Is it a nude woman? Or is it a bowl of fruit? Perhaps a chair, or even a mountain? To the untrained eye a work of art by Pablo Picasso can seem to be any of these things, and more. To the informed viewer, however, the dull colors and geometric patterns can take shape into a whole new world of artistic expression.
The Cubist movement spearheaded by Picasso was one that the art world had never seen before The same uniqueness can be seen in a series of portraits, now on view at the National Gallery of Art’s East Wing, devoted to Picasso’s mistress and lover, Fernande Olivier.
This exhibit, which is comprised of paintings, drawings and sculpture, serves as a transition point between the two primary artistic styles of Picasso’s career. Picasso’s previous works, including those of his “Rose” and “Blue” periods, are starkly different from his Cubist works that followed.
The Cubist movement was primarily a reaction to the Fauvist movement. Led by Henri Matisse, Fauvism was characterized by its use of bold, brash colors. Picasso, Georges Braque, the co-founder of the movement, and other Cubists reduced figures and objects to their basic geometric components and simple lines. Compared to the bright reds and yellows of the Fauves, Cubists opted for more muted shades of greens, grays and browns. Picasso’s shift into Cubism from his pre-Cubist period is clearly evident in the mixed styles of these portraits.
Comprised of works from the summer of 1909, the exhibition is an eclectic collection of poses and media. All created on canvas or paper using media such as charcoal, oil and watercolor, the collection includes busts of Fernande, studies on the nose and mouth, as well as portraits and drawings of the full figure. The exception is a series of three sculptures of Fernande’s head, two models in plaster and the finished bronze cast.
The materials used to create the portraits are as varied as the ways in which their subject matter is presented. Drawings and oils of Fernande’s bust reduce the subject’s face to a series of geometric forms: eyes become parallelograms, the nose becomes a triangle, ears become half-moons and the mouth becomes a diamond. Shading and outlining is accomplished through bundles of lines, producing an almost violent effect. In a study of Fernande’s eyes and mouth only, Picasso reduces the two features to an obelisk and a pyramid. This motif of reducing facial and body features to simple shapes prevails in all the portraits.
Not every piece in the exhibition is meant to be an exact portrait of Fernande, however; some are simply “Fernande types” with similar features and posture. All the portraits are reminiscent of the melancholy mood of Picasso’s “Blue” period, perhaps because of Fernande’s poor health.
What is particularly striking is the fact that Fernande looks extremely masculine in a majority of the portraits, often depicted with a thick neck and accentuated musculature. This “de-feminizing” emphasizes the universality of the portraits. It also associates her with the strong, classical female and the African masks that influenced Picasso greatly at this time.
At the end of the series, the face in these portraits seems to take on a skeletal character, becoming less human looking. There is an increase in Picasso’s use of line, shapes and geometry. Fernande has begun to fade from Picasso’s paintings, as she did from his life.
From sculptures to the drawings to these final portraits, what is truly remarkable about this exhibition is its ability to capture perfectly a crucial transition in Picasso’s life and artistic career.
