Hail to great opponents! The story of the founder of Picasso Cubism and the founder of Matisse Fauvism
Original title:
Picasso: Refused to attend Matisse's funeral, but paid tribute to the great opponent
Source: Reprinted from the Internet
On November 3, 1954, Henri Matisse, who had been battling the disease for fifteen years, died in his beloved Nice, ending his nearly half-century-long dialogue with Picasso.
Matisse
The first person Matisse's family informed was Picasso, but he was greeted with anger and a question mark. A maid answered the phone and waited a long time before getting the phrase "Picasso is having lunch and cannot be disturbed." A few hours passed, and mattis's family, believing that Picasso had not heard of Matisse's death, called again, but still did not contact Picasso. When they called for the third time, they were told that "Mr. Picasso has nothing to say because Matisse is dead".
Picasso
Was Picasso really as indifferent to the "death of Matisse" as the servants claimed?
Gertrude Stein
The two first met at the salon of the writer Gertrude Stein in Paris in 1906. Gertrude Stein, a famous American writer, collector, and promoter of the twentieth-century Paris art scene, directly inspired the birth of Hemingway and other "lost generations", and from her salon came a number of artists who would later become famous, including Picasso and Matisse. Matisse was 12 years older than Picasso and had already made his mark as the founder of Fauvism, while Picasso was still living a poor and romantic Bohemian life in the "laundry". But Stein admired Picasso's talent, believing that "both Picasso and Matisse have a masculine temperament that belonged to genius", so she introduced the two to meet.
Picasso's lover Fernand Oliver
Picasso's lover, Fernand Oliver, recalls the meeting: "A master of art, with a good look and a thick red beard. At the same time, behind his large pair of glasses, it seemed to hide the exact meaning of his words. When he speaks, he always has to choose the rhetoric carefully... At that meeting, he was laid-back, and Picasso was always a bit dull and restrained on the occasion (when he first arrived in France, his French was not fluent enough). Mattis was full of style. "We can imagine that Matisse has left a good impression of calmness, introversion and clear thinking. This keeps the competitive Picasso in his hands.
Picasso, The Maiden of Avignon, 1907
The two men's lifelong "love and kill each other" began, both seeing each other as the biggest critics and admirers, and it was in this fierce competitive relationship and the sense of crisis that feared being surpassed that their art gained long-term vitality. In 1907, for example, Picasso became famous for his Cubist seminal work The Maiden of Avignon, and the always mild-mannered Matisse expressed great disdain and accused the painting of a mockery and blasphemy against modern art.
Henri Matisse, Le Bonheur de Vivre (Joy of Life), 1905-06
© 2018 Henry Matisse Legacy Management Board/Artists' Rights Association, New York. Photo: Thanks to Simon & Schuster
In fact, Picasso's masterpiece is a response to Matisse's 1906 Joy of Life. Interestingly, Matisse later imitated Picasso's use of African mask elements, which is also evident in his portrait of his wife, Madame Amélie Matisse. "Every painting that I and Matisse completed in that era should be examined together. No one has studied Matisse's work more carefully than I have, and no one has learned more about my work than Matisse. Picasso said.
Matisse, who had been living in Nice in his later years, was paralyzed and limited in movement. Picasso always visited him whenever he came to the south of France. When saying goodbye, Matisse would always mutter, "I hope you come often, we should talk more together." If one of us dies, some words, the other person will never be able to tell anyone else. "It shows that the spirit of the two masters of art is connected.
How could Picasso not be saddened by the death of such a great opponent?
We can make a big guess: perhaps Picasso could not accept the news that Matisse had died, or perhaps simply because he could not forgive Matisse's death. For two weeks after Matisse's death, Picasso did not pick up a paintbrush. A few weeks later, when a guest brought up the matter of Matisse, Picasso looked out the window with a mournful face and muttered, "Matisse is dead, Matisse is dead." ”
For Picasso, the best way to pay tribute to a great opponent is to move forward with his dreams.
Five weeks later, Picasso began deconstructing Matisse's series of palace women, drawing on the composition of Delacroix's Women of Algiers and re-presenting them in his series of paintings, Women of Algiers.
