DOCSLIB.ORG

On the Mythological and the Monographic

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
On the Mythological and the Monographic On the Mythological and the Monographic The Single-Artist Museum and the Notion of Genius Master Thesis Author: Megan Mullarky Student number: 10869808 Supervisor: Dr. Rachel Esner Second Reader: Dos Elshout University of Amsterdam Heritage Studies: Museum Studies Word Count: 22,919 2 December 2016 1 Table of Contents Preface…………………………………………………………..………………………………...…………...…….3 Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………….…………….….………….4 0. Introduction 0.1 Introduction to Topic…………………….………...………………..….………………………5 0.2 State of the Research………………………………………………….…………...……………6 0.3 Research Question and Framework……………………………..……………....……….7 1. Artistic Genius and its Role in Art Historical Discourse 1.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………...…………9 1.2 Immanuel Kant and the Definition of Genius…………………………..……..…….10 1.3 Biography, Mythologization, and the Inexplicable……………………..…………15 1.4 The Early Twentieth Century: Diversity and Discontent……..………….…….17 1.5 Barthes: Rupture and Legacy……………………………………………………..……….22 1.6 The Aftermath of the Death of the Author………………………….…..……...…….24 1.7 The Era of Criticism………………………………………...………………………….………28 2. Case Study 1: Musée National Picasso 2.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………31 2.2 The Formation of the Musée National Picasso…………………...............………..32 2.3 The Mythologies at Stake: Narcissist, Misogynist, Mystery…………..……….38 2.4 Mythologies in the Museum: Musée Picasso circa 1985………….……….……42 2.5 Musée Picasso 2014: Renovations and Reconsiderations……………………..46 2.6 Conclusions………………………….………………………………………………………...….49 3. Case Study 2: Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam 3.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………55 3.2 The Formation of the Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam………………….……….56 3.3 The Mythologies at Stake: Martyr, Lunatic, Saint…………………….……………62 3.4 Mythologies in the Museum: Van Gogh Museum circa 1973…………….…...68 3.5 Van Gogh Museum circa 2014: Renovations and Reconsiderations…........72 3.6 Conclusions………..……………..………………………………………………………….……77 4. Conclusion 4.1 Results and Interpretations……………...………..……………………………………….81 Images………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………….86 Literature……………………………………………………………………………………………………….103 2 Preface During my bachelor’s degree in art history in the United States, I became extremely interested in the problematic aspects of biographical art history and how to deal with the identity of artists in my own practice. I constantly asked myself, why does any of this matter? Can I, or anyone else, really give a good reason for studying the identity or authorship of artists as interpretative material for their works? It was my continued interest in this problem that inspired this thesis project. Fascinated by the way in which monographic museums of celebrity artists must deal with the issue of artistic identity, yet slightly frustrated at times that the museum world did not seem to notice the challenges going on in these institutions, I felt compelled to write about these issues. I chose the following case studies specifically according to my interests and expertise. Because I completed an eight-month internship at the Van Gogh Museum, it was a highly accessible choice for me to conduct a case study. The Musée Picasso, on the other hand, was simply an institution which I had previously found both beautiful and problematic, a great combination for my interest in a case study. I hope in this thesis to provoke more interest and attention towards monographic institutions today, and show also that the issue of authorship and identity in art museums remains an extremely complicated challenge. I thoroughly hope that you enjoy reading my findings. Megan Mullarky 3 Acknowledgements During the research period of this project, there were many people at the University of Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam, and Musée National Picasso whose assistance enormously improved the results of this study. Most importantly, I would like to thank Dr. Rachel Esner at the University of Amsterdam, whose close guidance and inspirational attitude truly made this project possible. I would also like to thank those who were willing to be sit through long interviews, namely Leo Jansen at the Mondrian Edition Project, whom I thank for his deep interest in this topic and openness to exchange ideas. However, I would also like to thank Nienke Bakker, Joost van der Hoeven, Edwin Becker, and Renske Suijver at the Van Gogh Museum for offering assistance when needed and access to the Van Gogh Museum archives. At the Musée National Picasso I would like to express my thanks to Émilie Bouvard, who was willing to be interviewed and direct me towards the correct information in the extensive Musée Picasso archives. At the University of Amsterdam I would like to thank Dr. Dos Elshout, who guided my internship at the Van Gogh Museum and supported the development of this research idea. 4 0. Introduction 0.1 Introduction to Topic Art museums dedicated to the work of a single artist are today common occurrences in the landscape of the contemporary art world. Often called “monographic museums,” such institutions are generally dedicated to artist’s of a certain celebrity status. However, often overlooked by contemporary museum professionals and art historians are the fundamental differences in the historical development, ideological identity, and methodological strategies between monographic