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Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973)
Name: Pablo Picasso Birth Name: Pablo Ruiz Blasco Birth date: 25 October, 1881 - Malaga, Spain Date of Death: 8 April, 1973 - Notre-Dame-de-Vies, Mougins, France (heart failure) Notable as: One of the great geniuses of the visual arts. Influenced nearly every great cultural movement of the twentieth century. Factoids: Took his surname from his mother, Maria Picasso. Completed the qualifying examination for the Academy of Fine Arts in Barcelona in one day when he was only 14. The "Blue Period," from 1901 - 1904, derived its name from the blue tones used in his paintings during this time. The "Rose Period," 1905 - 1906, was marked by pink tones and the frequent use of circuses, clowns, and acrobats as subjects. Developed friendship with Gertrude Stein and her brother, who helped get him his first major exposure as an artist. Despite his friendship with Stein, Picasso was highly misogynist, dismissive of women artists and once referring to women as being either "goddesses or doormats." He was known for being emotionally distant from and abusive to his wives and children. A metal sculpture of a baboon mother and child incorporated a cherished toy Volkswagon Beetle taken from his son. Together with Georges Braque, whom he met in 1907, Picasso co-developed the art style known as Cubism. The earliest cubist work, "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," painted in 1907 and utitlizing styles and motifs from such varied influences as Cezanne and African tribal art, is generally regarded as the beginning of the twentieth century abstract artform. In 1912 he worked in collage before returning to painting with his own flat, more abstract style. Designed the sets and costumes for Parade, Sergei Diaghilev's 1917 ballet. He also at this time met and began a passionate affair with the play's scenario writer, Jean Cocteau. Designed theater sets and painted in Cubist, Classical, and Surreal modes throughout the 1920s. Collaborating with Julio Gonzalez, he made significant innovations in the art of wrought iron sculpture between 1929 and 1931. Perhaps his most famous work, "Guernica" was painted in 1937 in protest of the bombing of the strategically non-significant Spanish village by the German Luftwaffe during Hitler's intervention in the Spanish Civil War. proceeds made from the sale of etchings and designs related to this work were donated to the Republican forces in the war. While vocal in his condemnations of Nazism and Fascism, Picasso was equally vocal in his admiration for Joseph Stalin. During World War II he lived in Paris where, together with Cocteau, Stein and other artists and writers, he contended with shortages of paper, paints, and other basic artistic supplies, as well as Nazi suppression and censorship of what was deemed "degenerate" art. With paints, canvas, and metals for sculpture in short supply, he began working in ceramics. Experiments with lithographs followed in 1947. The 1950s were devoted largely to exhibits of his earlier works, and to his own original variations of works of the old masters, such as Delacroix and Velazquez. Donated over 800 works to the Berengeur de Aguilar Palace Museum in Barcelona, in 1970. Was sharply critical of both the idea that art has an historical mission, or that it should convey some inner truth about the artist. Believed instead that he was a medium for his art, which expressed itself through him, without regard to convention. At the time of his death, Picasso had created over 22,000 works of art, in nearly artistic medium known. Links: Official Site (Francais/Espanol/English)
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