Hi Subscriber,
Today, we take a look at some of Picasso's work from his childhood.
While many are familiar with the easily recognizable Cubist work he is
famous for, many might not realize he got his start in traditional
realism. We thought it might be fun to take a look at some earlier
works and possibly bring consideration to the changes our art has
undergone in our own art journey.
Enjoy,
BoldBrush Studio Team
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Child with a Dove, oil on canvas, 1901
Child with a Dove, oil on canvas, 1901
Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973) is best known as a Cubist, but he was
constantly experimenting with materials and technique in a life-long
search for new forms of expression. He got his start, however, in the
same way as every other artist of his generation, by studying
traditional realism. The young Picasso was fortunate to have an early
start through his father, who was an artist (specializing in still life
and bird paintings) and drawing teacher. His parents recognized his
propensity for art at an early age and his father gave Picasso his
first drawing lessons and arranged his son's first 'exhibit', in a
local barber shop, at the age of thirteen. Very much a traditionalist,
his father was eager for his son to have a formal education and as many
opportunities for study as possible, taking him to museums in Barcelona
and Prado to study masterworks and enrolling him in local classes. When
Pablo's father got a post at the Barcelona Academy, the young Picasso
took the entrance exams to enter as a student. Picasso was only
thirteen, but it is said his drawings impressed the judges greatly. His
father even helped the boy establish his first painting studio (with
frequent check-ins from his parent), where the boy completed many of
these first paintings, such as Portrait of Aunt Pepa and The Altar Boy.
Portrait of Aunt Pepa, oil on canvas, 1896
Portrait of Aunt Pepa, oil on canvas, 1896
The Altar Boy, oil on canvas, 1896
The Altar Boy, oil on canvas, 1896
The high point of Picasso's early career, the narrative painting
Science and Charity (in which his family served as the models) was
completed for a school competition when he was sixteen years old. His
parents decided to send him to Madrid in that same year to study at the
Academy of Fine Arts there, but although he is said to have taken
frequent visits to the Museo del Prado to study Velazquez and other
Spanish masters, he was already becoming restive and attended classes
infrequently. After only six months he moved back to Barcelona and
began to branch out on his own, becoming involved in the avant-garde
art scene and taking steps to consciously reject the academic
tradition. By the time Picasso was twenty, he had thoroughly embraced
modernism, as can be seen in his painting Child with a Dove.
Science and Charity, oil on canvas, 1897
Science and Charity, oil on canvas, 1897
The Artist's Father, watercolor on paper, 1896
The Artist's Father, watercolor on paper, 1896
The Artist's Mother, pastel on paper, 1896
The Artist's Mother, pastel on paper, 1896
Self-portrait, oil on canvas, 1896
Self-portrait, oil on canvas, 1896
The Barefoot Girl, oil on canvas, 1895
The Barefoot Girl, oil on canvas, 1895
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