PICASSO AND AMERICAN ART
PICASSO AND AMERICAN ART
AT SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
By Stephen May
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. â Pablo Picasso (1881â1973), the towering figure in Twentieth Century art, influenced artists everywhere, particularly in this country. From his contemporaries to todayâs practitioners, the Spaniardâs trailblazing styles made him a pivotal figure that other artists related to â or rejected.
Among those most influenced by the prolific Spaniard were such leading American artists of the modern era as John Graham, Max Weber, Stuart Davis, Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, David Smith, Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein and Jasper Johns. In interpreting Picassoâs styles, appropriating his palette and using his images as points of departure, they had an impact on the next generation of American artists.
The extent of this modern masterâs pervasive influence is documented in a wonderfully conceived exhibition, âPicasso and American Art.â Already seen at the Whitney Museum of American Art, it is on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art through May 28.
The show was organized by the Whitney and is guest curated by Michael FitzGerald, professor in the fine arts department of Connecticutâs Trinity College. Comprising more than 100 pieces by the foregoing American artists and others, alongside about 40 Picasso works that inspired them, the show offers unique insights into the Spaniardâs profound effect on the course of art in a country he never visited.
âBefore the mid-Twentieth Century, American art was considered by most to be a backwater,â curator FitzGerald observed recently, âIn the second half of the century, American art was a player. The basis of that transformation was American artistsâ response to Picassoâs art.â He effectively backs up those judgments in this exhibition.
In the catalog, FitzGerald notes that âAmerican artists responded primarily to Picassoâs actual paintings, sculptures and drawings rather than to reproductions in magazines or books.â This led the curator to examine exhibitions that influenced artists who came under Picassoâs sway, aiding in the side-by-side display of works in the current show.
Picassoâs initial exhibition in this country in 1911 led to Americans becoming primary supporters of his career, and to the countryâs artists choosing âhis work, probably more than any other artist, as the test for their achievements,â writes FitzGerald.
Russian-born Weber (1881â1961), who grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., was the most stylistically adventurous of the early American modernists. After studying with Arthur Wesley Dow, Weber spent several years in Paris, where â at Gertrude and Leo Steinâs salon â he met and studied the art of avant-garde pioneers Picasso, Georges Braque and Henri Matisse. Returning home in 1909, he spread their message and created works featuring the multiple perspectives of Cubism, the simplified figures of the primitives and the vivid colors of the Fauves.
To promote the new art, Weber teamed up with art impresario Alfred Stieglitz, the most public advocate of modernist art in America, mounting exhibitions of the European avant-garde preceding their breakout display at the Armory Show of 1913.
One of the first Americans attracted to primitive art, Weber was inspired by the work of Native Americans, Africans and Picasso.
Weberâs small, simplified gouache, âAfrican Sculpture,â 1910, featuring a carved Congolese figurine, reflects the influence of Picassoâs âStill Life,â circa 1908. When Weber bought the small, austere painting from Picasso, it became the first Picasso to enter the United States, according to FitzGerald.
Weber went on to apply his version of Cubism to memorable depictions of female nudes, cityscapes and nature scenes. Other contemporaries influenced by Picasso and European modernism before the Armory Show and on view in the current exhibition: Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley and Man Ray.
Davis (1894â1964), a student of Robert Henri, started out painting realist views of everyday life, but after seeing the Armory Show he resolved to become a modernist. Inspired by Picasso, he evolved a highly personal brand of Cubism in iconic depictions of everything from consumer products (âLucky Strike,â 1924) to still lifes (âApples and Jug,â 1923) to land- and seascapes (âEarly American Landscape,â 1925). According to FitzGerald, Davisâs âintense dialogue with the art of Picasso and of other Europeansâ¦define[d] hisâ¦achievements as the finest Cubist in America and one of the leading artists of his time.â
Davis became a mentor to a number of artists, including Graham (1881â1961), born Ivan Dambrowsky in Ukraine. A longtime Picasso admirer, after he arrived in the United States in the early 1920s he followed Picassoâs lead in an array of eclectic art. Connoisseur Duncan Phillips, who collected Grahamâs work (such as âHarlequin in Grey,â 1928), called him âone of the best painters in America.â
Graham teamed up with Davis and another émigré, Gorky, to form a triumvirate of avant-garde painters that de Kooning called âthe Three Musketeers.â Graham became Picassoâs strongest proponent in America and mentored younger artists, including Gorky, de Kooning and Smith.