Picasso's fascination with Delacroix began in 1946. We all know that Picasso has excellent visual memory and he knows all kinds of styles, so it is rare for him to visit an art museum. In 1946, Picasso donated a batch of paintings to France, and Picasso was given an unprecedented opportunity to exhibit the works of the previous masters at the Louvre, and he was a little anxious and worried. It was the first time he hung his work next to the masters of Spain's Golden Age, such as Subarang, Velázquez, Morillo and Goya. "You see, they're the same!" He said relievedly, "They're the same!"
Picasso then went to the 19th-century French Pavilion to see his own work with Courbet and Delacroix. Picasso admired Delacroix's Woman of Algiers. However, when he visited the museum, he did not make any evaluation of French painting. Later, every few months, Picasso would take his sixth lover, François Giraud, to the Louvre to study the original, "I asked him how he thought Delacroix was doing, and he narrowed his eyes and said, 'That bastard, he's amazing.'" The Impressionist master Renoir, after copying the painting, felt the same way: "There is no more beautiful work in the world than 'The Woman of Algiers'. ”
Delacroix, The Woman of Algiers, 1834, Louvre
There are two editions of the Famous Algerian Woman by the French Romantic master Delacroix, one in 1834 and now in the Louvre in Paris, and the other in 1849, now in the Fabre Museum in Montpellier. Regarding the inspiration for the paintings, it is necessary to mention that in 1832, Delacroix accompanied the French ambassador to the Sultan, count of Mona, on a visit to Morocco and Algeria. With the help of his friends, he visited the home of an Islamist captain and even got a glimpse of the secret boudoir: the elaborate furnishings, the ornate costumes, the fair-skinned, lazy Algiers woman, like a symphony of colors, which excited him, and he completed these two paintings with strong exoticism with sketches and memories.
Part of Delacroix's "The Woman of Algiers"
The painting continued to appear in Picasso's memory until an opportunity arose, that is, the fauvist master Matisse passed away, and Picasso decided to show the palace girls in Matisse's paintings with the abstract paintings he was best at, which was undoubtedly a frontal attack compared to the more conservative way of expression of Delacroix and Matisse.
It is worth noting that in 1950, Picasso repainted Courbet's "The Girl of the Seine", which opened a variation series in his later years with the classics of the previous masters as the object. For a long time, Picasso was keen on the creation of famous paintings, such as the re-creation of Velázquez's "Palace Lady" (45 paintings) and Manet's "Lunch on the Grass" (27 paintings and more than 150 drawings). In the four months from the winter of 1954 to the spring of 1955, Picasso created fifteen Women of Algiers, numbered from A to O, as well as many other drawings and lithographs.
Picasso put a lot of effort into redrawing the masterpieces of the master, so incomprehensible that some critics believe that "Picasso's creative inspiration dried up and began to lose the original ability of art".
First edition of The Woman of Algiers
Second edition of The Woman of Algiers
In the first and second editions, Picasso was most interested in arranging the black maids in the original paintings. Because the image of this woman comes from the theme of a fresco in ancient Rome, which was influenced by Hellenism, the famous "Flower Picking Woman". It's a beautiful move with the soles of your feet facing the audience and turning away. This little movement is charming and elegant, and Picasso wants to be attracted to this image, so in his first few variations, he basically explores the image of this person.
Third version of The Woman of Algiers
In the third version, Picasso began to do what he was best at, "ectopic limbs, intertwined hands and feet; facial features are tuned, and ugly painting is beautiful." The picture became more and more chaotic and incongruous, so he repeatedly operated, especially repeatedly fiddling with the upside-down person, thinking about how to make her lie more comfortably (the fourth version). The woman looked prone from her head, head down, but he clearly drew her chest and abdomen, which was a supine position. How is this possible? How can a person be both supine and prone? This is the game Picasso is going to play, and it's one of the main points we're going to focus on.
Fourth version of The Woman of Algiers
Matisse, "The Lady of the Sitting Palace," National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C
In the fourth version, a relatively elegant sitting posture appears, and this figure is from Matisse's "Sitting Palace Girl". In fact, Picasso was extremely envious and jealous of Matisse's vivid figures of palace women. Once he said to a friend, "After Matisse died, he left me all his palace ladies, and I thought that the East (North Africa) should be like this, although I had not been there!" What made Picasso even more jealous was the "pink blue nude" who won his freedom during Matisse's "barbarian" period! Picasso naturally pocketed the blue nude.