museums and today’s standard art museums. Most particularly unaccounted for, in fact, is that in comparison to the freedom of a typical art museum to innovatively design their display of a collection originating from a variety of artists, monographic museums lack such liberties due to their investment in the display of the life and work of only a single artist. The development of such institutions, in fact, are intrinsically bound to the historical notion of “artistic genius” and the mythologization1 of the artist in order to justify the veneration of a single historical figure through the establishment of such a museum. As a result, today’s monographic museums are often methodologically indebted to the notion of artistic genius, thereby occluding a variety of other methodological perspectives. This thesis will therefore present an investigation of the role of the historical notion of artistic genius and 1 The term “mythologization” will throughout this essay refer to the way in which biography and the notion of genius can be combined in the consideration of certain artists and therefore instigate the notion of the artist as “mythologized.” This process will be explained further in the first chapter of this thesis. 5 mythologization in two single artists museums: the Musée National Picasso and the Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam. 0.2 State of the Research Although the investigation of the ideological presence of the notion of artistic genius in monographic museums is the main topic of this study, the concept itself has been long popularized as a major research topic by the fields of philosophy, art history, museology, and anthropology. Considered the most significant instigator towards the trajectory of this scholarship, Roland Barthes’ 1967 text “The Death of the Author”2 stimulated throughout the twentieth century a profound interest in the examination of the author (or artist) as creative subject. The largely positive reception of Barthes’ text aroused not only a series of responsive essays, such as Michel Foucault’s “What is an Author?,”3 but also the interest of academics to continue to analyze the meaning of the author’s death in terms of a variety of methodological situations, identities, and disciplines. This process occurring in the twentieth century will be outlined in the first chapter of this thesis. In contrast, the broader landscape of monographic museums as institutional category is largely ignored, despite the fact that Europe is home to nearly fifty of such establishments. The single known account of the theoretical foundation of monographic museums is that found in the PhD dissertation of Maarten Liefooghe completed in 2013 at the University of Ghent, entitled, “De monographische factor: 2 Roland Barthes, “The Death of the Author,” English translation in Image, Music, Text by Stephen Heath, (1968), 141-148. 3 Foucault, Michel, “What is an Author?” English translation in Authorship: From Plato to the Postmodern, (Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press, 1995). 6 theoretische en architecturale aspecten van kunstenaarsmusea.”4 This PhD project, sponsored by Bart Verschaffel en Wouter Davidts, explores the foundational aspects of the single-artist institution in terms of theory and architecture within the broader scope of the generalized aims of monographic museums. Liefooghe’s project can be considered the first of its type in its development of a theoretical survey of the monographic museum within the field of museology. However, this thesis will nonetheless differ fundamentally from Liefooghe’s in that the focus will not be on architecture, but rather, the specific museological strategies in the broadest sense utilized in the display of the permanent collection within which the notion of artistic genius plays a major role. 0.3 Research Question and Framework With respect to the state of the research, this thesis will answer the following question: How do contemporary monographic museums function in relation to the problematic history of the notion of the artistic genius and the process of mythologization of the author-figure? This question will be answered in three chapters. The first chapter will outline the
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Tate Report 2010-11: List of Tate Archive Accessions
    Tate Report 10–11 Tate Tate Report 10 –11 It is the exceptional generosity and vision If you would like to find out more about Published 2011 by of individuals, corporations and numerous how you can become involved and help order of the Tate Trustees by Tate private foundations and public-sector bodies support Tate, please contact us at: Publishing, a division of Tate Enterprises that has helped Tate to become what it is Ltd, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG today and enabled us to: Development Office www.tate.org.uk/publishing Tate Offer innovative, landmark exhibitions Millbank © Tate 2011 and Collection displays London SW1P 4RG ISBN 978-1-84976-044-7 Tel +44 (0)20 7887 4900 Develop imaginative learning programmes Fax +44 (0)20 7887 8738 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Strengthen and extend the range of our American Patrons of Tate Collection, and conserve and care for it Every effort has been made to locate the 520 West 27 Street Unit 404 copyright owners of images included in New York, NY 10001 Advance innovative scholarship and research this report and to meet their requirements. USA The publishers apologise for any Tel +1 212 643 2818 Ensure that our galleries are accessible and omissions, which they will be pleased Fax +1 212 643 1001 continue to meet the needs of our visitors. to rectify at the earliest opportunity. Or visit us at Produced, written and edited by www.tate.org.uk/support Helen Beeckmans, Oliver Bennett, Lee Cheshire, Ruth Findlay, Masina Frost, Tate Directors serving in 2010-11 Celeste
