Seduction by Paper

“Picasso didn’t just draw on paper – he tore it, burnt it, and made it three-dimensional” is the opening for The Royal Academy of Arts’ Picasso and Paper Exhibition. An online video tour at just under 40 minutes is currently available, here, and free to view. A great opportunity to look at Pablo Picasso’s work, his creative process and through the developing periods of his work.

The blue period, 1890 to 1904, takes the viewer through Picasso’s family life and education with the artist claiming he could draw before he could speak. His father, an artist and teacher, describing him as a prodigy. The Rose period, which followed, was a time of inspiration from circus performers and formed basis of a series of etchings and drypoints, La Suite des Saltimbanques. The ebb and flow of transformation and inspiration from other artists, travel and companions all having an impact on Picasso’s constantly evolving work, including his venture into theatre set design and costumes.

The artist’s journey includes experimental practices with paper in Cubism, 1908 to 1914, his work on the side-lines of Surrealism and on to political protest. The exhibition includes study sketches used to create Picasso’s famous mural sized oil painting, Guernica. An emotive artwork which exposed General Franco and the Spanish alliance with the Germans in the bombing the Basque city of Guernica in 1937.

The essence of an artist is the passion and inspiration behind their work. The Picasso and Paper exhibition is a journey of seduction, by the medium of paper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbbILvRlU4I