Pablo Picasso's Faith Ringgold

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Picasso’s Studio attributed to Faith Ringgold is an acrylic on canvas with a pieced fabric border. The painting was created in 1991 and is part of the French Collection Part I. Today, Picasso’s Studio can be found at the Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts.
In the wonderfully jumbled Picasso’s Studio, Faith Ringgold painted Picasso almost to the margin of his studio, crowded between a border of decoratively pieced flowered clothes and his model. Picasso- one of the 20th century most popular embodiment of the avant-garde- with a brush at hand appears ready to begin painting. While Picasso stands before the blank canvas, the model’s posture with her hands picking up her hair draws attention to her affectless face. Not only does Faith Ringgold reference Pablo Picasso’s famous Les Demoiselles de Avignon, a painting that marked a turning point in western art but she also incorporates Picasso’s cubist style in this piece. To the lower right side of the painting are numerous …show more content…

In 1990 she traveled to Europe once more. This research as well as the time she spent abroad shaped the narrative and imagery of The French Collection, a series of twelve story quilts that tell the story of an African-American artist who’s also the imaginary alter-ego that Ringgold invented. In the French Collection, Ringgold’s imaginary alter-ego is known as Willia Marie Simone. In the quilt painting, Willia Marie Simone is Picasso’s model. She models for the aging Picasso, stretched out on layers of bright exotically patterned fabrics. Willia Marie’s posture portrays confidence the kind that brings Manet’s Olympia to mind. As we can see, Faith Ringgold’s Picasso’s Studio extends and focuses on the history of modern art through recognizable and often socially significant

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