    [Show full text]
  • A Stylistic and Contextual Analysis of Juan Gris' Cityscape Imagery, 1911-1912 Geoffrey David Schwartz University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
    University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations December 2014 The ubiC st's View of Montmartre: A Stylistic and Contextual Analysis of Juan Gris' Cityscape Imagery, 1911-1912 Geoffrey David Schwartz University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons Recommended Citation Schwartz, Geoffrey David, "The ubC ist's View of Montmartre: A Stylistic and Contextual Analysis of Juan Gris' Cityscape Imagery, 1911-1912" (2014). Theses and Dissertations. 584. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/584 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE CUBIST’S VIEW OF MONTMARTRE: A STYISTIC AND CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF JUAN GRIS’ CITYSCAPE IMAGERY, 1911-1912. by Geoffrey David Schwartz A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Art History at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee December 2014 ABSTRACT THE CUBIST’S VIEW OF MONTMARTE: A STYLISTIC AND CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF JUAN GRIS’ CITYSCAPE IMAGERY, 1911-1912 by Geoffrey David Schwartz The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2014 Under the Supervision of Professor Kenneth Bendiner This thesis examines the stylistic and contextual significance of five Cubist cityscape pictures by Juan Gris from 1911 to 1912. These drawn and painted cityscapes depict specific views near Gris’ Bateau-Lavoir residence in Place Ravignan. Place Ravignan was a small square located off of rue Ravignan that became a central gathering space for local artists and laborers living in neighboring tenements.
    [Show full text]
  • Picasso, Dalí, and Apollinaire: a Triangulation by Dr
    ©Hank Hine, 2015 Picasso, Dalí, and Apollinaire: A triangulation By Dr. Hank Hine © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 2015 Dalí’s 1952 Portrait of Picasso in the 21st century, 1947, develops an iconography as complex as Dalí’s apparent relation to his subject, the Spanish artist 23 years his senior and his persistent referent as an artist and a Spaniard. This painting was loaned by the Fundació Gala Salvador Dalí and was displayed in the exhibition Picasso/Dalí, Dalí Picasso. As the painting’s title proposes Picasso’s countenance as it will appear in the future, an evolution of Picasso’s features is expected. In order to measure the extent of anticipated alteration in his portrait, we can examine the genesis of those changes in the face he presented to Dalí and to others in the era they shared. We desire to know who were these men who were shaped by similar currents and events and whose artistic responses were remarkably similar. The tide of modernism, the impact of Freud, Catalan language and Spanish identity, the wars and women, mark these artists equally. They each made allegorical responses to war. Yet the commerce between Picasso and Dalí was ardent and asymmetrical. Picasso generously provided Dalí and Gala passage to the United States in 1934. Picasso was already the leading avant-garde artist of his day when Dalí made his first trip out of Spain to meet the famous artist at his studio in 1926. There are stories of dinners in Paris. They shared friends, were photographed by the same photographers, and worked at times in the same idiom.
    [Show full text]
  • Pablo Picasso, Published by Christian Zervos, Which Places the Painter of the Demoiselles Davignon in the Context of His Own Work
    PRESS KIT PICASSO 1932 Exhibition 10 October 2017 to 11 February 2018 ANNÉE ÉROTIQUE En partenariat avec Exposition réalisée grâce au soutien de 2 PICASSO 1932 ANNÉE ÉROTIQUE From 10 October to the 11 February 2018 at Musée national Picasso-Paris The first exhibition dedicated to the work of an artist from January 1 to December 31, the exhibition Picasso 1932 will present essential masterpieces in Picassos career as Le Rêve (oil on canvas, private collection) and numerous archival documents that place the creations of this year in their context. This event, organized in partnership with the Tate Modern in London, invites the visitor to follow the production of a particularly rich year in a rigorously chronological journey. It will question the famous formula of the artist, according to which the work that is done is a way of keeping his journal? which implies the idea of a coincidence between life and creation. Among the milestones of this exceptional year are the series of bathers and the colorful portraits and compositions around the figure of Marie-Thérèse Walter, posing the question of his works relationship to surrealism. In parallel with these sensual and erotic works, the artist returns to the theme of the Crucifixion while Brassaï realizes in December a photographic reportage in his workshop of Boisgeloup. 1932 also saw the museification of Picassos work through the organization of retrospectives at the Galerie Georges Petit in Paris and at the Kunsthaus in Zurich, which exhibited the Spanish painter to the public and critics for the first time since 1911. The year also marked the publication of the first volume of the Catalog raisonné of the work of Pablo Picasso, published by Christian Zervos, which places the painter of the Demoiselles dAvignon in the context of his own work.
