Picasso, Einstein, and the Visitor:
Tales of the Creative Process
The play Picasso and the Lapin Agile by Steve Martin starts us off in a bar in Paris, 1904. Picasso and Einstein eventually show up in the bar and both start to talk to each other about their work. Einstein is coming close to completing his first paper and Picasso is soon going to paint Les Demoiselles d’Avignon [1]. Later, after these two encounter each other, another character appears called the Visitor, a 1950’s love song writer, who has traveled back in time because he is currently bored of his own time period and also has a message to deliver [1]. All three of these characters have similarities between the work that they do. Not the work itself, but the process they go through
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Before early humans discovered fire, they most likely observed forest fires in order to come up with the idea. Applying the idea that fire is hot, they probably realized that rubbing two sticks together also makes them hot, therefor creating fire [2]. Electricity was created the same way. The Ancient Romans observed that rubbing fur against tree sap generated static electricity. They then went on to create one of the earliest batteries known to mankind [3]. Benjamin Franklin also proved that lightning is a form of electricity when he flew a kite with a key attached to it during a lightning storm [3]. In the play, Picasso and Einstein both explain how they get ideas when they occasionally pop into their heads. All they have to do is write them down [1]. All of those ideas came from observation at one point or another. When the Visitor appears in the story, he talks briefly about how he writes and performs songs about love. He most likely got inspiration from love itself, all of that happening 50 years after Picasso and Einstein [1]. Therefore, every kind of idea is created the same …show more content…
A good example would be the scientific method which is used daily by scientists around the world. The scientific method starts out with asking a question about what they observed, like who, what, where, when, and why [4]. Next comes background research, examples of such would be researching the different components that were used and trying to predict their purpose [4]. Scientists then construct a hypothesis and construct a theory on what they think will happen during an experiment [4]. They then start their experiment. They perform a control or default test, and then change a few variables for each of the other tests[4]. They then analyse their results by watching video footage or measuring the lengths of some objects compared to other objects [4]. They then finally share their results with the rest of the scientific world, usually in the form of a research paper or a book [4]. The artistic method is a little different in that there isn’t any written down rules about it. However, it almost always requires a subject or object that you create. That is mostly done through observation, such as looking at what you are going to paint. In art, some ideas can sound good in theory, but might not work out well when created. These are just a few examples of the numerous examples of different creative methods used in different
“In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.” (Sol LeWitt - Artform, 1967)
From the time you enter the Falk Theatre, until the curtain rises and falls on the production of Picasso at the Lapin Agile, you are in for a treat. The play is an original work by Steve Martin with a running time of 90minutes, which feels more like 30minutes. Aside from the uncomfortable seating, this production is nothing short of wonderful. The Theatre has been transformed from a long movie Theater atmosphere to a quaint surrounding by means of risers that are placed directly on the stage. The new seating divides the old Theater in half and allows for the actors and the audience to share the same space. Not only this atmosphere that makes it wonderful but also the performances, the direction, the design and the script.
Ultimately, it can be seen that all artists are influenced or incorporate issues and events of their time in their works, whether this is from the desire to portray Greek perfection to that of religious beliefs and the creation of the camera. To become renowned like Polykleitos, Michelangelo and Pablo Picasso, this statement must be followed.
"An Artists's Life." Litzmann, Berthold. An Artist's Life. New York: Da Capo Press, 1979. 532. Book.
Spending time looking at art is a way of trying to get into an artists’ mind and understand what he is trying to tell you through his work. The feeling is rewarding in two distinctive ways; one notices the differences in the style of painting and the common features that dominate the art world. When comparing the two paintings, The Kneeling Woman by Fernand Leger and Two Women on a Wharf by Willem de Kooning, one can see the similarities and differences in the subjects of the paintings, the use of colors, and the layout
· Penrose, Roland. Picasso at Work. With introduction and text. Photographs by Edward Quinn. New York: Doubleday & Company Inc., n.d.
