Marilyn Fenn » Picasso

A Copy After Picasso

Marilyn — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 20:21:49 +0000

Copy After Picasso's "Nude and Still Life, c. 1931" Oil on canvas 18" x 12" © 2011 Marilyn Fenn On Google+, a very vibrant community of artists has been growing all summer and fall. A challenge was proposed to do a study after Picasso or an interpretation of one or more of his works. While most of the other artists did an interpretation, I chose to copy this delightful painting of Picasso's. Perhaps I am trying to make up for two copies I never completed in art school. When I first found this work online, I thought it looked like a cartoon version of a Picasso painting, or what Picasso would paint if he were painting a cartoon version of his own work. It is such a fun image, I couldn't resist! I couldn't find this painting in any of my books on Picasso. Online, there are many copies of this painting, but they are all different in how the colors are displayed. I finally found what I can only guess to be a fairly accurate version, which I found at this website, at the far end of row 7: Picasso paintings. This image seems less manipulated to me than many of the others online (for instance, you can see the cracks in the paint very clearly) and the colors strike me as being more representative of what colors would have been available to Picasso at that time. However, I'm no expert, so don't take what I say as definitive. Even though this painting displays practically the whole spectrum of the color palette, I think Picasso used only 8 or 9 colors to mix that whole spectrum. These are the colors I decided to use to attempt to replicate this Picasso work:

flake white
ivory black
cadmium yellow lemon
cadmium yellow medium
cadmium red medium
alizarin crimson
ultramarine blue
cobalt blue

I also used a smidge of cadmium green to green up the shape in the lower right hand corner, though now I think he may have gotten that brighter green mix with cerulean blue instead.

[caption id="attachment_16216" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="The 8 colors I think Picasso used in Nude and Still Life, c. 1931"][/caption] I did try to mix my colors to match his exactly, and now that I am able to view a photo of my painting next to the work I was using for reference, I see some differences; but overall, I think it's pretty close. I also tried to match the way he applied paint, though as I painted this whole thing in two days, and my paint was wet throughout the whole process, I wasn't really able to replicate what I think he did. For example, I think he may have begun with the black lines, and then painted the colored areas afterwards, as you can see quite a few areas where the colors are painted over the black lines, leaving just a tiny bit of black peeking out from under the edges. I painted the colored areas in first, as I knew it would cause a terrible mess if the colored paint ran into the still wet black lines. There are areas, though, where he very clearly painted white lines to cover black lines. I think he probably did this for the purposes of the design of this canvas, as once the white lines are applied, it really changes how the whole image reads, plus they help pull your eye around the canvas, from the head down what I think is an arm, around the--are they breasts?--then a hop to the white lines through the blue areas down to the bottom left and center of the canvas. [caption id="attachment_16230" align="alignleft" width="288" caption="Picasso's “Nude and Still Life, c. 1931″"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_16231" align="alignright" width="289" caption="My copy After Picasso’s “Nude and Still Life, c. 1931″"][/caption] [clear] Has copying this Picasso helped me understand him? I don't know; I do feel like I understood his process of painting this painting, though I still cannot figure out what all the parts of this painting are and what they belong to. Wall, floor, chair rail and baseboard, pitcher, head and eyes, I get; the rest is a mystery to me. If anyone knows more about what Picasso did in this work, what he meant, or how to read his image, I would be delighted to hear. If you'd like to see all the other artists' interpretations of Picasso, you can find them here on Google+.

Oranges and Sardines at the Armand Hammer Museum

Marilyn — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Painting by Mary Heilmann
"Blood on the Tracks"
2005

Today I mapped out about 4 different exhibits I wanted to get to, and they weren't necessarily that far from each other (Westwood, Hollywood, and Santa Monica); but we got going too late, and had to return to Pasadena too early to be able to fit in more than one of them, especially considering LA traffic (1 hour to get there; 1.5 hours to get back; how do people stand it out there?).

