Why do I have photos of 25 Picasso paintings?

Thursday, Nov. 28, 2019 (Thanksgiving Day) - To keep track of the museums I have visited, and the artists that I have taken pictures of, I have a giant spreadsheet. I was looking at it the other day, and I see that I have taken pictures of 25 paintings by Pablo Picasso (at 17 different museums, over the past 6 years). I find this remarkable, because I hate really dislike Picasso's art - it all seems very self-indulgent, and he takes a gimmicky idea and pounds it into the ground. Having said that, there are certainly a few VERY BEAUTIFUL pieces (Guernica, Three Musicians, some pieces from his Blue and Red Periods), and I love it when I encounter them.

So why do I have 25 photos? Well, 4 are "famous":

"At the Lapin Agile", 1905 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY):


"Jester on Horseback", 1905 (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA):


"Three Musicians", 1921 (Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA):


"Bullfight", 1934 (The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC):


That still leaves 21 pictures - they were all done in a 4-year period from 1909 through 1912. It turns out that I really like LOVE his "Cubist" period!!! Here is where they are located:


and here they are, chronologically:

"Carafe, Jug, and Fruit Bowl", 1909 (Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY):


"Woman in a Black Hat", 1909 (Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH):


"Nude Figure", 1910 (Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY):


"Girl with a Mandolin (Fanny Tellier)", 1910 (Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY):


"Portrait of a Woman", 1910 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA):


"Portrait of Wilhelm Uhde", 1910 (Fogg Museum, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA, private collection):


"Seated Woman with a Book", 1910 (Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI):


"Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler", 1910 (The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL):


"Glass of Absinthe", 1911 (Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH):


"Man with a Pipe", 1911 (Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX):


"Pipe Rack and Still Life on a Table", 1911 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY):


"Still Life with a Bottle of Rum", 1911 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY):


"Still Life with Glass and Lemon", 1911 (Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH):


" "Ma Jolie" ", 1911-12 (Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY):


"Man with a Violin", 1911-12 (Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA):


"Bottle, Glass, Fork", 1911-12 (The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH):


"The Pomegranate", 1911-12 (Fogg Museum, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA):


"Still Life with Inkwell", c.1911-12 (Fogg Museum, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA):


"The Architect's Table", 1912 (Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY):


"Man with a Guitar", 1912 (Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA):


"Pigeon in Nest with Eggs", 1912 (Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, NY):


It turns out that, beginning in 1909, Pablo Picasso was major-hanging-out with his friend in Paris - Georges Braque - and they just kept experimenting with "new ways to see things". Using a mono-chrome palette, and different perspectives/viewpoints painted on individual surfaces ("cubes"), they were capturing many more aspects of a person (or a scene) than an artist traditionally achieved with his (or her) head-on view. Picasso and Braque kept stretching each other, and at one point in 1911 their works became almost identical:

Georges Braque - "Girl with a Cross", 1911 (Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX):


Georges Braque - "Still Life with Banderillas", 1911 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY):


a FUN FUTURE PROJECT is find out where the rest of Pablo Picasso's "Cubist paintings" are located (and visit them!). (and don't forget Georges Braque!!!).

I wonder why I am so attracted to this style of art. Perhaps a clue can be gleaned from my high school yearbook picture:


Thank you Bill Damon, photographer!