|
The Highly Opinionated Newsletter X
Picasso and Portraiture at the Museum of Modern Art The tragedy of Picasso was this. By the age of twenty, he could do all there was to do and knew all there was to know in art. But thereafter, he would spend the rest of his life trying to find something worthwhile to say. His gifts were prodigious - gifts given to few - but he never possessed a singular vision commensurate with those gifts. Rather, he would go off in too many different directions saying too many different things. At times his personal life became so entwined with his art that his art became a mirror of that life merely. The reflection was not pretty. For his personal life was a morass. And as he fled from woman to woman in a vain attempt to satisfy some insatiable need, both he and the art in which he chronicled this flight turned bitter and mocking. This exhibit consists mostly of portraits of these women. The works, bursting with power and energy, record gigantic, often conflicting desires. They show a hunger never satisfied over a quest never resolved. The resulting tension is a source of immense creativity and fascination, while the continuous lack of resolution is a major flaw. The selection of portraits reveals high points as well as lows. Picasso's journey begins with a measure of self-acceptance and peace. Before long, an uneasiness manifests - a sense of loneliness, isolation and longing. This receives tender and poignant expression in works from the blue period and in those of the circus world. Thereafter, a growing frustration appears, and as relationship after relationship sours, the artist turns upon both himself and the women whom he fails and is failed by. The paintings reflect this, becoming ever more distorted and contrived. Surprisingly, a repetition of vocabulary and theme sets in, and the art, while retaining its vigor, starts to seem formulaic and stale. Throughout the artist's career, drawings invariably possess vitality, beauty or humor - and at times also incorporate a personal philosophy. In this exhibit, the 1928-30 Marie Therese in a Beret, an exquisite portrait of his mistress, displays the classical mastery that Picasso could summon at will. Other drawings of Marie Therese have a similar deftness, as in the charming bewilderment expressed in Marie Therese Considering her Sculpted Effigy. The double portrait of Diaghilev and Seligsburg, 1921, also has a wonderful sense of élan. And a still earlier work of Appolinaire, 1905-8, reveals a delicious sense of caricature and wit. Early paintings are fresh and exploratory. The 1905 Woman in a Chemise - a profile in whites and blues - is simple, placid and mysterious. Seated Nude - in reds, grays and flesh tones applied seemingly at random - possesses grace in face and gesture. The 1906 Gertrude Stein created a stir during the artist's lifetime. This portrait abstracts and simplifies and produces a masklike effect. But I found the effect to be enigmatic and the character to be impenetrable. The 1910 synthetic cubist Girl With a Mandolin is a rhythmic interplay in subtle ochres and grays, with a lilt that somehow evokes both music and musician. Canvases from the 1920's can be quite tender, as in the 1923 Paulo on a Donkey and two Mother and Child paintings of 1922: one a study in warm reds and ochres, the other in cool greens and blues. The first seems to refer to the world of emotions, the second to a more placid world of nature. Sara Murphy is the 1923 Woman in White, a work of serene beauty brushed in with elegant line upon a brownish-green and white ground. The eyes and long waving hair are quite gentle. And a 1923 Harlequin gazes past the canvas edge. He is a figure ironically lost in a private reverie while costumed for a role on-stage. The 1930's marks a change. Occasionally there is still work of great delicacy, as in the Nusch Eluard paintings. But the delicacy seems linked to distance in relationship. Otherwise a new bitterness appears. Portraits of Picasso's child Maya have a decidedly nasty edge. And portraits of Dora Maar turn grotesque in proportion as his affection for her wanes. The terrible transformations which she undergoes in paint imply a deep underlying cruelty in the artist. Works from the 40's and 50's depicting the artist's relationships with Francoise Gilot and Jacqueline are frequently valid and occasionally lovely. A 1954 portrait of Jacqueline, with elongated neck and oval eye, is particularly arresting in the bold simplicity of its color and shape. But soon there is startling evidence of decline and strain, and everything, even invention, seems to fail the artist. As he struggles on, the 60's yields a group of work that can be considered only embarrassing. Perhaps three self-portraits most succinctly sum up Picasso's progression. An early 1901 Self-Portrait with blue-white face and pink lips has a haunted look. In a 1918 pencil study, large prominent eyes are earnest and searching. But by 1972, the face is quite transformed. It has now become a sweep of thickened lines encircling a pair of startled eyes that gaze out at us in total and abject despair.
Gentle Indignation |