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Picasso Drawings – Material Creativity

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Picasso Drawings – Material Creativity Picasso Drawings – Material Creativity Rachel A. Mustalish • Revoir Picasso’s symposium • March 25th, 2015 Picasso used materials with a high degree of experimenta- tion and creativity. Close examination of his work allows for an exploration of the intricate, playful, and unexpected use of artists’ and everyday materials that Picasso used to create his works. His drawings, sketches, and paintings on paper offer an intimate and unique view of Picasso’s wor- king processes, as they do not lend themselves to overpain- 1. Pablo Picasso ting or erasure and capture the direct mark of the artist. Carles Casagemas Picasso developed methods of application that were not 1900 only innovative in and of themselves, but were a driving Ink and essence on paper, 10,5 x 7,9 cm force behind his image creation, conceptions of space, light The Metropolitan Museum of Art and shadow, and the relationship between subject and Gift of Raymonde Paul, in memory of her brother, C. Michael Paul (1982. 1982.179.19) background. Examination of the materials and techniques Image © Metropolitan Museum of Art used brings forth the question of why Picasso choose cer- © 2016 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York tain papers, chalks, charcoal, inks, paint mixtures and other media and how they not only influenced his working variety of papers. They all have some common features when methods, but his image making. it comes to their technique; however, in their variation they Many of Picasso’s drawings have pentimenti, underdrawing, also showcase Picasso’s experimental nature with materials and other hidden forms and figures. Conservation examina- and effects. The underlying feature to these drawings is a tion and the use of imaging techniques have allowed these quick pen sketch done with enough force to scratch and rou- to be examined and studied and speak even more deeply to ghen the paper in all the portraits. Picasso used both black Picasso’s creative process by revealing media, methods, and and brown inks and they have altered depending upon the subject matter that connect many of his drawing and pain- paper type, the subsequent application of color wash and tings in new ways. The combination of imaging, analysis, their history. After the pen sketch, various brush-applied and close examination of Picasso’s working techniques and color washes were added. These were painted over the pen manipulation of materials add new layers to discussion of lines, sometimes obliterating them and other times empha- Picasso’s creativity and innovations. Many examples of this sizing them by adding a contrasting tone; the colored washes can be seen in his works on paper, from his earliest dibujo are applied over almost the entire surface. Their appearance fritos to his essence paintings, charcoal drawings made to the eye, under magnification, and their fluorescence under throughout his life, and the consistent adoption of modern ultraviolet light, suggest that the washes are a manipulated and industrial materials, such as stationers writing inks and and thinned oil paint called essence. In this practice, oil the ink marker that came from America in the 1950s. paint is placed on an absorbent paper in order to allow the During Picasso’s late teens in Barcelona in 1899-1900, he oil to leach out of the paint leaving a densely colored, pig- and fellow Catalonian artist Isadore Nonnell (1872-1911) ment-rich paint. Turpentine, or another diluent, allows the made dibujos fritos, fregit, or fried drawings. By dipping paint to be used very thinly and creates areas of color that sheets of paper into cooking oils they could give an aged, gol- have a washy, nearly watercolor-like effect. Essence soaks den-brown, and semi-translucent appearance to the papers. into the paper, leaving a matte, yet vivid paint layer. The This in turn affected the way the inks and crayons interacted washes are generally very thin, although in some of these in the overall look of the drawing. While this was not long small sketches they have other components and they appear pursued by Picasso, it is an indicator of his penchant to play thicker and globular. with the limits of materials, to have them perform to his Examination of a series of drawing that are done with very will, and to enjoy the happy accident of using materials in an similar materials gives an opportunity to see that, with a untraditional manner. limited range of materials, Picasso could affect a wide variety In 1900 while Picasso was still in Barcelona, he created of textures, line, and color that illustrates his ability and numerous small sketches of artists, writers and others within aim to push materials to his desired working properties and his circle. These small