The first (and last) place we made it to was the Armand Hammer Museum, which I am now officially declaring to be my favorite museum in LA. Every show we've seen there has been fantastic. OK, well, that may not apply if you're primarily interested in viewing only Impressionist works or art from previous centuries. But for me and Terry, the shows at the A.H. tickle our art-appreciation bits the most.

Each room in the Oranges and Sardines Exhibit showcased the work by a current artist with accompanying works by artists who influenced them. What a strong show!

The first room contained the work of Mary Heilmann, whose piece, "Blood on the Tracks," 2005 (above) I found to be quite striking.

I'm afraid my notes are too sketchy to reconstruct the experience, but I do recall (I think) that one of her influences was Francis Bacon, and they had his piece "Figure with Two Owls, Study for Velasquez," 1963 on display. A gorgeous work. I do love how he applies paint; it's so scrumptious!

Do click on the link in the title to see more about this show at the Armand Hammer (they do a great job of extending their exhibits online). If you're in LA, please do yourself a favor and go see this show! The few images here are but a tease.

Here are the pieces I made note of throughout this exhibit:

Amy Sillman
U.S. of Alice, the Goon
2008

(no image)
Willem de Kooning
Untitled XXII
1982

(no image)
Juan Mele
Irregular Frame #2
1946
Oil on Masonite

Eva Hesse
H + H, 1965
(love the colors! green, chartreuse, ochre, ecru, brown, + stripes!)

Alice Neel
Thanksgiving
1965
Oil on Canvas

Philip Guston
Sleeping
1977
Oil on Canvas
(I'm pretty sure I saw this in a Philip Guston show at the Art Institute of Chicago when I was a student there.)

(no image)
Philip Guston
North
1961-1962
Oil on Canvas

Forest Bess
Star of David
1959
Oil on Canvas

(no image)
Dieter Roth
Selbstportrait als Suppe
1969-74
glue and acrylic paint

(no image)
Dieter Roth
Bonbons am Abend
1974
glue and acrylic paint

(no image)
Dieter Roth
Ein Bleicher Kracker
1974
glue and acrylic paint

(no image)
Dieter Roth
Mit Vogelkacke sich ernahrender bleicher Schleimbonbonscmeisser
1969-74
glue and acrylic paint

(no image)
Dieter Roth
2 Kartobbelknaben
1969-74
glue and acrylic paint

(some of the above were in the room of Christopher Wool; no promises that I got the German words correct!)

(no image)
Albert Ohlen
Untitled 1988
Oil on Linen

(no image)
Picasso
Man with Pipe
1969
Oil on Canvas

Charlene von Heyl
Big Nobodaddy
2008
acrylic, oil, pastels on linen

Carla Accardi
Verderosso #6
1914

Wols
Oui, Oui, Oui
1946-47
Oil on Canvas

Wade Guyton's room:

(no image)
Robert Morris
Horse of the Vetti II
1983
felt, grommets
(do an image search on Robert Morris -- great stuff!)

Mark Grotjahn's room:

Paul Klee
Blossom in the Night
1930

(no image)
Paul Klee,
Two Heads
1932

Clyfford Still
1946

(I think this was the Still painting; he has long been one of my favorite Abstract Expressionists)

(no image)
Joseph Albers
Homage to the Square
1954

Yayoi Kusama
No. T.W. 3
1961
Oil on Canvas
(small swirls of white paint, more or less covering a stained canvas, with holes through which you could see the stain color, similar to the one above -- and check out the slideshow on her bio page!)

Sherrie Levine
Untitled, White Knot 9
1986
Casein on Plywood
(similar to the one above)

Draw from Center Out

Marilyn — Sun, 10 Apr 2005 22:36:00 +0000

Class notes from Painting the Figure in space with Elizabeth Rupprecht, SAIC, 1991

Draw from center out. Work from bottom up, never top down.

Like riding a bike uphill.

Crunching up the space, like using your muscles. All this space to work with. Swooping down.

2D & 3D working together.

Books - Henry Moore, National Gallery, Sharaku.

Split planes, like Cezanne's still lifes.

Modigliani, Picasso.

in & up (compressed); out & down.

Mondrian, eyeball.

Holbein for eyes & mouth.