Essay on Pablo Picasso's Head of a Woman

The dark blue left eye and light blue right tells me that Pablo Picasso may have used her actual eye color. Her body is almost as if she had her back to Picasso and turning her torso toward him; such as in most contrapposto art. In the original sketch you can clearly see her arms and the detail of her body. She is not looking back at Picasso, but instead looking toward the opening curtain. The hair of the young lady is also more visible as it drapes down her back. By repositioning her arm and adding the mask he completely changed her appearance, not only in her face but her body as well. Picasso gave her a double point of view, as you look at her nose and the angles it provides. The hand under the chin gives it an almost claw like feature, with what seems to be her fingers going to her eye to her the opposite side of the chin. With the sharp angles and mask and all the distortion it would be difficult to truly see just the young lady. It is almost as if she is shards of glass pieced together to make a

The artwork that is my personal favorite is Ethel Long by Arthur Byron Phillips. This painting in tempera was made on hardboard in 1966 or 1967. Phillips successfully captures the beauty of the older woman through the use of light and the contrast of colors.

The painting Udney Maria Blakeley (1830), by Thomas Sully, was the first painting that came to mind when assigned the project: the painting has fascinated me both as a child and an adult due to the beauty of both the woman in the painting, but also from my deeper understanding of art now. Thomas Sully used the wet medium of oil on canvas, and included the woman in the foreground of the painting holding a rose in a vase in her right hand. There is a deep contrast between the women dressed in a white gown, and the darker background of the painting. Due to the highlighting along the left side of her face, and the shadowing on the right, it can be assumed that she is facing, or even looking straight at the

‘Calavera, Skull 4’, 2009, is a series of plasticine on wood type of artwork by Grupo Mondongo is one of the most eye catching pieces of art at the Museum of Fine Arts. Grupo Mondongo is a group of Argentinian Artists; Julian Laffitte, Agustina Picasso, and Manuel Mendanha. They have created many other similar types of art that is just as spectacular such as , but nothing caught my attention like ‘Skull 4’. I chose this piece because it is not only beautiful from afar but also up close.

The painting depicts a young woman in a pink dress sitting down. The background is very dark but three things can be made out by the viewer. Starting with the ground plane of the painting, an orange carpet can be seen covering the entire floor. It is patterned and contains yellows, greens and blues. The cool toned colours are darker in hue than the warm toned. Secondly, there appears to be a cabinet or a desk lining the wall behind her. The wood of the cabinetry is carved with detailed designs and is made of a dark stained wood. Despite the dark background a single red rose can be seen on top of the cabinetry. The rose looks freshly picked and shows no signs of withering in its petals. It is painted in a muted red colour that allows it to stand out on

Reclining nude female is a common subject matter in art history since the Venetian Renaissance, Titian’s Venus of Urbino painted in 1538 is one of the earliest reclining nude female in painting history. It described a beautiful young female laying on her bed with her sleeping dog, on the back ground is her maids looking for cloth or her in the cassone. Manet’s Olympia that painted in 1865 is a painting with a similar composition, A nude young female who was suggested a prostitute, behind her is her black female maid holding a big bouquet of flower which is possibly from her customer. On the same part of the composition, there is an animal as well, but this time it is a cat. Titian and Manet’s reclining nude female have a same composition and subject matter, however They are very different in art history, both stylistically and culturally.

One of the unique parts of the ‘Seated Woman’ painting is the style that is presented by Picasso. Made mainstream in the art world by Picasso and fellow artist Georges Braque, cubism is the

The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, part of the New Orleans Museum of Art, contains several dozen 20th century and 21st century sculptures from across the globe. The five-acre garden mostly features figures from American and European artists, most of them being created within the past 70 years. Surrounded by the beautiful landscape of City Park, many impressive works are presented at the sculpture garden. However, two particular works that stood out to me were the Venus Victorius and Untitled.

Pablo Picasso, although usually known as just Picasso. His full name though is actually: Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso. His signature is worth more than some of his paintings. In fact in some restaurants he just drew a quick face and then signed it (when he was famous). He was one of the most well known people in the 20th century. He was born in 25th of October 1881 in Malaga, Spain, and then died on the 8th of April 1973 Mougins, France. He was a: painter, drawing, sculpture, print making, and ceramics.

With works in every known medium, from every part of the world, throughout all points in history, exploring the vast collection of the Museum of Modern Art was an overwhelming experience. The objects in the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts are an important historical collection, reflecting the development of a number of art forms in Western Europe. The department's holdings covered sculpture in many sizes, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, jewelry, and tapestries. The gallery attracted my appreciation of the realistic qualities of the human body often portrayed in sculpture.

The artwork is a realistic portrait of a women. It is abstracted with asymmetrical balance with exotic and vibrant colors. As if the women is sitting in the corner with two

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.

The oil painting is an attempt to map the motion and energy of the body. It is a sequential depiction of movement split into a series of about twenty different static positions that show a nude figure descending a flight of stairs. The nude, like the notion of the painting, is abstract, composed of conical and cylindrical shapes and elements, assembled in a way that suggests the rhythm of the body when going downstairs. The colours used are those typical of Cubist paintings - ochres and browns. This is because Cubists felt that using a

The medium of this piece, as stated, is oil on canvas. Picasso takes no hesitation in using obvious and crude brush strokes to make a gesture against the idealism of classical art. This is a scene of every day life with a woman casually

Pablo Picasso - His Life and His Art Pablo Ruiz y Picasso, painter, sculptor, and printmaker, was born in Malaga Spain on October 25, 1881 and died on April 8, 1973.Today he is considered to be one of the most influential and successful artists in history. Picasso contributed many things to 19th century and modern day art and his name is familiar to all those involved in the many different fields of art. Throughout the seven decades that Picasso produced artwork he used many different types of media. In each piece of art he produced he searched for new possibilities, invented images in them, and reflected events that were occurring in his world through his artwork. Picasso had many artistic influences in his life, including Cézanne,