Anniversary celebration of Picasso kicks off

Meanderer

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"Two men walk past Pablo Picasso's "Guernica" painting after a news conference to present the "Picasso Year" events, marking the 50th anniversary of the painter's death, at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, Spain, Monday, Sept. 12, 2022."

MADRID (AP) — Against the backdrop of Picasso´s iconic anti-war painting, “Guernica,” the culture ministers of France and Spain gathered Monday in Madrid’s Reina Sofía Museum to kick off a year of commemorative acts to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the death of the Spanish artist who revolutionized the world of art.

In “Picasso Celebration,” France and Spain will be organizing more than 40 exhibitions conferences and other events in museums in Madrid, Paris, Barcelona, Málaga and other cities in Europe and North America over the next 12 months.

Picasso was born Oct. 25, 1881, in Málaga and died in Mougins, France, on April 8, 1973.
 

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Picasso Is Dead in France at 91

MOUGINS, France, April 8—Pablo Picasso, the titan of 20th‐century art, died this morning at his hilltop villa of Notre Dame de Vie here. He was 91 years old.
The death of the Spanishborn artist was attributed to pulmonary edema, fluid in the lungs, by Dr. Jean‐Claude Rance, a local physician who was summoned to the 35‐room mansion by the family. Dr. Rance said that Picasso had been ill for several weeks.
With him when he died was his second wife, the 47‐year‐old Jacqueline Roque, whom he married in 1961. In the last few years, Picasso rarely left his 17‐acre estate, which was surrounded by barbed wire. He had been in exile from his native land since 1939, when Generalissimo Francisco Franco defeated the Republican Government of Spain in the three‐year Civil War.

About 10 days ago, Picasso was helping to assemble 201 of his paintings for exhibition at the Avignon Arts Festival, which will open in that city May 23 at the Palais des Papes. According to Paul Puaux, the festival director who had visited the artist at his home on the Riviera above Cannes, these canvases covered the artist's output from October, 1970 to the close of 1972.
Tourists, museumgoers and television camera crews mingled before “Guernica,” “Harlequin,” “The Card Player” and “The Studio,” major works from the middle years of 1913 to 1937. The museum put a large vase of flowers in the main lobby and nearby a strip of cloth with “Picasso” lettered on it in gold.

“Guernica” drew many to the third floor. “I was a small girl when he did this painting,” said Margaret Schneider of Brooklyn. Rose Friedman of Huntington, L.I., called it “haunting.”

Mya Kroksteron of Stockholm called the reaction at the museum touching.
 

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In collaboration with his friend and fellow artist Georges Braque, Picasso challenged conventional, realistic forms of art through the establishment of Cubism. He wanted to develop a new way of seeing that reflected the modern age, and Cubism is how he achieved this goal.
So in effect what the furry dice are saying is, to misquote the band: Iron Maiden. "Balls to Picasso."
 
2018 BBC TWO Documentary -- Picasso's Last Stand

"Picasso's Last Stand reveals the untold story of the last decade of the great artist's life, through the testimony of family and close friends - many of them the people he allowed into his private world in the 1960s. As his health declined in these final years, Picasso faced damaging criticism of his work and intimate revelations about his bohemian lifestyle for the first time. And yet, in the midst of disaster, he rediscovered his revolutionary spirit with a creative surge that produced some of his most sexually frank and comic work. Exhibitions of the new style horrified and disappointed contemporaries. But now his biographer Sir John Richardson and granddaughter Diana Widmaier Picasso argue that this last enormous effort produced some of his greatest and most profound art: the stunning counter-attack of a protean genius coming to terms with old age."
 
The French Electrician With 271 Picassos In His Garage

In 2010, French police seized a huge stash of previously unseen Picasso drawings at the home of the late artist's electrician. Were they gifts or stolen goods? An ongoing trial will decide.

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A box worth €60 million

"The box reappeared almost half a century later, and in a completely unexpected way. In 2010, electrician Pierre Le Guennec and his wife Danielle made themselves known to the Picasso Administration and claimed certificates of authenticity for these unpublished works. The box, they said, was given to them by Pablo Picasso and Jacqueline, his late wife who died in 1986. During the 40 previous years, they claimed to have forgotten it in their garage, at the back of their small house in Mouans-Sartoux, near Cannes." Read More
 

Picasso’s full name

"In typical Andalusian fashion, Picasso was baptized with a long string of names (but sources vary on the order): Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Crispín Crispiniano María de los Remedios de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz Picasso. Each of these had a particular significance. He was called Pablo after his paternal uncle Canon Pablo (Ruiz Picasso), who had died in 1878; Diego after his paternal grandfather, Diego Ruiz y Almoguera, and his eldest uncle, Diego Ruiz Blasco; José after his father, José Ruiz Blasco; Francisco de Paula after his maternal grandfather Francisco de Paula Picasso Guardeño; Juan Nepomuceno after his godfather, a cousin, Juan Nepomuceno Blasco Barroso; Crispín Crispiniano after the two shoemaker saints whose feast day is October 25, the day of Picasso’s birth; María de los Remedios after his godmother, also a cousin, María de los Remedios Alarcón Herrera; de la Santísima Trinidad meaning “of the Holy Trinity”; and, finally, Ruiz Picasso."