Pollock (1980) begins her article by drawing in her audience in; asking how is it possible that art history does not incorporate any other field beyond the artist in order to explain the meaning behind their work. She then explains that her article is mainly about how she rejects how art historians are depicting artworks and restricting themselves in explaining the work solely based on the biography of the artist who created it. (Pollock, 1980, pg.58)
Marcel Proust in the first volume of his ‘In Search of Lost Time’, ‘Swann’s Way’, (1913), and Donna Tartt in her 2013 novel ‘The Goldfinch’, reveal, through their central characters, the various impacts art can have on one's relationship with reality. Although Proust and Tartt’s retrospective novels explore similar coming of age themes, as their young protagonists’, Proust’s nameless Narrator, and Theo Decker, struggle between their inbuilt passion for art versus and the common values of their respective societies, both authors conclude on vastly different estimations on the consequences and costs of valuing art over
In conclusion we can see that even worlds apart artists can still find inspiration from unlikely subject matter. Watteau’s from the theater. Picasso’s from the street. Both artists not only showed their era in their art but also themselves and others. Even when it comes to entertainment it seems that not artist can escape the idea of shaping their own worlds into their piece of art. As well, both also showed not only the similarities but also differences of their era and how art was viewed.
To conclude, both masterpieces provide a lot of food for thought and present an era of creativity that was accentuated with contrasting realities, one that is mindlessly racing forward, one that feels the urge to advance technically and become prosperous and rich just financially and another that's trying to put on the breaks and remind of the values that need to be preserved and passed on. In both paintings, one can see that torment, that urge to stop for a moment and reevaluate own life and collective journey in time.
Artists have a knowledge of all the artists that preceding them, creating a visual vocabulary from the art that they have seen and understand. For Jean-Michel Basquiat, that knowledge translates into his work, despite never having formal training in an art school. It is his awareness and understanding of the culture that surrounds him that brings a layer of sophistication to his painting, setting it apart from street graffiti that has been painted on canvas. Basquiat’s Untitled (Julius Caesar on Gold) (1981) is a confrontation of his own identity that is created with the visual vocabulary of artists that preceded him.
From the creation of art to its modern understanding, artists have strived to perform and perfect a photo realistic painting with the use of complex lines, blend of colors, and captivating subjects. This is not the case anymore due to the invention of the camera in 1827, since it will always be the ultimate form of realism. Due to this, artists had the opportunities to branch away from the classical formation of realism, and venture into new forms such as what is known today as modern art. In the examination of two well known artists, Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock, we can see that the artist doesn’t only intend for the painting to be just a painting, but more of a form of telling a scene through challenging thoughts, and expressing of the artists emotion in their creation.
... over time – and the viewer’s personal experience, essentially her history. This gets very near to a common sense perspective – what we look at, and what we think about what we see has much to do with who we are and what we have experienced in life. Thus, art may be described as an interaction between the viewer, influenced by her experiences, with the work of art, inclusive of its history and the stories built up around it over time. When we look at art, we must acknowledge that the image is temporally stretched – there is more to it than meets the eye at present. What we learn from Didi-Huberman’s approach is to give this temporal ‘tension’ its due. Didi-Huberman describes and defends the importance of of how we look at artistic works: images that represent something determinate, while always remaining open to the presentation of something new and different.
Picasso’s significant painting presents five life size female figures twisting in an ambiguous, tight space, and confronting its viewers in an uncomfortable way. With this new found inspiration upon viewing Picasso’s painting, Matisse is able to go deeper and more expressive into his description of the female nudes without being shallow in Bathers by a River. An intense, competitive partnership developed between Cubism and Fauvism. No matter how much he might have wanted to, Matisse could not ignore Picasso and the advances he was making in the art world. Their heated conflict deeply fueled Modern Art as each artist tried to surpass the other. As with many of Matisse’s Cubist contemporaries, the underlying drawing was of greater significance to his paintings than any brilliant color effects, even though the use of light continued to play a significant part in these 1913-17 works. Matisse found major new ways of applying paint to canvas. He layered, smeared and removed what he had painted earlier on the canvas not by scraping it away with a tool, but by applying fresh paint to cover and remake what was previously there. The raw textures in Bathers by a River energize the serious