Pablo Picasso is known for his painting. The Museum of Modern Art is currently exhibiting a large collection of Picasso's sculpture for which he is less well known. The collection spans 6 decades and is as varied as his paintings.
What Greg found most interesting was the resemblance of Picasso's paintings to his sculptures. Many of the sculptures are three-dimensional versions of similar paintings. That third dimension and the ability to walk around a sculpture make it much easier to comprehend the subject matter and understand what Picasso was trying to share with his audience.
A photo and video help make the point. Picasso Sculpture: Head of a Woman (1932).
What Susan found most interesting was the artist's whimsical treatment of his subjects. In Picasso's paintings, his sense of playfulness does not necessarily come across, but the sculptures show that he really enjoyed injecting a bit of offhanded humor and whimsy into his figures. For example, he used one of his daughter's toy cars as the head of a baboon in a sculpture and was probably delighted that it really looked like a baboon's face. He was also quite a "dumpster diver", making lots of his sculptures with discarded wood, pieces of metal and objects like a rusty watering can (photo below).
More photos.
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| Picasso Sculpture: Femme Enceinte (1949) |
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| Picasso Sculpture: The Woman in the Garden (1929-1930) |
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| Picasso Sculpture: Any guesses what inspired this sculpture? |
| Photo of an actual glass of absinthe with straining spoon and sugar cube. Above: Glass of Absinthe (1914). |
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| Picasso Sculpture: Flowery Watering Can (1951-1952). A close look reveals the use of nails. |
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