    [Show full text]
  • Museu Picasso Presents Picasso/Dalí, Dalí/Picasso, the First Exhibition to Explore the Relationship Between Both Artists
    Press Release THE MUSEU PICASSO PRESENTS PICASSO/DALÍ, DALÍ/PICASSO, THE FIRST EXHIBITION TO EXPLORE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BOTH ARTISTS Organised by the Museu Picasso with The Dalí Museum in Saint Petersburg, Florida, in collaboration with the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí in Figueres, this show examines the relationship between Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí—one of the most decisive crossroads in the history of 20th-century art Dalí felt admiration for Picasso dating back to before they had even met, when the young Dalí was making his first avant-garde forays in the early 1920’s The show includes works rarely seen in Europe, including Salvador Dalí’s Portrait of My Sister and Profanation of the Host, and 29 pieces by the two artists that will only be seen in Barcelona Barcelona, 19 March 2015. The Museu Picasso and The Dalí Museum in Saint Petersburg, Florida, have worked with the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí in Figueres and more than 25 art museums and private collectors worldwide to put on the first exhibition to analyse the relationship between Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí. The show sheds light on their highly productive relationship and reveals its high points and contradictions. “We didn’t set out to show that these two artists are in some way similar, but to help visitors get a better understanding of them,” says the show’s co-curator, William Jeffett, from The Dalí Museum. The idea is to let visitors see work by both artists in a fresh light by showing where their paths crossed. The exhibition reveals that after Dalí visited Picasso at his studio in Paris, his work underwent a tremendous experimental shift: he quickly went from merely “analysing” Picasso’s work to fashioning his own, fully Surrealist artistic language.
    [Show full text]
  • The State Hermitage Museum Annual Report 2010 the State Hermitage Museum Annual Report 2010 Contents
    The STaTe hermiTage muSeum annual reporT 2010 The STaTe hermiTage muSeum annual reporT 2010 conTenTS General Editor a year of two staircases ............................................................. 4 Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the state Hermitage Museum, The State Hermitage Museum. General Information ............... 6 Corresponding Member of the Russian academy of sciences, Full Member of the Russian academy of arts, Awards .......................................................................................... 12 Professor of st. Petersburg state University, Doctor of sciences (History) Composition of the Hermitage Collections as of 1 January 2011 .................................................................... 14 ediTorial Board: Permanent Exhibitions ............................................................... 27 Mikhail Piotrovsky, temporary Exhibitions ............................................................... 30 Director of the state Hermitage Museum Georgy Vilinbakhov, Restoration and Conservation .................................................... 70 Deputy Director for Research Publications ................................................................................. 85 Svetlana Adaksina, Conferences ................................................................................. 96 Deputy Director, Chief Curator Marina Antipova, Dissertations ................................................................................ 99 Deputy Director for Finance and Planning Archaeological Expeditions ......................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Atlas Poetica Journal of World Tanka Poetry 30
    ATLAS POETICA A Journal of World Tanka Number 30 M. Kei, editor 2017 Keibooks, Perryville, Maryland, USA KEIBOOKS P O Box 516 Perryville, Maryland, USA 21903 AtlasPoetica.org Atlas Poetica A Journal of World Tanka Copyright © 2017 by Keibooks All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by reviewers and scholars who may quote brief passages. See our EDUCATIONAL USE NOTICE. Atlas Poetica : A Journal of World Tanka, an organic print and e-journal published at least three times a year. Atlas Poetica is dedicated to publishing and promoting world tanka literature, including tanka, kyoka, gogyoshi, tanka prose, tanka sequences, shaped tanka, sedoka, mondo, cherita, zuihitsu, ryuka, and other variations and innovations in the field of tanka. We do not publish haiku, except as incidental to a tanka collage or other mixed form work. Atlas Poetica is interested in all verse of high quality, but our preference is for tanka literature that is authentic to the environment and experience of the poet. While we will consider tanka in the classical Japanese style, our preference is for fresh, forward-looking tanka that engages with the world as it is. We are willing to consider experiments and explorations as well as traditional approaches. In addition to verse, Atlas Poetica publishes articles, essays, reviews, interviews, letters to the editor, etc., related to tanka literature. Tanka in translation from around the world are welcome in the journal.
