Picasso Sculpture

Most of us are familiar with the paintings and drawings of Pablo Picasso, but he also did many works in clay!

Picasso discovered ceramics in 1947 and continued creating ceramics until his death in 1973. His ceramic work stood out in his time due to its sense of freedom in brushwork, economy of line, and use of vibrant color.

Picasso produced more than 2000 ceramic pieces.

His pieces utilized new forms, techniques, and color that hadn’t previously been seen in ceramics.

Although ceramics are often deemed a craft, Picasso viewed the plates, jugs, vases, and other vessels he created as a type of canvas that curved. He playfully experimented with the union of decoration and form, and left his mark in the world of ceramic art.

Picasso turned to sculpture with particular rigor at several key moments in his career, using the medium as a testing ground for ideas that would catalyze crucial shifts in his practice at large. The sculpture Woman’s Head (Fernande) (1909), also on view, helped Picasso conceptualize the break of solid volume into shifting masses suggestive of varying perspectives, and served as a foundation for the development of Cubism.

Over the course of his long career, Picasso devoted himself to sculpture wholeheartedly, if episodically, using both traditional and unconventional materials and techniques. Unlike painting, in which he was formally trained and through which he made his living, sculpture occupied a uniquely personal and experimental status for Picasso. He approached the medium with the freedom of a self-taught artist, ready to break all the rules. This attitude led him to develop a deep fondness for his sculptures, to which the many photographs of his studios and homes bear witness. Treating them almost as members of his household, he cherished the sculptures’ company and enjoyed re-creating them in a variety of materials and situations.

Picasso kept the majority in his private possession during his lifetime. It was only in 1966, through the large Paris retrospective Hommage à Picasso, that the public became fully aware of this side of his work. Following that exhibition, in 1967 The Museum of Modern Art organized The Sculpture of Picasso, which until now was the first and only exhibition on this continent to display a large number of the artist’s sculptures.

While I was were researching Picasso and his art, I stumbled upon this site called Mr. Picassohead. I decided to play around with it and found that you could create some interesting art in the style of Picasso, adding color and all development of Cubism.

Picasso Sculpture focuses on the artist’s lifelong work with sculpture, with a particular focus on his use of materials and processes. The exhibition, which features more than 100 sculptures, complemented by selected works on paper and photographs, aims to advance the understanding of what sculpture was for Picasso, and of how he revolutionized its history through a lifelong commitment to constant reinvention.

The exhibition is organized in chapters corresponding to the distinct periods during which Picasso devoted himself to sculpture, each time exploring with fresh intensity the modern possibilities of this ancient art form.