Art of the 20th century is universally regarded as Modern Art. Modern Art comprised paintings that are revolutionary in forms and representations. Revolution in the sense of modern paintings is a way to describe the alterations done by modern artists to the common aspects and traditional representations of art on canvas. Among such brave, intelligent, and creative minds that dared the conventions of traditional painting and brought innovation to the art on canvases were Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock. Both became known for their own styles as well as for the tumultuous aspects of their lives such as relationships with women and their family. A close investigation of these two prominent modern artists will show their remarkable techniques and styles that cemented their reputation in art and how their personal issues influenced and shaped their art, technique, and reputation.
A giant in the era of Modern Art, Pablo Ruiz y Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain on October 25, 1881 (“Pablo Picasso”). Growing up in an art-oriented family, Pablo Picasso showed precocious inclination to art with his early drawings which were greatly influenced and motivated by his father who worked as a painter and art teacher (“Pablo Diego José Francisco”; Cumming 99). Growing up, Picasso became best known for being prolific at producing artworks that encompassed not just the field of painting but as well as the art of sculpture, printing, drawing, ceramics, textile designing, and costume and theatre design (Voorhies). To date, Picasso’s artworks are estimated to be more than 20,000 in total (Voorhies). Such prolificacy Picasso manifested as an artist undoubtedly cemented his reputation and made his legacy undying even after his death on April 8, 1973 (“Pablo Picasso”). As a world-renowned painter, Picasso was known to be a part of various art movements such as Surrealism, Symbolism, Expressionism, and Neoclassicism (“Pablo Picasso”; Voorhies). But among the many art movements that he became part of, Pablo Picasso is universally known to be the co-founder of the art movement Cubism, together with a fellow Modern Artist, Georges Braque (“Pablo Picasso”; Voorhies). Strongly influenced by the art of El Greco which featured elongated and corkscrew figures, Picasso’s Cubist arts represented distorted figures and images which could be aligned to other contemporary artworks with abstract themes during his time (Cumming 99; “Pablo Picasso”; Voorhies).
Aside from his prolificacy in painting and mastery in art, Picasso was also renowned with his notorious reputation among various women. Forming several relationships with various women during his lifetime, Picasso’s lovers became the muses that graced most of his works (Cumming 98; “Pablo Picasso”; Voorhies). Picasso’s first muse was his lover from 1904 to 1911, Fernande Olivier who became his main subject in the painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon which he completed in 1909 (Fox). After Olivier, Picasso’s next big muse was his first wife, the Russian ballerina, Olga Khokhlova, whom he married in 1918 and had a son with, named Paulo (Fox). Khokhlova became the main subjects of Picasso’s 1918 painting, named accordingly as, Portrait of Olga in an Armchair which depicted the woman as Spanish (Fox). Khokhlova also appeared in Picasso’s 1922 autobiographical painting The Village Dance as well in the 1935 paintings The Minotaurmachy and Bullfight: Death of the Torero (Fox). Khokhlova lived separately from Picasso since 1936, upon learning his husband’s affair with a younger Marie-Thérèse Walter, but they never divorced until her death in 1954 (Fox; Hudson). Walter and Picasso remained together in an illicit affair from 1927 to 1936 (Fox). Walter, a young, blonde Frenchwoman, became the subject of Picasso’s bright painting such as the Large Still Life with a Pedestal Table, painted in 1931, which disguised Walter as fruits (Fox). Walter also appeared as the sensual subject in Picasso’s 1932 painting, the Sleeping Nude (Fox). Walter also mothered Picasso’s daughter, Maya, born in 1935 (Fox). Breaking up in 1936, Picasso started another affair with a brighter and beautiful photographer Dora Maar (Fox). Dora Maar’s wit and intellect romantically captured Picasso who immediately fell in love with her (Fox). Maar became the subject of some of Picasso’s paintings remarkably including Seated Woman in Front of a Window and Portrait of Dora Maar, both of which Picasso finished in 1937 (Fox). Picasso’s 1937 painting Weeping Woman, a painting related to his Guernica (1937), depicts Maar in tears (Fox). Picasso and Maar’s affair ended in 1944, the same year he met and got into a relationship with Françoise Gilot (Hudson; Fox). Gilot became Picasso’s muse from 1944 until they break-up in 1953 (Fox). Gilot became the mother of Picasso’s two children: a son named Claude, born in 1947, and a daughter named Paloma, born in 1949 (Fox). Last among Picasso’s significant love affairs was Jacqueline Roque whom he met in 1954 and married in 1961 (Fox; Hudson). Roque became monumental in the last works of Picasso and in managing her husband’s assets and artworks after his death in 1973 (Fox).
