Dora Maar with Cat)

contrary to my ignorance to the fine details of the bigger picture (of art in general), i must admit that my visit to the Picasso exhibition - to be in the presence of such great 'metaphorical' works by a man so full of feeling, left me in... awe, (even though i couldn't fully appreciate most of them) the same feeling i get when i hold a piece of history in my hand.

* special thanks to saz,
for the photo of PICASSO (taken from inside the NGV, through glass with running water)
and for going to the NGV with me & bulls***ing our way through the paintings, pretending to have a cultured opinion of each painting.