Gorky (1905â1948), who was born Vosdanig Manoog Adoian, fled Armenia as a youngster, settling in New York City in 1925. He was, says FitzGerald, âa greater painterâ than either of his friends Davis and Graham.
Picassoâs neoclassical paintings, such as his melancholy âWoman in White,â 1923, inspired Gorkyâs celebrated expression of loss, memory and nostalgia, âThe Artist and His Mother,â 1926â36. Gorkyâs âBlue Figure in Chair,â circa 1934â35, with its double heads and overlapping profiles, drew on Picassoâs Cubist masterpiece, âFemme Assise (Seated Woman),â 1927. The vivid colors and spare vocabulary of rectangular shapes in Picassoâs âThe Studio,â 1927â28, were echoed in Gorkyâs equally abstract âOrganization,â 1933â36. Gorky pursued a career of aesthetic diversity until committing suicide at age 43.
Dutch-born de Kooning (1904â1997) emigrated to America in 1926, and soon, guided by Gorky, fell under the sway of Picasso. His early work drew heavily on Picasso paintings like âThe Studio,â and Gorkyâs oeuvre. âFollowing Gorkyâs lead,â writes FitzGerald, âde Kooning approached Picassoâs work less as a model for emulation than as a starting point for further reduction.â
Picassoâs vibrant, imposing painting of his mistress, Marie-Therese Walter, âSeated Woman with Wrist Watch,â 1932, prompted de Kooningâs less vivid, but equally compelling âSeated Woman,â circa 1940. Likewise, Picassoâs highly abstract âFigure,â 1927, appears to have inspired the distorted body in de Kooningâs âPink Angels,â circa 1945.
âOf all the American artists,â avers FitzGerald, âde Kooning shared the most with Picasso, at least in the studio â not simply because of his European origins but because of his openness to experiment and his profound attachment to the sensuality of materials.â De Kooning became an enormously influential leader of the Abstract Expressionists.
The only sculptor featured in the exhibition, Smith (1906â1965) grew up in the Midwest and studied at the Art Students League, becoming an energetic, adventurous artist. In the 1930s, having befriended Graham and Gorky, he joined them in embracing Picassoâs art â and the welded metal sculpture of his collaborator, Julio Gonzalez.
Smith was inspired by both Picasso paintings and sculpture in such standout sculptures as âInterior,â 1937, âThe Hero,â 1951â52, and âLectern Sentinel,â 1961. Several of Smithâs vibrant and appealing oil paintings of the mid-1930s, which drew on Picassoâs âThe Studioâ and other works, makes one wonder what he might have achieved had he stuck with painting.
Pollock (1912â1956), the wild man of the Abstract Expressionists, grew up in the West and studied with Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League before meeting Graham in New York. Pollock was awed by the range and power of Picassoâs art, especially his monumental antiwar blockbuster, âGuernica,â 1937. Pollockâs bestial âHead,â and tormented untitled (Orange Head), both circa 1938â41, drew on motifs in âGuernica.â
For his horizontal, brilliantly hued abstraction, âThe Water Bull,â circa 1946, Pollock mined images from âGuernicaâ and Picassoâs âBullfightâ of 1934. Pollockâs later drip and black paintings also incorporated ideas from Picasso.
Pop art star Lichtenstein (1923â1997), who grew up in New York City and studied at Ohio State University, often used other artistsâ works, including Picasso, as source material. He created âFemme au Chapeau,â 1962, a much larger, more brightly-colored, subtly altered version of Picassoâs highly simplified âFemme au Chapeau (Woman in Grey),â 1942.