Undoubtedly, Picasso’s life and art are the gargantuan contributors to his fame and undying legacy. The impact of his personal life on his career is highly evident with his artworks whose muses and subjects largely portrayed the important lovers of his life. But Picasso was not the only painter of the 20th century whose artworks were heavily tinted and inspired by personal experiences. Jackson Pollock was another prominent painter of the 20th century who became influential in his own respect. Like Picasso, Pollock’s artworks were also heavily influenced by his personal issues, struggles, and experiences.
Jackson Pollock was an American painter born on January 28, 1912 (“Jackson Pollock”). Unlike Picasso, Pollock’s father abandoned the family while Jackson Pollock was nine and played no role in shaping his artistic talents (“Jackson Pollock”). The talented Pollock eventually emerged as a remarkable artist during the late 1930s, focusing largely on art movements such as Regionalism, Surrealism, and Federal Art (“Jackson Pollock and his paintings”). But Pollock’s career as an artist reached its peak in 1947, when he created another substantial period in Abstract Expressionism, the “Drip Period” (“Jackson Pollock and his paintings”). Since 1947, Pollock’s masterpieces were largely characterized by abstract images of dripped and splashed paints on unprimed gigantic canvases (“Jackson Pollock”; “Jackson Pollock and his paintings”). The unique and novel style devised by Pollock quickly gained attention and enthusiasm among several art audiences. However, he abruptly abandoned his newfound and well-accepted painting style in 1950 (“Jackson Pollock and his paintings”; “Jackson Pollock”). Later works of Pollock still garnered great attention despite deviating from the artist’s well-loved original painting style (“Jackson Pollock and his paintings”).
Like Picasso, as well as most painters, Pollock’s art was largely influenced by personal matters. In 1936, Pollock met fellow Abstract Expressionist, Lenore “Lee” Krasner whom he married in 1945 (“Jackson Pollock”). Suffering from alcoholism since his adolescence, Pollock seek Jungian psychoanalysis for treatment in 1939 (“Jackson Pollock”). Pollock’s Jungian therapist largely persuaded Pollock to make use of art as a way to release stress and other restricting emotions, which subsequently gave birth to the artist’s radical paintings with dark themes and his creation of the “Drip Period” (“Jackson Pollock”). With his alcoholism, Pollock’s marriage began to deteriorate which prompted Krasner to fly to Europe in 1956 and take some distance from him (“Jackson Pollock”). Shortly after Krasner’s departure, Pollock began an illicit affair with the then 25-year-old artist, Ruth Kligman (“Jackson Pollock”). August 11 of the same year he began dating Kligman, Pollock, together with Kligman’s friend Edith Metzger, died in a single-car crash which also seriously injured Kligman (“Jackson Pollock”; “Biography of Jackson Pollock”). His widow, Krasner, managed his properties and assets (“Jackson Pollock”).
Picasso and Pollock undoubtedly graced the unique and beautiful era with their colorful lives that are best represented by their paintings of undying beauty. Aside from the controversial personal issues, Pollock and Picasso also succeeded in creating their own styles that cemented their individuality as artists. Picasso’s paintings, marked by his subjects’ solid features and strong outlines, evidently showed his inclination to prime his paintings with drawings and sketches that would direct the overall appearance of the painting (Cumming 98-99; Voorhies; “Pablo Picasso”). On the other hand, Pollock became best known for embracing other non-painting objects—or sometimes none at all—in completing his artworks, especially during his Drip Period (“Jackson Pollock and his paintings”; “Jackson Pollock”). Clearly, Pollock deviated from the traditional use of paintbrushes, which also signified the artist’s free-spirit for his craft (“Jackson Pollock and his paintings”).
Works Cited
“Biography of Jackson Pollock.” Jackson Pollock: Biography, Paintings, and Quotes. Jackson Pollock, 2011. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
Cumming, Robert. Annotated Art. London: Dorling Kindersley Limited, 1995. Print
Fox, Andrew. “Picasso: The Women Behind the Artist.” de Young (Legion of Honor). Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 20 July 2011. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
Hudson, Mark. “Pablo Picasso’s love affair with women.” The Telegraph, 13 Feb. 2009. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
“Jackson Pollock.” The Art Story: Modern Art Insight. The Art Story, 2014. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
“Jackson Pollock and his paintings.” Jackson Pollock: Biography, Paintings, and Quotes. Jackson Pollock, 2011. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
“Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipiriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso.” Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 18. Dec. 2014.
“Pablo Picasso.” The Art Story: Modern Art Insight. The Art Story, 2014. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
Voorhies, James. “Pablo Picasso (1881-1973).” Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. The Metropolitan Museum, 2014. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
