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Picasso and African Art

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Pablo Picasso by Suzanne Blier
Suzanne Preston Blier portrays Pablo Picasso’s work on African art and women as more than a simple interest, but a life goal and sort of obsession. It seems that to Picasso this scene of women and African art presented a mystery he sought to reveal. Through Picasso’s paintings of women, his interests in African masks and interaction with African art, Blier makes the point that Picasso’s engagement and interest in this field was led by the complexities it had to offer.
The painting of Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) reveals the complex nature Picasso saw in the women depicted. Suzanne Blier points out that the women in the image present a challenging expression, and emphasizes that the two women on the right wear masks. This attests to her argument that Picasso saw some intricacies in this subject. Because of the women’s expressions and the masks we can infer that Picasso saw in this scene something more than met the eye. The challenging expressions the women wear and the masks may symbolically represent something hidden to Picasso—something he could not yet uncover or understand.
Picasso’s introduction to African art is another topic Suzanne Blier brings up to reveal the relationship he had to this field. Blier mentions Art in the Flesh, and an instance when Picasso was able to hold an article of Congo art. During this experience, Picasso tried to understand the artwork, leading to his way of presenting Africa, which involved engagement rather than mere illustration. Here we can see that Picasso felt there was something deeper to be portrayed. To Picasso it seems that this art was more of an experience than a visual, and depicting this could understandably be a taxing task.
Through the use of Picasso’s paintings and experiences, Suzanne Blier is able to reveal how immersed Picasso had become with the complexities of African art and lives of women.

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