Fifth edition of The Woman of Algiers
Matisse, The in Blue
By the fifth and sixth editions, Picasso had joined the Cubist approach of his early years, adjusting the space, the relationship between the.
Sixth edition of The Woman of Algiers
Seventh version of The Woman of Algiers
The seventh version, apparently, is much more complete than the previous version. His ingenious solution to the nude was to draw her head in a circle. It's like the back of your head, it's like your face, anyway, whatever you think. And her body, half up, half down. This is a supine position, because only by lying on your back you can see the chest and abdomen. And he actually drew a complete spinal line. How is this possible? He continues to play the game, and this one is relatively more complete than the previous one, and is close to the final version.
The last version of The Woman of Algiers
Picasso went on, and finally in the final version, he accomplished the impossible: to draw the image of a woman who looked like she was lying on her stomach and on her back.
Someone once asked Picasso if he intended to choose one of these large oil paintings, according to the general idea of the whole set of paintings, and then continue to spend more effort to process, he said: "I paint so many study works is only part of my working method." I often work on hundreds of paintings in a few days, while other painters may spend hundreds of days painting a painting. When I get to work, I'm going to open the window. Drill into the back of the canvas and you may find something. ”
The Gantzs' study is a place dedicated to the Algiers Girls series
In order to avoid making people think that when he painted, he always wanted to achieve perfection in one fell swoop, Picasso further said: "The so-called end of painting does not mean that it is suddenly painted and can be signed and put into the frame." Usually, when time runs out, they stop painting, because I don't know what will interrupt their progress. When this happens, it's often a good idea to go back and make them back into sculptures. "All in all, works of art are not created with thoughts but with hands."
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) The Woman of Algiers (F Version)
Oil painting cloth, 54 x 65 cmchn. January 17, 1955
Estimate: $25 million range
Christie's "ONE: Modern and Contemporary Global Joint Night Auction" will be raised on July 10, 2020
I believe that as we all know, the most expensive work in Picasso's auction is the "Algiers Woman (O Version)" sold for $179 million in Christie's New York in November 2015, when the collectors Gantz and his wife bought all 15 paintings in the series and spent $212,500. And Picasso's "Woman of Algiers" (F) will appear at Christie's on July 10 for the first time to present "ONE: Modern and Contemporary Global Joint Night Auction", estimated at $25 million, is this valuation high in the current environment? Has the demand for Picasso's works from Asian collectors changed in recent years? What period did Asian collectors prefer to collect works from Picasso?
He Xingqi, Senior Vice President and International Director of Christie's Impressionism and Modern Art Department, said: This lot is guaranteed. Picasso's "Algiers Women" series consists of 15 pieces, of which 5 are collected in important museums, and the F version is the first time it has been auctioned. The F' version is the one in which Picasso's Women of Algiers is halfway through the work, and it is also the most complete work in the first half of the series, and it also plays a role in the continuation of several paintings in the second half of the series and on a larger scale. Originally collected by Victor and Sally Guntz, the work was acquired by another collector, mr. and Mrs. Saidenburg, in 1957.
According to our data, Picasso's global art market is fairly healthy, and collectors still have a strong demand for Picasso's works. More and more Asian collectors are dabbling in Western art collections, and in any case, Picasso is a "must-have" collection for every collector. As for the demand side, Picasso's creations are so diverse that collectors can buy thousands of dollars in Picasso ceramics on Christie's website to start. Of course, the price depends on the quality and rarity of the works, and different periods and different collectors like different series of works.
About Christie's [ONE: Modern and Contemporary Global Joint Night Shot]
On 10 July, Christie's will present "ONE: Modern and Contemporary Global Joint Night Auction", an unprecedented global 20th-century art auction carried by a relay hammer from four major cities. The multi-part live auction will be held in real time at important art auctions in different time zones: Hong Kong, Paris, London, New York, all hosted by Christie's District Chief Auctioneers.