Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973), Portrait of Dora Maar, 1937. Oil on canvas 92 x 65 cm Musée National Picasso, Paris Pablo Picasso gift-in-lieu, 1979, MP158 (C) Succession Picasso, 2011 (C) RMN / Jean-Gilles Berizzi
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Recorded: Wednesday, May 9, 7 pm in Jackman Hall
Duration: 01:34:04
During the early years of the twentieth century a new form of painting was born. This was not a further resolution of the aesthetic conundrum that had been teasing European artists for centuries – this wasn’t an evolutionary step that took us closer to understanding the mechanics of paint and canvas – this was the establishment of a new kind of aesthetic aim. This is the beginning of a radical change in pre-war cultural trajectory, an unstoppable revolution that defined post-war popular culture, and continues to inform the arts. It was a shift that found its most dramatic form in the work of Pablo Picasso, but was triggered and inspired by the art of Africa.