In the late 1970s, Lichtenstein drew on the first Picasso he knew and the one he most admired, the vivid, compelling âGirl before a Mirror,â 1932, in a reworking of one of his own earlier paintings. In âGirl with Beach Ball III,â 1977, he mixed Picassoâs double-headed figure with one of his own familiar comic-book blondes, creating âa structure as tightly designed and visually dynamic as anything in Picassoâs painting,â says FitzGerald. It is âa work that matches the visual magnificence of Picassoâs painting without precisely copying any of its detailsâ¦â
In his final years, Lichtenstein combined images of beach girls from earlier works with a recasting of Picasso bathers from the 1920s in âCollage for Beach Scene with Starfish,â 1995. This playful scene is animated by the artistâs signature Benday dots.
The only living artist in the exhibition, Johns (b 1930) grew up in the South and became a leading post-Abstract Expressionist after moving to New York City in 1949. Shocked by his first sight of a Picasso work, which he called âthe ugliest thing Iâd ever seen,â Johns came to regard the Spaniard as the leading painter of his time and based many works on Picassoâs oeuvre.
In the 1970s, the ever-innovative Johns made Picasso himself the subject of artworks, and in the 1980s he began to incorporate imagery and structural devices from such Picasso paintings as âWoman in a Straw Hat with Blue Leaves,â 1936, into his pictures. He played off the figure of the legendary creature pulling a cart loaded with belongings, in Picassoâs âMinotaur Moving,â 1936, in âSummer,â 1985, a two-sided encaustic work, with a jumble of gear to the right and a human shadow to the left. The latter motif, inspired by Picassoâs âThe Shadow,â 1953, also appears in Johnsâs âFall,â 1986.
Johns has continued to draw motifs and ideas from Picassoâs work. As curator FitzGerald concludes, âA century after Americansâ first encounter with Picassoâs art and more than 30 years after his death, his art remains potent tinderâ for Johnsâs art.
This superb exhibition underscores Picassoâs standing as the most important artist of the last century, and by juxtaposing his art with American works he influenced, offers a mini-retrospective of recent masterworks. It is a must-see for aficionados of Twentieth Century art.
The 400-page catalog includes text by FitzGerald, a full chronology by Julia May Boddewyn and nearly 300 illustrations. In addition to providing fresh insights into the manner in which Picassoâs art affected American artists, it examines how America helped shape his reputation. Published by the Whitney in association with Yale University Press, it sells for $65.
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is at 151 3rd Street. For information, 415-357-400 or www.sfmoma.org.
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âPicasso And American Artâ
At The San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art
âPicasso And American Artâ
âPicasso And American Artâ
âPicasso And American Artâ
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1 Picasso still life
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Pablo Picassoâs early, spare Cubist oil, âStill Life,â 1908, a composition stripped to its bare essentials, was studied by other artists, including Max Weber. Private collection. ©2006 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York City.
2 weber African
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Max Weber, who met Picasso in Europe, was influenced by his work and African art, as reflected in the squat proportions and rudimentary brushwork in âAfrican Sculpture,â 1910, painted soon after he returned to America. With Picassoâs âStill Life,â it shares âa centrally massed composition and subdued palette to create an effect of blunt crudity,â says exhibition curator Michael FitzGerald. Collection of Mr and Mrs Henry C. Schwob.
5 Picasso woman seated
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Built on contrasting blocks of vivid colors, Picassoâs large Cubist painting, 51 by 38 inches, of his mistress Marie-Therese Walter, âSeated Woman with Wrist Watch,â 1932, inspired de Kooning to begin his famous âWomenâ series. Collection of Emily Fisher Landau. ©2006 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York City.
6 dekooning seated woman
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Deeply influenced by Picassoâs styles and subjects, Willem de Kooning launched his celebrated series of âWomenâ paintings around 1940 with the monumental (51 by 36 inches) âSeated Woman.â The brilliant hues and underlying graphic clarity of this work were influenced by Picassoâs âSeated Woman with Wrist Watch.â The Philadelphia Museum of Art. ©2006 The Willem de Kooning Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York City.
