Savannah; Artist Presentations

 

1900 - 1960 

modern Artists

 

The first modern artist I chose was Pablo Picasso. Picasso full name is Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso. Picasso is a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and stage designer. Picasso was considered one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century. He devoted himself to an artistic production that contributed significantly to and paralleled the whole development of modern art in the 20th century.

Pablo Picasso "The Weeping Woman" 1937.

The original title is "Femme en Pleurs", where it sits 608 x 500 mm. When I first saw this painting, I noticed the hands covering the woman's face, but it looked like you could see through her hands with the different colours. When doing more research on the painting, it was based on a woman holding her dead child. It is taken from Picasso's anti-war mural, Guernica. Picasso painted both works during the Spanish civil war of 1936 to 1939. this painting was in response to the bombing of the basque town of Guernica. The attack was carried out in April 1937 by Nazi Germany's air force supporting Spain's Nationalist forces. Hundreds of people were killed. The figure of the Weeping Woman is based on artist and photographer Dora Maar. Maar photographed Picasso's making of Guernica.

 

The second artist I chose was Claire Falkenstein. Falkenstein was significant contribution to sculpture occurred in 1954. While working in Rome, she discovered a means of facing metal and glass. Falkenstein began working in abstract sculpture in the early 1930s. An interest in einstein's theories of the universe inspired Falkenstein to create sculptures from wire and fused glass that explored the concept of infinite space.

Floating Structure, 1958-1959

Claire Falkenstein learned metalwork during her first few years in Paris. She developed the technique of bending and welding iron to create small pieces of jewellery. This process inspired Falkenstein to create more giant sculptures that would often be suspended from the ceiling, emphasizing their space. The rough parts of brazed iron in a floating structure resemble a tangle of dry leaves and broken branches. 

When looking at this sculpture, you can see how dangerous it is because it does not give you the feeling of wanting to interact with it made me look back on the first project I did, the CD teddy bear and where it was dangerous if you tried to interact with it.