Pablo Picasso The Old Guitarist

While visiting the Dallas Museum of art I saw many pieces of art and many different names of the artist. Some of the artist I recognized and even more that I didn’t. One artwork that I found very extraordinary was The Guitarist by Pablo Picasso 1965. It’s a unique oil on canvas painting that has dimensions overall of 76 x 38 3/16 in. (1 m 93.04 cm x 96.98 cm). The Guitarist is located under European Art - 20th Century on the 2nd level. It is apart of “The Karl and Esther Hoblitzelle Collection and was gifted by the Hoblitzelle Foundation.” This fine art has many remarkable qualities to be discussed, more than just it being created by Picasso. Such as him almost always making artwork with an intent for the viewers to interpret the deeper meaning. He I able to do this by incorporating elements of art and principles of art in order for us to decipher the message. In this formal essay, we will discuss how he used those elements and principle in The Guitarist, along with biographical and contextual evidence for further understanding.

Picasso painted for himself, as a release from the pressures of his society and as a way to express his thoughts and problems in tangible form. For this reason, the events happening around the time of any Picasso work must be understood before the true meaning of any resulting art can be understood.

Pablo Picasso arrived in Paris in the year 1900 at the age of just 19, and within a few years he became a well-known artist and a dominating figure in the world of modern art movement. The one piece of art that he produced in 1906 through 1907 was the Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and would change the word of art forever. This became the piece art that helped launch Cubism and a whole new artistic expression. Because of this art and many other, Pablo Picasso has become one of the most important figure of 20th century, in terms of art, and art movements that occurred over this period. This Spanish born artist had a distinct style and eye for artistic creation. There had been no other artists, prior to Picasso, who had such an impact on the art world. Although his art career spanned over a 7 decade period, Pablo Picasso

During this time Pablo Picasso was sympathetic and painted many canvas’ depicting the sorrows of the unfortunate, the ill and those who were rejected by society. The old man holds a large guitar. The brown colour of the guitar represents that it is the only alteration in colour. The old man is unaware of his misery as he plays the guitar. ‘The old guitarist’ consists of many elements and principles. Pablo Picasso has painted this artwork in a light but deep blue (known as the blue period), the blue in this artwork represents depression and sadness, the guitar being the only change in colour of this artwork as it is brown, symbolises how music can be relaxing and helps the old man through his misery. The old man’s hand points towards the guitar as well as his head, this creates a sense of direction, making the focal point the guitar. Picasso has used shapes such as rectangles and squares in the background. The balance of the old man mainly consists of asymmetric balance, as one side of the composition does not reflect the other side. The entire artwork is over thrown with a cool blue colour except for the brown guitar being

The guitar is the only part of the picture that isn’t some kind of grey or blue. The guitar is almost like a crutch to the man making it seem like it is the only thing holding him up. The painting stands out and captures the viewer even though its colors are dull. Picasso was the best at balancing the dark shades just enough so they didn’t run together. This painting is one of the most depressing paintings of all time. The walls are very dark and give a cold depressing feel. They seem like a jail cell holding the man captive. He cannot escape the dark colors that surround him just like he cannot escape the harsh world. The sky looks endless like there is no tomorrow coming. It also seems like there has never been a sun to warm the lands in this painting. Picasso mixed the colors

The museum I chose to visit was the Dali Museum mainly because I have been wanting to check it out since I first moved down here to Florida three years ago. My sister has always been a huge Salvador Dali fan and even has a tattoo of his painting titled “The Elephants” on her side. I am looking forward to experiencing more of his paintings other than his most popular works of art. I am also hoping this experience will give me a greater appreciation for him as an artist by seeing the diversity of his works. What I am least looking forward to is trying to find one work of art that really stands out to me enough to write this paper about. I am sure I am going to find multiple pieces of art that I will love.

I went to the Art Walk event in Newberg and stopped by the Art Elements Gallery. I wanted to find a work that calls to me. At first I didn’t find much. The art was nice, but I didn’t get any special feelings on them. Finally, I spotted an oil painting on a wrapped canvas. It was called Full Moon. The work was created by Oregon citizen, Marilyn Higginson. It’s still hard to express what I felt when I saw this painting, but I felt a sense of peace when I saw the tranquil setting of the painting. My aesthetic scanning will give a description of the work, analyze the craftsmanship, the art elements, the art principles, and give my interpretation on the work.

Three weeks ago I visited the Art Institute of Chicago. It was established in 1879 and has since expanded its collection to approximately three hundred thousand works. Attracting over one and a half million visitors annually, it is one of the largest art museums in the United States. The reason I chose this site is that I read that it displayed Georges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, and I wanted to see it in person because it is so iconic.

