pablo picasso
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20th century master
Atlanta hosts only U.S. showing of Picasso masterworks
In addition to brilliance, Pablo Picasso had another edge in becoming a legendary artist -- sheer longevity. He lived until 1973, reaching age 91 -- and staying at the forefront of modern art for most of the century. The Spanish expatriate is perhaps best known for his paintings, but that was just one his gifts.
Picasso's masterpieces -- from paintings to sculptures, etchings and collages -- indicate a passion for experimentation.
"Picasso's lifetime ... reflects a wide diversity of style development and also technical innovation," said Ned Rifkin, Director of Atlanta's High Museum of Art, which is currently hosting an exhibition of Picasso's masterworks. "He invented things that we take for granted today (like) the invention of collage, assemblage, cubism -- as a style, his surrealist period which is so rich."
Picasso's early work was greatly influenced by other artists. He settled in Paris in 1904, where Paul Cézanne inspired the look of "Boy Leading a Horse" (1906), in which a child guides the steed by the power of nature rather than reins.
The invention of collage, an art form familiar to school children everywhere, came in 1912.
"It both included things from the studio and the real world of the studio right into the realm of pictorial creations," said Rifkin. "And that step -- even though it sounds simple and looks very humorous and benign -- it was so radical at the time that it forever changed the history of 20th century art."
With artistic partner Georges Braque, Picasso further changed the history of modern art with the creation of cubism.
"What they were trying to do was to invent a new visual language for the 20th century," Rifkin explained. "And what they did was they took the Renaissance window -- one point perspective illusion -- and it's as if they took a piece of glass over this painting and shattered it, creating all these fragments and planes. And then took those planes together and reassembled it."
The result was revolutionary -- it changed how both the artists and their viewers saw the world around them.
One of Picasso's most famous works is 1932's "Girl Before a Mirror." In it, the artist presents three sides of the same woman -- "a woman that inspired him, a woman that nourished him and loved him, and also provided a child to him," said Rifkin.
But the curator cautioned that Picasso's paintings are ultimately about the artist himself.
"Picasso's paintings are always about Picasso. Even if they are about a relationship he has, it's still -- even though a portrait of somebody else -- very much a portrait of him," he said.
The works in this exhibit -- from New York's Museum of Modern Art, -- provide a rarely seen insight into the complex and long life of Pablo Picasso. Many of them are usually kept in storage.
"There's not one artist who hasn't been influenced by Picasso somewhere in their lifetime, if only to vault over him as this massive figure," said Rifkin. "You can't be in the 20th century and not be influenced by Picasso in some way or another."
"Picasso: Masterworks from The Museum of Modern Art" is on display at the High Museum of Art (1280 Peachtree St. in Atlanta) through February 15, 1998. The show runs at the National Gallery of Canada (380 Sussex Dr. in Ottawa) from April 3 - July 12, 1998.
Based on a report from CNN Travel Correspondent Valerie Voss.
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