drawings, such as Carles Casagemas appearance. Drawings created during his summer in Gósol, (fig. 1) combine quick pen sketches, varied application of Spain in 1906 are useful to look at as Picasso used nearly color, and several unusual mixes to create novel effects on a the same paper and media at that time. He favored Ingres Rachel A. Mustalish : Picasso Drawings – Material Creativity 1 Colloque Revoir Picasso • 25 mars 2015 paper; a white laid, high quality paper that was stiff and had material to Young Woman of Gósol, however, it has a dis- a moderately prominent chain and laid lines. Picasso used tinctly different overall appearance. This figure is executed this with black direct media (fabricated chalks and charcoals, in fabricated black chalk with very fine particles. The bas- graphite, and Conté crayon) and black inks, watercolors, and ket-weave texture of the artist’s paper was captured by the gouaches. almost dusty pigment which sits on the high points of the Young Woman of Gósol (fig. 2) has many features often paper. The figure is sparse in its media; the finely fabricated seen in Picasso’s works, particularly an initial lightly applied chalk runs evenly across the textured paper, making each line sketch where the original position of the design remains a highly defined screen of tone. The fine nature of the par- visible. This light sketch can also be seen on the hands, head, ticles and intermittent smudging creates gray-toned strokes shoulder and skirt of the final composition overlain by darker where layers were needed to build depth in the shadows and more definitive strokes of media that reinforce the design. to emphasize forms. These lines are broad and angular; they The staccato marks of the lighter sketch of Conté crayon create and define the soft forms of the seated nude woman skip across the surface as one would expect from a combina- while accentuating the large areas of flat angular highlights. tion of Ingres paper and Conté. Examination (figure 4) shows Emphasizing the large white planes of the figure without that the pattern does not reflect the paper’s texture but that shading the ostensibly round forms flattens the shapes and of a more heavily and differently textured material such as manifests a completely different sense of modeling and for- pulp board or fabric that must have been beneath the paper mation of space than Young Woman of Gósol. Comparison of when Picasso was drawing. With this he exploited the abi- details (fig. 4) show how completely different the approach to lity of Conté crayon to mirror the texture of the drawing sur- image making is in these two drawings. face, and created a diffuse and unique texture on the sheet. The face of the woman has subtle shading; this is made by very light strokes of the Conté crayon where the reduced application pressure has diminished the appearance of any drawn lines, creating a soft, modeled and volumetric appea- rance. The strong definitive outlines of the final position of the figure, the finishing details, and shading of the face do not have the aberrant texture seen in the outlines; only that supplied by the laid paper support of the drawing indicating these were done when the paper was not on top of a more 4. Details of Young Woman of Gósol (1906) (left) and Kneeling Nude heavily contoured material and perhaps at a different sitting. (1906) (right) by Pablo Picasso contrasting the shading and line effects © 2016 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Kneeling Nude, (fig. 3) also from Picasso’s period in Gósol, uses black direct media and Ingres laid paper very similar Picasso used metal nib pens throughout his career. Even with the simple combination of paper, pen and black ink, Picasso could achieve a variety of marks and effects that heighten the emotional aspects of the drawing. The metal nibbed pens were designed to be used with a smooth hard surface to allow the pen and ink to slide across the surface of a sheet without catching on the paper fibers. However, writing was not Picasso’s goal when using pen for image making, and he often intentionally roughened the surface of his papers with his pen, which allowed for greater absorption of ink. Picasso vigorously applied ink with both a pen and a brush in this 1945 portrait of Paul Verlaine (fig. 5). The deep black ink applied in broad strokes form the head and background, and thin pen lines delineate the facial features. The same ink applied more dilutely made the broad gray stokes that swirl around the head of the sitter, creating volume and a dyna- mism that intensifies the action of an otherwise static sub- ject. Examination shows that Picasso drew countless lines; 2. Pablo Picasso 3. Pablo Picasso Young Woman of Gósol Kneeling Nude stroke over stroke, laying down multiple layers of black ink 1906 1906 that created intense areas of deep black.
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