However, our trip did not last countless hours as I looked over 30 paintings in about twenty five minutes. This was not due to my lack of interest, but more to my novice mindset towards art. Art is similar to most skill activities in that people that are active in said activity can better understand and articulate the small actions that lead to a great piece of art, a great football play, or a great movie. I am embarrassed to say that I did not pay close enough attention to the intricacies of my dad's art, but I accepted to write these articles in hopes I could learn more about my dad's favorite past time.

However, Picasso made it evident that he was a gifted artist when he introduced the world to his own style of painting during what was known as "Picasso's Blue Period." The Blue Period marked a time in Picasso's career from 1901-1904 that defined the different real-life experiences that he had been exposed to throughout his life. It is rumored that Picasso's blue period began briefly after the death of a close friend, and the blue tones were used to reflect his feelings of bleakness during that time (GME, 1996). Most of his paintings during the blue period consisted of blind, impoverished, despaired people, and the paintings were done mostly in blue tones. One of the most famous pieces created during the period was called "The Old Guitarist," which depicts a saddened, blind, old man holding his guitar.

On a trip to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, my boyfriend, David, and I strolled through the museum while I, being an art history major, recited to him all that I knew about certain pieces. We observed sculptures by Auguste Rodin, works painted by Georgia O’Keeffe, and busts of Roman leaders. David was enjoying all the artwork until we reached the Contemporary art gallery upon where viewing Mark Rothko’s Untitled No. 11 made in 1963, he shook his head in anger at what he thought was a painting far from a masterpiece. His comment was one I’m sure many have said about this particular piece and many other modern pieces of art, “I could have painted that.” I couldn’t help to reply, “Yeah, but you didn’t.” David’s sudden reaction upon viewing the

TXT- Picasso constructed this piece using cardboard, string, and wire, which was bases from his distinguished work of Guitar, Sheet Music, and Wine. This specific sculpture was used to express the interior aspects of the guitar to view the volumetric attributes and ideas behind the creation itself. Page 156

The piece I choose to critic is titled “Buscado por su madre” or “Wanted by his Mother” by Rafael Cauduro, no year. This piece is an Oil on Canvas painting that measured 48”x36” located at the Long Beaches MoLAA. The work is presented as one of a few Mexican artists that share an interest in their painting primarily figurative style, political in nature, that often narrated the history of Mexico or the indigenous culture. The painting is one of the first viewers see as they enter the Museum. It is at eye level and demonstrates a superb use of illusionistic realism that it creates the illusion of being real. The painting is of a old Missing poster of a man on a brick wall. What made it stand out in my eyes was the fact that it looked to be a three dimensional object on what looked like real bricks with the words wanted by mother on the top. Cauduro’s piece, in my eyes looked like he literally took a chunk out of a wall, and placed an old torn missing poster of a man on the front and put it out for display. Cauduro uses texture to represent the look of brick by applying thick strokes of paint creating a body of its own as and mimics the look and shape of brick. He also makes applies the same technique on the wanted poster by implying that it is old and torn by again layering his paint to create the

Picasso during The Blue Period was heavily influenced by what happens around him. Right before the beginning of The Blue Period, Picasso heard of Carlos Casagemas suicide. Carlos was a good friend of Picasso and recalled “I started painting in blue when I learned of Casagemas's death”. Nick and Picasso share an interesting parial with the death of one of their friends. Nick’s and Picasso’s worlds changed color and become a blue dark mess of despair and sadness. Nick turned to alcohol and Picasso painted some of the most depressing paintings ever know to

Picasso uses texture and an array of complementary and analogous colors characterized by a range of hues, values, and light to create a dramatic difference between the two subjects. The dominant and repetitive colors in the painting are green, yellow, lavender, red, and blue. The use of color, especially when used with the different geometric shapes, creates both a range of values as well as contrasts to adjacent areas. The profile and frontal head have lighter values such as yellow and lavender, whereas the reflection, painted with a rough charcoal texture has a dominance of blue, especially around the face, reflecting darker values. The use of complementary colors such as red and green create a brighter canvas, while the use of analogous combinations such as green and yellow, and green and blue blend well together. Overall, the reds and greens are bright throughout, giving intensity to the painting while the use of soft blue in the reflection, is not as intense and warm. Picasso also uses complementary colors of red and green against lavender in the figure to make the figure prominent. In the reflection, analogous colors are used throughout, but predominately on the top with purple