Picasso (Parallels)

Pablo Picasso - Self Portrait - 1907 - 54 x 46 cm - 21 x 18 in - oil on canvas

This early painting by Picasso shows his developing interest in primitivism and cubism.

In this posting I will focus on how he conveys movement and space with parallels which Cezanne used so well.

First the black line defining the left of his face and the parallel line adjacent to his right nostril.  Do you sense the space between the lines and how your eye movement is directed?

The other movement is the line on defining his forehead and the parallel line on his right cheek.  Do you feel the space between them?

When you concentrate on the two directional shifts, can you feel the shift in space?   They are powerful when you become aware of them.  He is occupying space!

This is the seed of cubism, which is an unfortunate term for this fantastic way of conveying space.

We also see Picasso’s interest in primitivism, which, I think is a greatly misunderstood consideration.  And this reaching for the prime will have a major impact on twentieth century art.

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