Primitivism and Cubism
The Expressionist departure from any strict adherence to illusionism
in art was a path that other artists followed. Among those who most
radically challenged prevailing artistic conventions and moved most
aggressively into the realm of abstraction was Pablo Picasso.
PABLO PICASSO Born in Spain four years after Gustave
Courbet’s death,Pablo Picasso(1881–1973) mastered all aspects of
late-19th-century Realist technique by the time he entered the
Barcelona Academy of Fine Art in the late 1890s. His prodigious tal-
ent led him to experiment with a wide range of visual expression,
first in Spain and then in Paris, where he settled in 1904. An artist
whose importance to the history of art is uncontested, Picasso made
staggering contributions to new ways of representing the surround-
ing world. Perhaps the most prolific artist in history, he explored vir-
tually every artistic medium during his lengthy career, but remained
a traditional artist in making careful preparatory studies for each
major work. Picasso epitomized modernism, however, in his endur-
ing quest for innovation, which resulted in sudden shifts from one
style to another. By the time he settled permanently in Paris, Pi-
casso’s work had evolved from Spanish painting’s sober Realism
through an Impressionistic phase to the so-called Blue Period
(1901–1904), when, in a melancholy state of mind, he used primar-
ily blue colors to depict worn, pathetic, and alienated figures.GERTRUDE STEINBy 1906, Picasso was searching restlessly for
new ways to depict form. He found clues in the ancient Iberian sculp-
ture of his homeland and other “primitive” cultures. Inspired by these
sources, Picasso returned to a portrait ofGertrude Stein(FIG. 35-11),
his friend and patron (see “Gertrude and Leo Stein and the Avant-
Garde,” above). Picasso had begun the painting earlier that year but
left it unfinished after more than 80 sittings. When he resumed work
on the portrait, Picasso painted Stein’s head as a simplified planar
form, incorporating aspects derived from Iberian stone heads. Al-
though the disparity between the style of the face and the rest of
Stein’s image is striking, together they provide an insightful portrait
of a forceful, vivacious woman. More important, Picasso had discov-
ered a new approach to the representation of the human form.918 Chapter 35 EUROPE AND AMERICA, 1900 TO 1945O
ne of the many unexpected developments in the history of
art is that two Americans—Gertrude (1874–1946) and Leo
(1872–1947) Stein—played pivotal roles in the history of the Euro-
pean avant-garde because they provided a hospitable environment
in their Paris home. Artists, writers, musicians, collectors, and critics
interested in progressive art and ideas could meet there to talk and
socialize. Born in Pennsylvania, the Stein siblings moved to 27 rue
de Fleurus in Paris in 1903. Gertrude’s experimental writing stimu-
lated her interest in the latest developments in the arts. Conversely,
the avant-garde ideas discussed at the Steins’ house influenced her
unique poetry, plays, and other works. She is perhaps best known for
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933), a unique memoir writ-
ten in the persona of her longtime lesbian companion.
The Steins’ interest in the exciting, invigorating debates taking
place in avant-garde circles led them to welcome visitors to their Sat-
urday salons, which included lectures, thoughtful discussions, and
spirited arguments. Often, these gatherings lasted until dawn and in-
cluded not only their French friends but also visiting Americans,
Britons, Swedes, Germans, Hungarians, Spaniards, Poles, and Rus-
sians. Among the hundreds who welcomed the opportunity to visit
the Steins were artists Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque,
Mary Cassatt, Marcel Duchamp, Alfred Stieglitz, and Arthur B.
Davis; writers Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John dos Pas-
sos, Jean Cocteau, and Guillaume Apollinaire; art dealers Daniel
Kahnweiler and Ambroise Vollard; critics Roger Fry and Clive Bell;
and collectors Sergei Shchukin and Ivan Morosov.
The Steins were avid art collectors, and the works decorating their
walls attracted many visitors. One of the first paintings Leo purchased
was Matisse’s notorious Woman with the Hat (FIG. 35-2), and he sub-
sequently bought numerous important paintings by Matisse and
Picasso, along with works by Gauguin, Cézanne, Renoir, and Braque.
Picasso, who developed a close friendship with Gertrude, painted her
portrait (FIG. 35-11) in 1907. Gertrude loved the painting so much
that she kept it by her all her life and donated it to the Metropolitan
Museum of Art only upon her death in 1946.
Gertrude and Leo Stein and the Avant-Garde
ART AND SOCIETY
35-11Pablo Picasso,Gertrude Stein,1906–1907. Oil on canvas,
3 33 – 8 2 8 . Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (bequest of
Gertrude Stein, 1947).
Picasso had left this portrait of his friend and patron unfinished until
he decided to incorporate the planar simplicity of ancient Iberian stone
sculptures into his depiction of her face.1 ft.35-11APICASSO,
Family of
Saltimbanques,
1905.