Pablo Picasso’s Half Length Female Nude
Pablo Picasso’s Half Length Female Nude is a classic portrayal of a nude woman in half length. As the name of the name of the painting implies, Picasso presented a crafty manifestation on how woman are viewed during his time. The image of the woman with her total physique and accentuated with her exposed breasts or bust, reserved face, and long, curly black hair make the artwork worth looking. Basing from Picasso’s chronological record of facts, it could be said that the woman subject is , the woman she met that served as a model for sculptors and artists in Paris (1904).
Primarily, the painting’s material is oil on canvass. As similar to other painters of his time, Picasso widely uses oil as it creates a distinct expressive and dramatic effect to the work, easier to maneuver, less yellowing characteristic as well as the medium allows longer preservation to the entire work.
Obviously, the subject of the painting is all about a woman – her physique and what constitutes its entirety as presented partly. As stated, the woman subject is . It is said that most number of artworks done by Picasso during this period were inspired by the artist’s relationship to this woman. It also increased Picasso’s exposure to French painting.
Art is an artist’s individual interpretation of a subject. In reference to this principle, it could be said that this artwork is classified under realism. Realism is considered as the factual description of subjects as they appear in everyday life without exaggeration or elucidation. Picasso’s Half Length Female Nude exudes a realistic materialization of a woman’s body. Though, it is recognized that no art can be fully realistic in form. In this artwork, there is distortion in form and simplification of details. Picasso once complained to about the people who thought that realism in painting should mirror their reality. "How, he asked, could these people prate of realism when they had never even begun to understand what goes on in a painting? That's what reality is" (, 1993, ). To Picasso, he is a door in the sense that he is an opening in a wall, and openings in walls are desirable in the way that paintings are desirable (, 1997). Thus, with realism, the truth is revealed.
With reference to what is clearly illustrated, this masterpiece falls under the theme of women and sexuality. The female gender is always evident among Picasso’s creative masterpieces. As such, his obsession to the opposite sex paved way to his realistic and artistically relevant works. This open-ended image set off a series of individual reverberations, enhanced by the viewer's own imagination and experience and also by his or her familiarity with Picasso's other works (, 1997). As translated to realism which is human, complex, and visibly impregnated with a feeling of social responsibility, this painting speaks a lot about certain contemporary issues on women.
In general, there are minimal visual elements present in this artwork. Color, shapes, lines, curves, and the subject itself are the most remarkable visual features. The most dominant visual element, however, is a woman’s figure – her bust area. Picasso’s Half Length Female Nude is similarly a picture of innocence and grace as his former works (. 1994). The prevailing figure of the undressed woman is set in an equally opaque, raw and plain setting and composed of mixtures of colors that can be deemed to belong into similar shades.
The design principles included in this work include line, shape, direction, texture, color, and value. The lines and shapes are predominantly seen in the subject itself – the woman’s bust area. Further, the texture is smooth as it signifies innocence and grace. The color is characterized to be earth tone or brownish in hue. The impact was increased by adding value to the colors – dark and light in proper balance.
Woman as the main subject is interpreted in a socio-cultural point of view. This painting presents the unique physical qualities of the woman. Also, it somewhat signifies women empowerment. Issues on gender such as biases, discrimination, and equality have always existed ever since the early ages. Although perhaps, the movement for gender equality gradually evolved in the late 19th century and was fuelled by women movements in the 20th century; the mild, moderate and radical feminist groups mustered their organizing influence to slowly inflict change in the society. Picasso played his part in delivering the message. Through this painting, he depicts his attraction to women and also he put high regard and admiration to women and the human body as a whole. (1998) affirmed that “the female object seems to preexist on some level in the conscious or unconscious mind of the artist: painting savagely reveals the icon, elaborates and embroiders on it, with sometimes obsessive iterations, but the image was always already there, waiting for pictorial expression.”
Meanwhile, the traditional characterizations of women are no longer up to the standards of current society and means of living. As likened to a fad, the old-fashioned descriptions towards women are obsolete and irrelevant especially to highly industrialized societies like the US and other western countries. The views about women during this generation are strongly influential and definitive to the concept of worldwide gender equality and eventual social acceptance. As recorded in the history, the ultimate battle of sexes – of the man over the woman, is already outdated and concluded. Such ancient views on women as the weaker sex and just bounded in the house as a wife and a mother per se are no longer propagated in several areas of human life. With this fact, the women in Pablo Picasso’s artworks are the symbolic representation of a more sophisticated and competitive person as seen in different fields of expertise like in economics and business, politics and governance, the corporate management, lifestyle and fashion, sports and amusement, and other relative specializations. Thus, this painting – Half Length Female Nude is very artistically, socially, culturally and relevant.
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