    [Show full text]
  • Picasso Black and White
    PICASSO BLACK AND WHITE OCTOBER 5, 2012–JANUARY 23, 2013 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Teacher Resource Unit A NOTE TO TEACHERS Few artists have exerted as great an influence over subsequent generations as Pablo Picasso, who is renowned for his innovative explorations in a prodigious variety of styles and techniques. Picasso Black and White is the first exhibition in a major museum setting to explore the artist’s recurrent use of black and white across his prolific career. Organized chronologically, the exhibition traces his continued return to this deceptively simple palette in his Rose and Blue period paintings, investigations into Cubism, neoclassical and Surrealist-inspired figure paintings, forceful scenes of war, allegorical still lifes, homages to old master canvases, novel interpretations of historical subjects, and the highly charged works of his twilight years. Comprising 118 paintings, sculptures, and works on paper, the exhibition is drawn from museums across Europe and the United States, as well as private collections, including those of the Picasso family. The exhibition is organized by Carmen Giménez, Stephen and Nan Swid Curator of Twentieth-Century Art, with assistance from Karole Vail, Associate Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. This Resource Unit focuses on various aspects of Picasso’s work and provides techniques for exploring both the visual arts and other areas of the curriculum. Before bringing your class to the Guggenheim, we invite you to visit the exhibition, read the guide, and decide which aspects of the exhibition are most relevant to your students. For more information, and to schedule a visit for your class, please call 212 423 3637.
    [Show full text]
  • APRIL 2010 to MARCH 2011 (Financial Year)
    APRIL 2010 to MARCH 2011 (financial year) April 2010 333.09.001 Dance Laing Art Gallery (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK) 17/10/2009 - 13/01/2010 Duff House Country Gallery (Banff, UK) 06/02/2010 – 11/04/2010 Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Edinburgh, UK) 01/04/2010 – 16/06/2010 ARBUS, Diane 1923-1971 AR00549 Topless Dancer in her Dressing Room, San Francisco, Cal. 1968 1968 Photograph on paper 508 x 406 mm AR00556 Two Men Dancing at a Drag Ball, N.Y.C. 1970 1970 Photograph on paper 508 x 406 mm 333.09.034 Rob van't Hoff. Architect of a new society Kröller-Müller Museum (Otterlo, The Netherlands) 01/04/2010 - 29/08/2010 BOMBERG, David 1890-1957 T00914 Study for `In the Hold' circa 1914 Charcoal on paper 556 x 660 mm Presented by the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1967 333.09.145 Modern Times Kettle's Yard (Cambridge, UK) 16/01/2010 - 14/03/2010 De La Warr Pavilion (Bexhill on Sea, UK) 01/04/2010 - 13/06/2010 VEDOVA, Emilio born 1919 P11272 [no title] 1989 Relief print on paper 1075 x 1424 mm Presented by Garner H. Tullis and Pamela Auchincloss 1990 SERRA, Richard born 1939 P20144 Weight and Measure 1993 Etching on paper 1710 x 795 mm Presented by the artist 1994 WADSWORTH, Edward 1889-1949 T00109 Abstract Composition 1915 Gouache, pen and pencil on paper 419 x 343 mm frame: 690 x 530 x 15 mm Purchased 1956 LARIONOV, Michel 1881-1964 T00175 White Drawing ?1907 Gouache on paper 229 x 340 mm Purchased 1958 DE KOONING, Willem 1904-1997 T01104 Untitled 1966-7 Charcoal on tracing paper 476 x 610 mm Presented by the artist through the American
    [Show full text]
  • Es Asso 23 Ion Dialogues with Picasso Museo Picasso
    IMPORTANTE! Comprobar ancho del lomo Pablo Picasso DIALOGUES DIALOGUES 2020–2023 MUSEO PICASSO WITH PICASSO WITH PICASSO COLLECTION MÁLAGA — 2020–2023 COLLECTION ‘In the museums, for example, there are only pictures that have failed… Are you smiling? Think it over, and you will see whether or not I am right. Those which today we consider “masterpieces” are those which departed most from the rules laid down by the masters of the period. The best works are those which show most clearly the “stigma” of the artist who painted them.’ In collaboration with the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte Pablo Picasso, Head of a Minotaur, Paris, 13 December 1937 [99, p. 247] 0807_001-456 ING#3.indd 2 27/7/20 10:03 DIALOGUES WITH PICASSO — 2020–2023 COLLECTION 0807_001-456 ING#3.indd 3 27/7/20 10:03 Contents P. 31_ Picasso: New Collection 2020–2023 Bernard Ruiz-Picasso P. 35_ Dialogues in the Labyrinth of the Still Untold Deed José Lebrero Stals P. 39_ Dialogues with Picasso Pepe Karmel P. 65_ Catalogue 0807_001-456 ING#3.indd 28 28/7/20 10:36 P. 81_ The Human Figure Commented Works in Picasso’s Drawings, Javier Cuevas del Barrio 1906–1913 Interim Substitute Professor, Universidad de Málaga Pepe Karmel Cécile Godefroy Associate Professor of Art History, New York University Art Historian and Curator, Paris P. 229_ Anna Jozefacka Independent scholar, New York Picasso’s Minotaurs Luise Mahler Michael FitzGerald Leonard A. Lauder Fellow, Leonard A. Lauder Research Professor of Fine Arts and Director of the Art History Center for Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum, New York programme at Trinity College, Hartford P.
    [Show full text]
  • Edinburgh Research Explorer
    Edinburgh Research Explorer Picasso: (in)human face Citation for published version: Cox, N 2011, 'Picasso: (in)human face', Angelaki: Journal of Theoretical Humanities, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 199- 222. <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0969725X.2011.564373#.Ud-08PmcdBk> Link: Link to publication record in Edinburgh Research Explorer Document Version: Peer reviewed version Published In: Angelaki: Journal of Theoretical Humanities Publisher Rights Statement: © Neil Cox, 2011. Cox, N. (2011). Picasso: (in)human face. Angelaki, 16(1), 199-222 General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorer content complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 01. Oct. 2021 Picasso: (in)human face The inhuman in human beings: that is what the face is from the start.1 In the history of the visual arts there are few projects interrogating the face to rival Picasso’s. One context for this enterprise is, perhaps, its dialogue with the ubiquitous phenomenon of photographic portraiture, and another is the growing discourse in Picasso’s lifetime of the prehistoric, ontologically grounding, origins of art.
    [Show full text]
  • Picasso's 1917 Paint Materials and Their Influence on the Condition Of
    Research Article Picasso’s 1917 paint materials and their infuence on the condition of four paintings L. Fuster‑López1 · F. C. Izzo2 · C. K. Andersen3 · A. Murray4 · A. Vila5 · M. Picollo6 · L. Stefani6 · R. Jiménez7 · E. Aguado‑Guardiola8 Received: 4 June 2020 / Accepted: 29 October 2020 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 Abstract This work aims to investigate the correlation between the painting materials used by Picasso to create four artworks in Barcelona in 1917 and their actual conditions. Specifcally, a range of crack types and patterns was observed in the painted layers. The paintings, kept together in Picasso’s family house until they were donated to the Museu Picasso in 1970, had signifcant diferences in their condition, even though they present several similarities in the choice of materials, tech- nique and in their conservation history. A multi-analytical approach was adopted to characterise the painted layers by X-ray fuorescence spectroscopy, fbre optic refectance spectroscopy in the 350–2200 nm range, gas chromatography- mass spectrometry, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The obtained results have been combined with those from a previous analytical campaign focused on the study of grounds and canvases of these four paintings and with visual examination of the cracks to establish hypotheses about the diferences in degradation. This combined overview of non-invasive documentation techniques, chemical analysis and observations of the mechanical damage has provided an insight into the possible contribution each layer could have played in the damage observed in the four canvas paintings. Keywords Picasso · Canvas paintings · XRF · OM · µ-FTIR · GC–MS · FORS · Failure mechanisms · Cracks · Mechanical properties 1 Introduction 100 × 70 cm), Woman on an Armchair (MPB110007; 92 × 64 cm), and Blanquita Suárez (MPB110013; 73 × 47 cm), This research presents results obtained by a multi-analyti- have a range of crack types and patterns in the painted cal study on the composition of paint layers in four paint- layers.
    [Show full text]