Amanda R. Lawrence's Appropriation

A piece of art is not limited to a painting that captures a representation of imagery. Art is anything that stirs emotions in a person or makes them think, just like Marcel Duchamp accomplished in 1917 with one of his most famous pieces Fountain. Art can be anything that captures and represents the artists emotions, mental state, and personality with every brushstroke, and the usage of colors while also reflecting the mentality, thoughts, and major events that occur in a certain period, such as Picasso’s Guernica. To understand the message that the artist is trying to convey, one must look deeper than what is on the surface of the artwork, which is what I will do with this piece of art, scrutinizing its mysteries as well as its motives.

A large mural, Guernica is an example of Synthetic Cubism painted by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). Created using the medium of oil paint on canvas with a narrow palette consisting of the neutral hues: white, grey and black; the formalist qualities of Guernica can have harrowing effects on the spectator, “But to see it in real life, in its full size, is an even stronger emotional experience. Some people have said they experienced an instant rush of many powerful, fearful emotions” (The Open University, 2016, Block 3, 2.2.2).

The painting shows five women naked with flat figures, disintegrated planes and faces, inspired by African masks. The compacted space the figures occupy appears to project forward in jagged shards; a fiercely pointed slice of melon in the still life of fruit at the bottom of the composition teeters on an impossibly upturned table top. In this painting, Picasso makes a radical departure from traditional European painting by adaptation of Primitivism and abandonment of perspective in goodwill of a level two-dimensional picture of a plane.

The painting is about nine black students who tried to enter one of the most highly accomplished and prestigious school in Arkansas, Little Rock High School on September 23, 1997. As these students were entering the school they got assaulted with stones, rocks and rubbish by the whites. As you can see on the painting Domingo tried to capture as much of the horror on the canvas that those black

Perturbed times in life often were the influence for Picasso’s paintings. Colors and shades were used on the paintings created to reflect all of the troublesome times he went through and how much of an effect those

Appropriation is where you use reference to an artist’s work, within your own. This is the use of borrowed elements as a reproduction of someone’s ideas, thoughts and subject matter. It is a direct and intentional decision to re-contextualise and ‘appropriate’ the artwork creating a new and unique work. It must be clear that this artworks ideas have been sought from a previous artwork, they must make reference to the original artworks artist.

Guernica is monochromatic to make its imagery more powerful. Lack of color keeps the viewer focused on the subject matter at hand, as well as keeping the mural cold, which agrees with its general theme of injustice in war. Also, Picasso’s flat imagery does not distract the viewer from concentrating on imagery. The viewer is given no other choice than to concentrate on the subject matter of Guernica and ponder it’s meaning. The flat, grayscale images generalize the imagery and contribute to the general theme of unnecessary suffering and tragedy.

Picasso used several principle and element of art while painting “Guernica”. Some of the elements include value, line, shape, color and, space.

Appropriation has been described as reinterpretation, stealing, quoting, translating, recycling, borrowing and even emulation. This cultural phenomenon has become a significant part of the history of visual arts. It is the act of making use of a pre-existing image or object without any authority or legal right. A number of contemporary artists, ranging from pop artists to figurative painters have used appropriation to fit their various styles. Some use appropriation to clearly draw a parallel between their work and the piece they are appropriating.

Hey Samantha, I agree with you on the shock value part. It seem like Picasso was inspired, but from other people’s stories (the travelers and merchants) coming back from Africa. I do agree, that he was breaking out of the norm, and trying it hand in painting African art. I do feel like, if he did travel to Africa, for himself, he may have got a better idea what Africa is. Even still to this day, some people picture Africa and Africans as savages and undeveloped society.

The word art is an encompassing one, vastly interpreted and with multiple definitions. In the case of Picasso's painting Guernica, art informs, educates and expresses. Its power lies in its ability to capture and compel an audience nearly six decades after the modern world's "other" day of infamy. To understand fully the painting that evolved out of the Spanish painter's outrage, one must know its context. "Why do you think I date everything I do? Because it is not sufficient to know an artist's works--it is also necessary to know when he did them, why, under what circumstances" (Picasso). An appreciator who knows the saga of Spain's historical fishing village is given a depth of experience that only a genius like

From the time periods of late1904 to early 1906, Pablo Picasso, one of the most renowned oil painters in history, explored the theme of Saltimbanques upon his canvas medium during his famous Rose Period. Previously, Picasso suffered from depression, which resulted in the era known as the Blue Period, but in 1904, Picasso met Fernande Olivier, who some speculate was the transition from his Blue Period to Rose Period. During the Rose Period, Picasso’s used of warm color oil paints, primarily pink, highlighted the artistic style of Saltimbanques as he depicted circus performers, harlequins, and acrobats that he observed when living in France. For much of his artwork, “Picasso’s eye would also require the stimulus of a visual experience,” and for him, the idea of being visually stimulated by circuses, caught his attention. In order to gather inspiration, Picasso would frequently visit the Cirque Médrano in Montmartre so that both his mind and eyes could be visually stimulated. As his infatuation with Saltimbanques increased, he dedicated a series to them and in 1905, he created his most famous painting of the Rose Period “Family of Saltimbanques.” This painting, standing at 7x8 ft, was considered to be the biggest painting ever produced by Picasso. Using these influences, Picasso was able to create his most impressive works of the Rose Period, “Family of Saltimbanques.”

Girl before a Mirror, an oil on canvas painting by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, shows two sides of a girl; one which is illustrated with a dark tone and one with a vibrant colorful tone. This painting is bright; colors are at full intensity and are arranged next to their complements, producing a visual relationship between shape and form. Forms are used to draw the viewer’s eye across the canvas where circular shapes, repeating throughout the work, are compensated by the pattern of diagonal lines of the background. The viewer observes the girl’s profile and full frontal image, looking into a mirror and noticing a different image of herself. In order to achieve this effect, Picasso uses a range of formal elements that highlight the

Fully integrating himself in his work, the setting is reminiscent of Picasso’s homeland, Spain. The desolate landscape background, empty except for the figures, serves as a stark reminder

In relation to this the book ’Le Corbusier ‘by Kenneth Frampton (British architect, critic and historian, born: 20/11/1930) also holds a link within some of the opinions, movements and beliefs of Le Corbusier. Focusing from the early stages of Corbusier’s life to his last works, we find ourselves indulging in facts and creations of Corbusier himself such as the Dom-ino. As featured in the previous reading ‘towards a new architecture’ Corbusier talks about the engineers aesthetic ‘two things that march together and follow one from the other one at its full height, the other in an unhappy state of retrogression’. After some research in to this I was lead to the dom-ino design (image above). The dom –ino was an early example of the engineers aesthetic and became the theoretical basis of most of Corbusiers houses up to 1935 and extended on a scale much larger than the two story house. The dom-ino led to a number of prototype buildings such as the United De Habitation. The design allows the concept of the free facade, The pieces were to be pre-fabricated allowing the construction time of the design to be reduced and thereby a product of Corbusier’s application of