P a b l o P i c a s s o
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By 1921 Picasso's years of financial struggle were over, and he was now famous. Ironically, the reputation of this Spanish artist was boosted by two big sales of works which the French government had confiscated during the war from Picasso's former dealers, Kahnweiler and Uhde, who had the misfortune to be German-born.
While producing both Cubist and more traditional work, he was also developing a new "Neo-Classical" style, featuring figures reminiscent of antique statues but of extraordinary bulk and largeness of limb. Here, however, the size of the figures seems designed to emphasize their rusticity, and their modern clothes sit awkwardly on them. Such clothing is rarely represented in Picasso's paintings, highlighting the curious fact that this artist - still the epitome of everything 'modern' and distinctively 20th century - preferred to perform his transformations on hallowed images from the past such as the nude, the harlequin or acrobat, and the still life of fruits and flowers.
Original Painting: Picasso Museum, Paris
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Source: Life and Works of Picasso
Further Reading: Biography I
Further Reading: Life of Picasso
Further Reading: Pablo Picasso & Jean Cocteau
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