The Artist, His Model, Her Image, His Gaze: Picasso's Pursuit of the Model
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
The Artist, His Model, Her Image, His Gaze: Picasso's Pursuit of the Model Details
Although Pablo Picasso's name is virtually synonymous with modernity, his late graphics repeatedly turn back to the traditional theme of the artist and model. Had the aging artist turned reactionary, or is Picasso's treatment of the theme more subversive than anyone has suspected?In this innovative study, Karen L. Kleinfelder rejects the claim that Picasso's later work was a failure. The failing, she claims, lies more in the way we typically have read the images, treating them merely as reflections of an "old-age" style or of the artist's private life.Focusing on graphics dating from 1954 to 1970, Kleinfelder shows how Picasso plays with the artist-model theme to extend, subvert, and parody both the possibilities and limits of representation. For Kleinfelder, Picasso's graphic work both mystifies and demystifies the creative process, venerates and mocks the effects of aging and the artist's self-image as a living "old master," and acknowledges and denies his own fear of death.Using recent interpretive and literary theory, Kleinfelder probes the three-way relationship between artist, model, and canvas. The dynamics of this relationship provided Picasso with an open-ended textual framework for exploring the dichotomies of man/woman, self/other, and vitality/mortality. What unfolds is the artist's struggle not only with the impossibility of representing the model on canvas, but also with the inevitability of his own death.Kleinfelder explores how Picasso's means of pursuing these issues allows him to defer closure on a long, productive career. By focusing on the graphics rather than the paintings, Kleinfelder contradicts the primacy of the painted "masterpiece"; she steers the reader away from the assumption that the artist must work toward creating a final body of work that signifies the culmination of his search for a coherent identify. Picasso's search, she argues, realizes itself in the creative process. She interprets the late graphics not as a biographical statement but as a tool for investigating the possibilities of representation within the limits of Picasso's medium and his lifetime. Richly illustrated, Kleinfelder's book will open up new approaches to the late work of this complex artist.
Reviews
In the spirit of cubism, this review will show multiple facets and views.The ART PHILOSOPHER will enjoy this book, especially Chapter 1 ("The Theme in Theory"), which fills a quarter of the volume. The CASUAL READER, unfortunately, will find this chapter daunting, from its semiotics, to its comments about deconstructing deconstruction. While subsequent chapters are easier reading, pedantic patter occasionally spills over-for example, "...the nude is only present as a signifier, not as the Signified, capital 'S'."The PICASSO GROUPIE might get impatient during the long first chapter, since the seemingly-endless discussion about representations of representations is applicable to any depiction of any artist depicting anything. Thus, 25% of the book is generic--not Picasso-specific.The ART LOVER, if he has the patience to get past the theoretical framework, will find Ms. Kleinfelder to be insightful as she explores Picasso's representations of artists and models (including positioning, physical appearance, sub-themes, symbolism, and sexual imagery).Speaking of sexual imagery, some of the graphics are quite explicitly hard-core, which will delight the PRURIENT READER. We're not just talking about nudity here, folks-we're talking about close-up shots of penetration, so keep the kids away, and don't read this book in public.Some of the verbiage can also be raunchy, though clever, appealing to the DIRTY-MINDED WIT. For example, a drawing with the model's legs spread wide is described as showing her vertical vulval slit punctuated by her anus below, rendering the effect of an exclamation point! In a similar spirit, the last chapter, very short, is called Coda Interruptus.The BOOK LOVER will find this a well-produced work, down to its paper, which meets certain permanence standards...but the VALUE-ORIENTED CONSUMER will find the book overpriced, especially as there are no color reproductions among the 250 or so pages. Few paintings are reproduced, anyway; most of ! the plates show black and white works on paper. Don't even think of buying this book simply to grace your coffee table.In summary, this book should not be the first to go on your bookshelf, and it is not light reading for the beach. If you can get past the first chapter, your efforts will be rewarded.