Art Masterpiece: Dora Maar, 1937 by Pablo Picasso ______Keywords: Cubism, Portrait, Shape Grade: 4th – 6th Activity: Cubist Style Portrait
Meet the Artist: • Picasso was born in Spain in 1881. His father was also an art teacher and encouraged Picasso to pursue art. Picasso was considered a master of drawing by age 12. • Picasso is known as a great artist but also for the drastic changes in his art style throughout his career. He started out with the uncanny ability to paint realistically. • At nineteen he moved to Paris, and unfortunately, had a run of bad luck. His best friend died, his painting weren’t selling and he was practically starving to death. This was the start of his “blue period”. Much of his art was painted entirely blue and many of his subjects were lonely and sad. His work was controversial: some loved it, others thought they were too strange. • Eventually, Picasso fell in love and soon a happier color appeared in his work. It was the start of his “rose period”, where everything he painted was with warm tones and of happier subjects. Many of his paintings from this time included circus scenes. • Picasso is most known for a style of art called Cubism. Cubism emphasized line, shape and color and would take the subject of a painting and breaks it down into cubes or geometric shapes. It was a modern art style that wasn’t realistic. • Cubism is a very important to art history. It blew peoples minds. For hundreds of years artist were trying their best to paint as realistically as possible and then Picasso came along and tried to make things look different. People were shocked: eyes & noses were in the wrong place and faces were flattened out. • Picasso had 4 children. When they were young, he was a fun dad. He would draw on tablecloths, did magic tricks and would prepare birthday dinner celebrations made up entirely of chocolate. • He was very eccentric. He never threw anything out, hated the telephone, and refused to dust his studio. He moved houses often. He loved keeping an odd assortment of pets, including goats, reptiles, a monkey and always some Afghan Hounds. He loved any publicity and made sure he was always reading something about himself. • What made Picasso such a great artist was his originality. He had the imagination to try new and different things throughout his entire life. He was a great painter but also made sculptures, drawings and pottery. He is also known as the inventor of collage. Collage is a technique where materials such as colored paper, photographs, newspaper clippings, string, fabrics etc. are pasted onto a canvas to create a picture. • He was a prolific painter, and even in his 90th year, he painted 200 paintings. He was still working on the day he died, at age 92, of heart failure.
About the Art: Dora Maar was a photographer and friend of Picasso. In this portrait she sits in a traditional, classical pose. Picasso paints her so you can see her full face and profile. One eye is showing inward toward her self but the pupil looks straight out. The other eye, painted red, looks out at the world. One theory is that Picasso’s intention was to show that human beings physically and emotionally, have two sides.
Possible Questions: o Picasso once said, “I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them.” What do you notice about the way Picasso painted this portrait? o Does this look realistic to you? More Abstract (use of geometric shapes and distortion.) o What types of shapes do you see? o Where do you see repetition of shapes? o Where do you see distortion or exaggeration in this portrait? o Do you see the different perspectives of the same person? Profile Front view o Describe the colors. Are they realistic? (bold and contrasting, not very realistic. o What do you notice about the lines in the portrait? (Very thick- to emphasize shapes) o Why do you think Picasso painted this painting? What do you think inspired it? o Do you like it? Why, why not? o Would you hang this painting in your house? If so, which room?
Activity: Cubist Style Portrait
Materials: 12”x18” white drawing paper Pencil Black Sharpie Markers Oil pastels Black construction paper for mounting (optional)
1. Have students turn their papers vertically and draw a face shape (LIGHTLY using pencil) in the middle of the paper. Emphasize that the face can be ANY shape; it doesn’t HAVE to be oval. 2. Next have the students draw a “profile” of a face going down the middle of the first face they drew, thereby making the face look like it’s actually 2 faces: a profile view, and a front view. (See image below as an example.) After the profile is drawn, students can erase any part of the first face they do not want to show in the profile face.
3. Ask students to add facial characteristics, eyes, extra nose, mouths, etc. emphasizing the use of geometric SHAPES, and really putting their imagination to the test. They could add one ear, two, or none. It is totally up to them. 4. To tie their composition together, have students draw hair. Specify that the hair must lead from one side of the paper to another. The hair has to connect to each head, thereby making the composition flow. Discuss the various types of lines that could be used to make hair. 5. Have students outline their drawing using a black Sharpie . 6. Color faces in non-realistic colors with oil pastel in the style of Picasso. 7. Have the students sign their portrait.