Pablo Picasso, One of the Most He Was Gradually Assimilated Into Their Dynamic and Influential Artists of Our Stimulating Intellectual Community
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A Guide for Teachers National Gallery of Art,Washington PICASSO The Early Ye a r s 1892–1906 Teachers’ Guide This teachers’ guide investigates three National G a l l e ry of A rt paintings included in the exhibition P i c a s s o :The Early Ye a rs, 1 8 9 2 – 1 9 0 6.This guide is written for teachers of middle and high school stu- d e n t s . It includes background info r m a t i o n , d i s c u s s i o n questions and suggested activities.A dditional info r m a- tion is available on the National Gallery ’s web site at h t t p : / / w w w. n g a . gov. Prepared by the Department of Teacher & School Programs and produced by the D e p a rtment of Education Publ i c a t i o n s , Education Division, National Gallery of A rt . ©1997 Board of Tru s t e e s , National Gallery of A rt ,Wa s h i n g t o n . Images in this guide are ©1997 Estate of Pa blo Picasso / A rtists Rights Society (ARS), New Yo rk PICASSO:The EarlyYears, 1892–1906 Pablo Picasso, one of the most he was gradually assimilated into their dynamic and influential artists of our stimulating intellectual community. century, achieved success in drawing, Although Picasso benefited greatly printmaking, sculpture, and ceramics from the artistic atmosphere in Paris as well as in painting. He experiment- and his circle of friends, he was often ed with a number of different artistic lonely, unhappy, and terribly poor. styles during his long career. The During this period his sympathy for exhibition The Early Years traces his social outcasts was reflected in his development from 1892-1906, just art, both in his subject matter — prior to the advent of cubism. including blind beggars and destitute families — and in his melancholy blue color schemes. Picasso’s “Blue peri- Background on Picasso was born in Málaga on the od,” from 1901 to 1904, is represent- the Artist southern coast of Spain in 1881. He ed in the exhibition by Le Gourmet was exposed to art from a very (The Greedy Child) (1901) and Tragedy young age by his father, who was a (1903). painter and art instructor. After In 1905 Picasso’s works are charac- studying at various art schools terized by a new palette of roses or between 1892 and 1896, including russets, as well as a shift in subject academies in Barcelona and Madrid, matter and form. Paintings from this he went on to the Royal Academy of “Rose period” often show transient San Fernando in Madrid during the fairground performers in contempla- winter of 1896-1897. Picasso soon tive moods. The focus is frequently became bored with academics and set on a group of figures who seem to himself up as an independent artist. function as a family or a band of In Barcelona in 1899 Picasso’s cir- vagabonds, as seen in the paramount cle of friends included young avant- work in this series, the large Family of garde artists and writers who traveled Saltimbanques. between Madrid, Barcelona, and Paris. Picasso also visited these cities and absorbed the local culture. His early works were influenced by old masters such as El Greco and Velázquez and by modern artists including Paul Gauguin, Edgar Degas, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Picasso moved to Paris in 1904 and settled in a dilapi- dated section of Montmartre, a work- ing-class quarter. This area was home to many young artists and writers, and Le Gourmet (The Greedy Child) Paris, summer/autumn 1901 oil on canvas 92.8 x 68.3 (36 1/2 x 26 7/8) National Gallery of Art,Washington, Chester Dale Collection Le Gourmet (The Greedy Child) sug- gests the direction Picasso’s art was Discussion Questions to take between late 1901 and 1904. It anticipates the Blue period, when his palette became almost exclusively blue, his figures tragic, his mood 1. Dark lines in Le Gourmet (The melancholy, and his style more Greedy Child) outline different shapes. expressive. Discuss how these lines unify the The young girl in this work is tip- painting. Le Gourmet (The ping her bowl to scrape out a last Greedy Child) morsel of food. She is shown with 2.This painting has various titles, Le Paris, summer/autumn just the barest necessities — a nearly Gourmand, Le Gourmet, and The Greedy 1901 empty bowl, a mug, and a scrap of Child. Discuss why the child might be oil on canvas bread on the table. The titles given considered greedy. How might these 92.8 x 68.3 (36 1/2 x 26 7/8) this painting seem to be ironic com- titles be ironic? National Gallery of ments on the child’s