"As a youth in A Coruña (1891–94), the young Picasso was known as Pablo Ruiz, and he signed his earliest paintings P. Ruiz. Later, in Barcelona and Madrid (1895–98), he used P. Ruiz Picasso; by the turn of the century, he had shortened this to P.R. Picasso. Once in Paris, he used P.R. Picasso for paintings and drawings, and the name Ruiz for the cartoons he submitted to French journals, but in late 1901 he finally settled on simply Picasso as his signature."
 
Picasso and Painting Mommy and Me Halloween Costume
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"Picasso showed a passion and a skill for drawing from an early age. According to his mother, his first words were "piz, piz", a shortening of lápiz, the Spanish word for "pencil". From the age of seven, Picasso received formal artistic training from his father in figure drawing and oil painting."
 
"The great Pablo Picasso was thoroughly feted at his French Riviera home on his 80th birthday. Visitors could enjoy an exhibition of some 30 of his paintings, mostly from private collections. The famous Spanish artist went to a bull-fight as part of his birthday celebration. And there were folk-dancers giving a performance in his honour. "

 
On October 25th 1981, Picasso's painting Guernica found its permanent home in Madrid's Prado Gallery. The exhibition coincides with the centenary celebration of the artist's birth.
 
He used to draw like artists when he was 15 then switched to the modern art that we are seeing.....Picasso once said..."It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child."
 
What was Pablo Picasso like as a person?

"No one can really answer this question properly except someone who knew Picasso - and even then, there would be bias, as every single thing written about him by people who did know him shows. They all paint (!) somewhat different pictures of the man."

"However, I believe I have read most, if not all of them, and there are patterns that emerge. We see a man who believed, even from a young age, that he was determined, if not destined, to be famous. And he had good reason to believe that. Even his early work showed virtuosity. His determination not only never faltered, he backed it up with an enormous drive, and a prodigious work ethic. Picasso created at least 13,000 paintings, plus prints and ceramics. His output when he was working was generally three paintings per day."
 
"Pablo Picasso is probably the most important figure of 20th century, in terms of art, and art movements that occurred over this period. Before the age of 50, the Spanish born artist had become the most well known name in modern art, with the most distinct style and eye for artistic creation. There had been no other artists, prior to Picasso, who had such an impact on the art world, or had a mass following of fans and critics alike, as he did."

Pablo Picasso at Work
 
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"Pablo Picasso is considered one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, and his work continues to be studied for its meaning and celebrated for its creativity. Follow the path of Picasso’s life in this brief animated video."
 
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Pablo Picasso's untitled sculpture in Chicago turned fifty-five years old this past August. Although Picasso never set foot in Chicago (or America, for that matter), the Spanish-born artist has been a part of the Windy City for decades.

The 50-foot-tall sculpture designed by the revolutionary artist was unveiled in Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago in 1967. And while public sculptures are meant to challenge preconceived notions of art, Picasso's may be among the most challenging to decipher.

Indeed, just like the first day the public saw the massive work of art, many Chicagoans are still scratching their collective heads as to what exactly Picasso created. Was it an insect? A horse's head? A monkey? Just to make matters more confusing, Picasso never gave the 160-ton sculpture a name, though locals simply refer to it as "The Picasso."

Several art historians believe the muse was Lydia Sylvette David (also known by her married name, Lydia Corbett), a young French woman Picasso befriended and immortalized in several paintings during the summer of 1953.

While the sculpture cost over $350,000 to construct (it was financed by several charitable foundations), Picasso refused to be paid for it. Instead, the Andalusian artist donated the work as a gift to the city. Since the sculpture was erected, it's become a location tourists and locals take in each day.
 
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"Some say that it's an abstract replica of an Afghan hound since the artist Pablo Picasso's close friend had one. Others believe the sculpture was inspired by the artist's inspiration Lydia Cor-bay. Even Picasso's grandson himself said that in interviews. But, at the end of the day its all mere speculation. The Spanish cubist didn't leave any explanations about this huge sculpture and its true meaning."

 


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