About the Artist: 1881 - 1910.
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los
Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito
Ruíz y Picasso was born on the 25 October 1881 in Malaga Spain. He
was the first born to Don José Ruiz y Blasco and mother María Picasso y López and had two sisters Dolorès ("Lola") who was
born in 1884 and Concepción ("Conchita") who was born in1887.
His father was a painter and professor of art at the School of
Crafts,
He had a middle class upbringing and from an early age showed a
natural talent for drawing. At the age of seven his father began
his training in figure drawing and oil painting. His father
was a firm believer that proper training required disciplined
copying of the masters, and drawing of the human body using plaster
casts and live models. This however had a detrimental effect on
Picasso and his schoolwork began to suffer as he became increasingly
preoccupied with his artistic studies.
In 1890 Picasso
first met Julio González. a Spanish abstract cubist painter
and sculptor who would later influence and aid Picasso.
In 1891 the family moved to La Coruña the second largest city in
Galicia, in north western Spain so his father could become a
professor at the Instituto da Guarda . This position lasted for almost four
years.
In 1892 Picasso entered the school and it was mainly his father
who taught him to paint.
By 1894 Picasso's work started to really show his talent and
does not go unnoticed by his father as it is so well executed
for a child of his age. In recognition of his sons talent he
declares that his own ability has been surpassed and it is claimed
that he hands Pablo his
palette and brush's and vows to never paint again.
In 1895 Picasso suffers a traumatic event in his life when his
sister Conchita dies from Diphtheria. Following her death the
family move to Barcelona where his father obtains a professor
ship at La Lonja, The school of fine arts. His father manages to
persuade the officials at the school to allow his son to take
an entrance exam for the advanced class, which with his artistic
talent Picasso manages to complete in under a week. An impressive time as
most of the students normally took up to a month to complete the
exam. Picasso impresses the officials so much that despite the
fact that he was only thirteen he is accepted.
Living in Barcelona
had a life long effect on the artist and he often regarded it as his
true home. So as to aid with his studies his father rented him a
room near the family home where he could work alone and undisturbed.
His father however would frequently check up on him resulting
in them
often arguing about his work. It is at this time that
Picasso make his first visit to the Prado museum in Madrid.
In 1896 aged sixteen Picasso paints his first large academic oil painting
titled The First Communion which
depicts his sister Lola's communion. The figure standing beside her
and acting as her godfather is believed to be a portrayal of his
father. He
exhibits the painting in Barcelona.
In 1897 at the age of sixteen he was sent to Madrid to study at
the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando by his father and
uncle as it was considered to be the most prestigious art
school in the country. Picasso however found the academy to be to
stifling and experienced difficulties accepting formal instruction.
He soon stopped attending classes after his enrolment and quickly
returned to Barcelona where he spent a lot of his time
studying historical and contemporary art alone. While in Barcelona
he began to frequent the café Els Quatre Gats where he joined with
and befriended other artisans who frequented the cafe. The bar
hosted revolving art exhibits and was where Picasso held one of his
first one man shows. Picasso paints
Science and Charity, a second
large oil painting which portrays his father as a doctor. He
receives an honourable mention in the
national exhibition of fine art in Madrid for the piece.
In 1898 Picasso becomes ill with Scarlet fever and again returns
to Barcelona where he stays at Horta D`Ebra to convalesce after being invited by his friend Manuel Pallarès.
In 1899 while at the cafe Els Quatre Gats in Barcelona he
meets and befriends a writer and sculptor named Jaime Sabartés.
Sabartés will later play a greater role in his life.
In 1900 Picasso enters and wins a competition to design the menus
for Els Quatre Gats and makes his first trip to Paris which was considered
the art capital of Europe. There he met a French writer called Max Jacob
whom he shared a room with. Jacob was influential in his
introduction to Georges Braque and helped Picasso learn
the language and literature of France.
In 1901 He lived in Madrid for a short while and with his friend
Francisco de Asis Soler, a known anarchist, founded the magazine
Arte Joven of which there were five issues. Soler solicited articles
and Picasso did the illustrations. Their first publication came out
on the 31st of March that year.
Picasso shortens his signature and begins to sign his work with just his mothers maiden name
Picasso. It was around this time that he produced a series of
paintings known as the blue period, said to have been influenced by
the suicide of his close friend Carlos Casagemas painting works such as Blue nude
and The old guitarist. He also held his first exhibition in Paris at
the Vollard gallery.
In 1904 his blue period ends when he meets Fernande Olivier. She
was married and was a Bohemian artist and model who is said to
feature greatly in his works of the rose period (also known as the
pink period). Fernande was his mistress for seven years. It wasn't
long before Picasso started to become well known and he began to
accrue some wealth. He and Fernande Olivier split up in 1912 shortly
after Picasso had met another woman called Marcelle Humbert. Picasso
called here Eva Gouel.
Around 1905 Picasso
was becoming well
admired by the
American art
collectors Leo and
Gertrude Stein.
Gertrude Stein lived
in France for most
of her life and
became a catalyst in
the development of
modern art and
literature. Both her
older brother
Michael and his wife
Sarah also became
collectors of
Picasso although
later they would
become patrons to
Henri Matisse.
Gertrude had a salon
at her home in Paris
where she would
exhibit Picasso's
drawings and
paintings. At one of
the exhibits Picasso
met with Henri
Matisse a French
artist and
draughtsmen. They
would become friends and rivals. He was
also introduced to Claribel and Etta
Cone a couple of
wealthy socialites.
Etta was a
collector of art and
became a lover of
the work of Picasso.
She would eventually
own one of the
finest French modern
art collections in
America containing
works by Picasso,
Matisse and Cézanne.
1907 marked the beginning of Picasso's cubist stage
dubbed the African period. Picasso had studied many African
sculptures and works
at
the Ethnographic
museum
in the
Palais du
Trocadéro in
Paris
and then
began to
represent their
shapes and form
in his art.
German art
historian
Daniel-Henry
Kahnweiler
opened a gallery
in Paris which
Picasso joined.
Kahnweiler was
an art collector
who also became
a prominent art
gallery owner
and champion of
Cubism. He was a
lover and
champion of
Picasso's work
recognising the
importance of
his piece Les
Demoiselles D'Avignon
a piece
containing
distinct human
forms and
showing the
early beginnings
of cubism. This
piece was later
to become one of
his most famous
works. He also
supported artists that he believed in by making contracts to
purchase all their work thus freeing them of the worries of
the cost of living and their art.Picasso later wrote of Kahnweiler "What would have become of us if
Kahnweiler hadn't had a business sense?"
