Picasso Portraits

Inspired by Picasso Portraits

Spain/ France 1881-1973

 Last week, we looked at portraits created by Pablo Picasso.

I chose to focus the lesson on his portraits because they embody many of the same techniques and style found in his collages and sculptures. Using brushstrokes to create angles and color, he was able to reach inside the sitter and convey their innermost moods, and an array of human emotions to the canvas. They are an avenue into his life and work.

 Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, poet, and stage designer, and one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. His parents, José Ruiz Blasco , a Professor of drawing, and Maria Picasso López, recognized his unusual ability for drawing at a young age. He became his father’s pupil, and by age twelve, he surpassed his father’s abilities. The family moved to Barcelona in 1895, and Pablo entered the local art academy where his father taught. Two years later, he was accepted at The Royal Academy of San Fernando. He soon became bored with academics and preferred to record life around him in the cafés and people in the streets. Picasso befriended a circle of Catalan artists and writers whose eyes were turned toward Paris and he followed . Pablo Picasso became one of the most dominant and influential artists of the 20th century.

On his first trip to the Musée d’Ethnographie in Paris, Picasso turned left by mistake, entering the African art galleries, and came upon the sacred Dan masks of West Africa. His art was forever changed. Influenced by Cézanne, African sculpture, and ancient Iberian art, he began to develop his style and move from realism to a more abstract style. This led him, along with Georges Braque, to pioneer collage and sculpture in ways that evolved into the Cubist movement and became the cutting edge of modern art.

Picasso was so financially successful that he could keep most of his oeuvre in his own collection. He was the master of reinvention and one of the most prolific artists in history. At the time of his death, he owned over 50,000 works in various media from every period of his life.

“Inspiration exists... but it has to find you working,” Picasso

Mixed media Picasso-inspired portraits

The classes were inspired by Picasso portraits this week. The lesson was to create

their own mixed media portraits or characters, and to convey a mood, emotion.

Some were whimsical and some were serious, but they were all very creative and

unique. Last week also included a lesson on Picasso-Inspired Mask Collage Portraits.