humble condi- Art,Washington, tion. 3. Discuss with students how color Chester Dale Picasso emphasized curving out- can be descriptive, symbolic, and sug- Collection lines in the painting by reinforcing gestive of a mood or emotion. them with thick brush strokes. The simplified shapes, flattened back- 4. Describe all the various shades of ground, and skewed perspective cre- blue in the painting using different ate a patterned effect that suggests adjectives. this scene is removed from the every- day world. The sense of unreality is greatly heightened by the pervasive blue tonality, which nearly overpowers every other color. Tragedy Barcelona, 1903 oil on panel 105.4 x 69 (41 1/2 x 27 1/8) National Gallery of Art,Washington, Chester Dale Collection The thin, barefoot, shabbily clothed most important painter of the six- figures in this Blue period composi- teenth century to work in Spain; and tion refer to physical deprivations, the innate human dignity that these which Picasso himself experienced as figures maintain in the face of tragedy he struggled to establish himself as an is characteristic of the paintings of artist. In addition to the cold and the great Spanish baroque artist hunger of poverty, the work express- Diego Velázquez. es psychological suffering, which may reflect the dislocation that Picasso Tra gedy experienced as a young and destitute Barcelona,1903 foreigner in Paris. This powerful Discussion Questions oil on panel image conveys a sense of spiritual 105.4 x 69 (41 1/2 x alienation in keeping with the intellec- 1.What are the colors in nature for 27 1/8) tual discontent of his bohemian beaches? sand? sky? When is the National Gallery of Art,Washington, milieu. sky not blue? Does everyone agree Chester Dale Tragedy is one of a number of Blue on the choices, or is color symbolism Collection period paintings that capture the subjective? Ask students to identify mood of melancholy and isolation. personal color symbols. There is no specific narrative associ- ated with the painting. The man, the 2.Ask students for their ideas on how woman, and the child exemplify the to convey the theme of despair. depths of the human condition. In Consider facial expressions, body lan- fact, the ambiguous quality of the guage, colors, shapes, and the artistic work — so laden with meaning, yet media used. beyond literal interpretation — is another of its modern aspects. In an 3. Compare Tragedy and Le Gourmet era of few certainties, traditional sto- (The Greedy Child). Which work con- rytelling may have no longer been veys a greater sense of despair? seen to serve a meaningful artistic Why? function. The figures are carefully drawn, 4. How does Tragedy relate to other and the contours of their bodies works of art by Picasso in this time reveal much about their states of period? How does his art reflect mind. The faces, especially of the who Picasso was as a person, where males, are rendered in a way that sug- he came from, and what he encoun- gests Picasso’s academic training. His tered in his world politically, socially, Spanish roots are also evident: the and culturally? elongated proportions that emphasize the sadness of these figures are remi- niscent of the work of El Greco, the Family of Saltimbanques Paris,1905 oil on canvas 212.8 x 229.6 (83 3/4 x 90 3/8) National Gallery of Art,Washington Chester Dale Collection This scene of fairground performers acrobats are lost in their own was Picasso’s most significant work to thoughts and glance toward the date. The name of the painting comes woman, who sits alone, while the har- from the Italian words saltare (mean- lequin reaches out to the child behind ing “to leap”) and banco (the word his back. In his deft representations for “bench”– which refers to the of the various figures, Picasso manages stage on which the acrobats usually to portray not only the lifestyle of the Family of performed). Saltimbanques were the real saltimbanques but also the appar- Saltimbanques lowest order of acrobats; Picasso pic- ent melancholy mood of his friends Paris,1905 oil on canvas tured them as vagabonds with simple and the collective alienation of this 212.8 x 229.6 (83 3/4 x props in an empty, desertlike land- group. 90 3/8) scape. He was familiar with earlier Picasso’s huge canvas was a consid- National Gallery of Art, representations of clowns and harle- erable investment for the struggling Washington, quins from eighteenth-century art, artist and may explain why he repaint- Chester Dale Collection which frequently included figures from ed the subject at least four times, one the commedia dell’arte, a popular the- on top of the other.