17 lichtentstein femme au chapeau
Roy Lichtensteinâs fascination with Picasso manifested itself in numerous paintings, including âFemme au Chapeau,â 1962, a large, vividly hued version of the Spaniardâs âGrey Woman.â Collection of Martin Z. Margulies. ©Estate of Roy Lichtenstein.
7 Picasso figure
In Picassoâs âFigure,â 1927, individual body parts can hardly be deciphered. De Kooning and others drew ideas from such abstractions. Musee National Picasso, Paris. ©2006 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York City.
3 Picasso the studio
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The spare use of clearly defined, rectangular elements with little defined depth in Picassoâs âThe Studio,â 1927-28, was closely studied by Gorky, who echoed its motifs in his work. Museum of Modern Art. ©2006 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York City.
4 gorky organization
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Gorkyâs âOrganization,â 1933â36, drew inspiration from Picassoâs earlier abstraction, âThe Studio.â National Gallery of Art. ©2006 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York City.
8 dekooning pink angels
In âPink Angels,â circa 1945, de Kooning achieved a more pronounced reconfiguration of the body than did Picasso in âFigure.â Frederick Weisman Foundation, Los Angeles. ©2006 The Willem de Kooning Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York City.
9 Picasso assise
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Picassoâs highly distorted figure in âFemme Assise (Seated Woman),â 1927, fascinated de Kooning and Gorky, who emulated it in their work. Art Gallery of Ontario. ©2006 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York City.
10 gorky blue figure
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Gorky transformed forms and tonal patterns in Picassoâs âSeated Womanâ in composing âBlue Figure in Chair,â circa 1934â35. Private collection. ©2006 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York City.
11 Picasso bullfight
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In âBullfight,â 1934, a small, kaleidoscopic oil by Picasso, the image of a bull speared by a picadorâs lance is almost lost in the churning paint. Such elements fascinated Pollock. Philadelphia Museum of Art. ©2006 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York City.
12 pollack waterbull
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Jackson Pollockâs âThe Water Bull,â circa 1946, measuring a sizable 30 by 84 inches, drew inspiration from swirling images in Picassoâs âGuernicaâ and âBullfight.â Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. ©2006 Pollock-Krasner Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York City.
13 Picasso minotour
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Painted at a time when his domestic life was in turmoil, Picasso may have regarded the half-man, half-bull central figure, plodding along with his few possessions in a cart, in âMinotaur Moving,â 1936, as an alter ego. Private collection. ©2006 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York City.
14 Johns summerÂ
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Jasper Johns, at 77 the only living artist in the exhibition, incorporated elements from Picassoâs âMinotaur Movingâ along with his own compositional touches in âSummer,â 1985. Museum of Modern Art. ©Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York City.
15 Picasso the shadow
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âThe Shadow,â 1953, was painted at a low point in Picassoâs life when his lover, Francoise Gilot, departed with their three children. His black silhouette contrasts with the voluptuous form of his much younger mistress in this oil and charcoal on canvas. Musee National Picasso, Paris. ©2006 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York City.
16 johns fall
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For a series called âThe Seasons,â Johns painted âFall,â 1986, in which his own split shadow to the right was modeled after that in Picassoâs âThe Shadow.â The ladder, rope and stars to the left were borrowed from Picassoâs âMinotaur Moving.â Collection of the Artist. ©Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York City.
18 lichtenstein girl with beach ball
In a characteristically bright and vibrant image, âGirl with Beach Ball III,â 1977, Lichtenstein added his own modern touches to inspiration from Picassoâs double-headed figures and beach scenes. Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Modern Art Foundation, Inc. ©Estate of Roy Lichtenstein.
19 Picasso woman in gray
The womanâs flattened face, odd hat and pointed collar, painted in muted colors and set against a gray background in Picassoâs âGrey Woman,â 1942, suggest the artistâs deprivations during World War II. The Alex Hillman Family Foundation, New York City. ©2006 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York City.
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