Working document:
Comparing Picasso Still Life with a Bottle of Rum 1911 with Bowl of Fruit, Violin and Bottle, 1914.
Name,
Artists,
Date.
Media
Process
Style
Meaning
Context
Links
Materials and
significance of these
Method used to make
the work
Use of colour, line form,
shape, space, texture,
scale...
Ideas, messages, themes conveyed through specific
feature of the work...
Interesting historical or art
historical notes - war,
technology...
Direct links to other work,
either before or after.
Pablo Picasso
Bowl of Fruit,
Violin and Bottle
1914
920 x 730 mm
Paint,
Sand,
Paper,
One of the major
developments from
the analytic to
synthetic phases is
Collage: in this period
the cubist artists
Picasso, Braque and Gris
all incorporated found
elements into their
work using a new
process called collage or
He uses more colour in
this piece - pinks blues,
orange - although much
of the surface still uses
the same muted tones
of analytical cubism.
In this piece Picasso is
Simulates collaged
elements in paint - what is
'real'? What is illusion?
Is painting a copy or can it
be a real object in it's own
right?
What is 'high art' and what
A late synthetic cubist piece
- this period started in 1912
and ended with the start of
the war in July 1914.
Pieter Claesz Fruit Still Life with
Basket of Cheese - we can make
a link to traditional still life and
say that Picasso is following a
tradition with this choice of
subject matter - or we can say
that he is literally painting what
the introduction of
pieces of paper,
other objects, sand these all emphasise
the surface of the
canvas and the
painting as an object
in it's own right
rather than just a
representation of
objects.
Papier Collie in the cases
where only paper is
used.
using a much wider
range of mark making
and brush techniques.
He uses a pointillist
brushstroke in one area
- something quite
comon throughout this
period and also in the
sculpture of the same
year
materials are appropriate
to 'high art'?
What is original?
is in front of him, these
tablescapes consist of very
everyday items like glasses and
bottles of alcohol, newspapers
and periodicals, food. However
these works are in fact full of
significant meaning, jokes, puns
and witticisms.
Objects are much easier
to interpret, they are
giving us more
representational
imagery than in
analytical phase.
In Common
Both are still using the
fractured crystalline
planes that are the
result of observing the
object from multiple
view points simultaneity is still at
play in synthetic
cubism.
In both they manipulate
space in a very
complicated way,
sometimes allowing
areas to come forward
but then drawing or
overlaying something
else over the top of it to
flatten it back into the
picture plane again.
Cubism is an intellectual
quest for answers to
questions like how to show
what you know of an object
beyond just what you can
see in one moment.
Capturing more truth by
showing how the light
might play on an object
over time and from
multiple viewpoints.
The letters 'AL' very likely
come from the end of the
word JOURNAL, the local
newspaper. This is a
reference to the modern
age of printing and the
social world of the artists,
incorporating letters as a
devise is common to both
periods. The letters in
STWBoR may be the first
example of Picasso using
letters in a work. The
particular letters are said to
possibly come from the
Spanish bull fighting
periodical Le Torero, or
they may be a play on the
word lettre, French for
"word."
Very traditional subject matter
- still life as a genre goes all the
way back to ancient Greeks, the
Dutch and Flemish painters
such as Pieter Claesz probably
the most . Choosing still life as
a subject in some ways takes
the subject matter out of the
reading - he could be painting
anything - it's about HOW he is
choosing to depict the objects
rather than the objects
themselves. The painting itself
is elevated above the subject
matter.
Oil Paint only.
Pablo Picasso
Still Life with a
Bottle of Rum
1911
Oil on canvas
61.3 x 50.5 cm
More somber use of
colour. Black, white,
grey and earthy brown
tones are mainly used
which takes colour off
the table as a point of
interest - 'this work is
not about colour'
In the analytical phase
the brush strokes are
very uniform and even
across the whole
surface of the canvas.
This indicates to the
viewer that there is no
particular hierarchy of
importance, a piece of
background has equal
interest and value as a
piece of key subject
matter like the bottle of
rum itself. In this phase
he also suppresses
colour to focus more on
forms and shapes.
Possible reference t
sheet music in the top
left.
The bottle is almost
impossible to see it is so
fragmented, another
indication that this work is
all about style and meaning
rather than representation.
Link back to traditional still life - Dutch painter Pieter Claesz Fruit Still Life with Basket of Cheese, c.1624-1625, oil on panel.
Link forward to Matisse cut outs - 'painting' with cut out paper shapes. Late 1940's. Shapes completely flattened
http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2014/matisse/the-cut-outs.html
Or to Dada:
http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/dada
Kurt Schwitters
Opened by Customs 1937-8
Paper collage, oil and pencil on paper