Chicago picasso

1. What do you see?
• a baboon, a horse, a dog or a gift?
– the monumental sculpture was donated to the
city of chicago by pablo picasso, as he refused
payment for the design
– it stands 50 ft and is located in the daley plaza
– picasso completed a maquette (scale model) of
the sculpture in 1965
• use of 3d space and a challenge to
perception
– the sculpture is of a french woman who posed
for picasso in the 1950s
– as a viewer walks around the sculpture it is
possible to see multiple angles of the woman’s
face: portrait, three-quarter angle, profile etc.
– the viewer must interact with the piece by
circling it, in order to see the different angles
and experience the use of space

2. the shoulders follow similar curves to
the hair creating balance and symmetry
the ¾ viewthe hair is created by
these shapes
The Chicago Picasso
note the
representation of two
irises in the same eye
the silhouette,
creates the profile
again, the edge
creates the profile

3. cubism and space
• the impetus for cubism
– conventional/traditional artwork is
illusionary for it represents a flattened
version of space
– the eye and the mind do not see in flat
renderings, but see multiple dimensions:
width, height, depth and time
• cubism is a way of perceiving
– cubism experiments with perception,
spatial awareness and conception
– cubism challenges the relationship
between ratio and reason through its
rendering of planes, ambiguous spaces,
negative and positive spaces/shapes, and
juxtaposing multiple vantage points
simultaneously