Picasso: Guitars 1912-1914

by Anne Umland (Contributor), Pablo Picasso (Artist)

An in-depth examination of Picasso’s modest yet radical cardboard and sheetmetal Guitar sculptures Pablo Picasso's modest yet radical cardboard and sheet metal Guitar sculptures (1912 and 1914, respectively) bracket a truly incandescent period of structural, spatial and material experimentation for the artist. In October 1912, while in what he described as "the process of imagining a guitar," Picasso embraced the techniques of assemblage, collage, construction and mixed-media painting, frequently combining traditional artists' supplies--oil paint, charcoal, pastel, ink--with what were then unconventional materials, including cardboard, newspaper, wallpaper, sheet music and sand. Published in conjunction with an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, this volume situates Picasso's Guitars within the constellation of objects that surrounded them in his studio, affording a fresh understanding of the unique material and historical qualities of the artist's work in the years immediately prior to World War I. An essay by Anne Umland, Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum, uses photographs, correspondence, archival records and eyewitness accounts, to explore Picasso's practice and the remarkable institutional history behind the acquisition of the two Guitar sculptures, both gifts to MoMA from the artist.

Genres: Art

112 pages, Hardcover

First published February 28, 2011

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

MoMA never fails to disappoint me. This book is a companion to the same titled exhibit at MoMA this year. I love the concept. The exhibit explores the beginning of Picasso's experimentation with three-dimensional collage - here stemming from his creation of a cardboard three-dimensional guitar. The book contains one essay and a catalogue of approximately 85 pieces, all based on Picasso's exploration of the guitar as collage, sculpture, painting and mixed media pieces (mind you there's actually some violins thrown in there) from the period of 1912 to 1914. The disappointment here is that this particular period of Picasso's art is so significant to modern art in so many ways - yet, as usual, MoMA fails to explore the potential of the subject matter and discusses more superficial aspects of the works rather than the real meaning of them within the scope of the art world at the time of their development. Why bother publishing this book, really? What's the point? Who cares how many pictures Picasso took of himself with the sculptures or that he didn't want to part with them in his old age? What I want to know is how did this art affect Picasso's world. How did his peers react to it? What influenced him to conceive creating something so radically different at the time? I do wish that I had been able to experience this exhibit rather than look at a bunch of photographs and prints of the works presented here. I have always felt, that like many symbolic images in Picasso's works, the guitar played a significant part in personifying his works - be it with regards to the guitar symbolizing a woman; Picasso's Spanish heritage; or the relationship between the art of music and the art of the visual or tangible. This subject deserves far more exploration than a 17-page essay. To quote Picasso, when asked what his radical cardboard guitar "sculpture" was, he proclaimed "It's nothing. It's el guitare!" No, it's so much more than that.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredibly detailed, useful and inspiring survey of Picasso's cardboard, wood, paper, wallpaper, etc etc constructions between 1912 and 1914.

There's a huge amount of information in the book:

- the essay combines a chronology of the work, with references to contemporary accounts of visits to Picasso's studio, references to the plates, explanation of how the cardboard and metal guitars come to be in MoMA's collection,
- the plates are clear, with informative labels
- the catalogue gives more details about each work, (for example plate 10 was borrowed from the Kerry Stokes Collection in Perth)
- there's a chronology and extensive references

One of the most useful things for me is to see Picasso's photographs of his studio and his arrangements of his work: drawings and collages pinned up on the wall in various groupings. The amount of work is wonderful and the persistance, the repetitions with variations, is inspiring.