Honestly, it's never truly a party until Picasso shows up with a nude or two in tow.
Quatre Baigneuses, as seen here, is nearly its actual "postcard" size of 4 x 6 inches. At the time he painted this, Picasso was insanely busy going in many different directions at once. He was concurrently designing productions for the Ballets Russes, traveling widely, continuing to explore Cubism (as with his Three Musicians [1921]) and tentatively paying lightning visits to his Classical training (demonstrated above). "Classical," you say? My, yes. Picasso blew right through everything standard studio technique had to offer long before he was able to grow a proper beard. When he wanted to do so, the artist could trot out draftsmanship skills that would make a Renaissance master weep in envy. Picasso had to be that good, in order to ignore convention and follow other paths as successfully as he did.
Here he's gifted us with not one, not two, but four fleshy, rather Mediterranean lady bathers. It seems as if they have a narcissistic mirror to pass around, but there is nary a thong to be found amongst the quartet. Love Picasso or hate him, women of a Certain Age must appreciate - or, at least, acknowledge - that the artist had nothing against potbellies or large thighs.
This painting is hung with Jan Breughel the Younger's The Five Senses: Sight (1625) and Georges Seurat's Les Poseuses (1888) in the exhibition Double Take: From Monet to Lichtenstein. Points to ponder: all three paintings have been executed with meticulous restraint and, quite obviously, contain central nude figures (though these are found in three very different settings, to three ends of various degrees of mystery).
About the Exhibition:
"Double Take: From Monet to Lichtenstein" is on view from April 8 through September 24, 2006 at the Experience Music Project, 325 5th Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98109 (on the Seattle Center Campus; Telephone 206.367.5483 or 1.877.367.5483). The EMP is open Monday through Thursday from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and Friday through Sunday from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Extended summer hours (effective Memorial Day weekend until Labor Day weekend) are 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM every day. "Double Take: From Monet to Lichtenstein" is a ticketed exhibition. Information on pricing and online purchasing of tickets is available here.
Quatre Baigneuses, as seen here, is nearly its actual "postcard" size of 4 x 6 inches. At the time he painted this, Picasso was insanely busy going in many different directions at once. He was concurrently designing productions for the Ballets Russes, traveling widely, continuing to explore Cubism (as with his Three Musicians [1921]) and tentatively paying lightning visits to his Classical training (demonstrated above). "Classical," you say? My, yes. Picasso blew right through everything standard studio technique had to offer long before he was able to grow a proper beard. When he wanted to do so, the artist could trot out draftsmanship skills that would make a Renaissance master weep in envy. Picasso had to be that good, in order to ignore convention and follow other paths as successfully as he did.
Here he's gifted us with not one, not two, but four fleshy, rather Mediterranean lady bathers. It seems as if they have a narcissistic mirror to pass around, but there is nary a thong to be found amongst the quartet. Love Picasso or hate him, women of a Certain Age must appreciate - or, at least, acknowledge - that the artist had nothing against potbellies or large thighs.
This painting is hung with Jan Breughel the Younger's The Five Senses: Sight (1625) and Georges Seurat's Les Poseuses (1888) in the exhibition Double Take: From Monet to Lichtenstein. Points to ponder: all three paintings have been executed with meticulous restraint and, quite obviously, contain central nude figures (though these are found in three very different settings, to three ends of various degrees of mystery).
About the Exhibition:
"Double Take: From Monet to Lichtenstein" is on view from April 8 through September 24, 2006 at the Experience Music Project, 325 5th Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98109 (on the Seattle Center Campus; Telephone 206.367.5483 or 1.877.367.5483). The EMP is open Monday through Thursday from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and Friday through Sunday from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Extended summer hours (effective Memorial Day weekend until Labor Day weekend) are 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM every day. "Double Take: From Monet to Lichtenstein" is a ticketed exhibition. Information on pricing and online purchasing of tickets is available here.