"In 1950 Pablo Picasso and Jaime Sabrtes had a discussion about art. Picasso made a premonitory statement: 'If one set out to copy Las Meninas in all good faith, let's say, when one got to a certain point and if the person doing the copying were me, I'd say: How about putting that girl a little more to the right or the left? I'd try to do it in my own way, forgetting Velazquez. Trying it out, I'd surely end up modifying the light or changing it, because of having changed the position of the figure. And so, little by little, I'd be painting 'meninas' that would seem detestable to the professional copyist -- they wouldn't be the ones the copyist would believe he'd seen in Velazquez's canvas, but they'd be 'my' meninas." Seven years later a new 'meninas' would be born, Picasso's Las Meninas, a free interpretation that radically transformed the aesthetic language of Velzquez's work. There is a 13-page chronology near the back of this book, covering August to December, 1957.
"On account of interruptions to his work, Picasso moves his studio from the ground floor of La Californie to the top floor. There, in the company of tame pigeons, he spends until the 30 of December, painting more than 50 works inspired by Las Meninas y Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez." These listings are accompanied by thumb-nail reproductions and photos of the works and news stories of that time period. A fascinating book, filled with numerous color reproductions of his works and of course Velazquez's Las Meninas.
No comments:
Post a Comment