Modern ism/ Post modernism - Modern Rebel

In short i believe that modernism can be defined as a change in the way art was produced following a rejection of all previous thoughts and feelings towards realism and traditional example of art. Enter "surrealism" and the "avant - garde" era. Artists such as Pablo Picasso were the leaders in this new way of looking and thinking about art. Producing artwork that was not a direct copy of a "lovey-dovey" scene or a pompous high class figure, sitting on a chair surrounded by their over priced worldy goods.

Pablo Picasso was the archetypal modern artist, and his work raises all sorts of questions about modernism. He was an artistic rebel who became fantastically wealthy. He was an experimental artist who hated much about the modern world, and his paintings, which so often baffled and shocked the establishment, are among the most reproduced images in the world ­ part of our visual language

Chris Nineham

Issue 204 of SOCIALIST REVIEW Published January 1997 Copyright © Socialist Review

(http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/sr204/picasso.htm)

In this article called "Modern Rebel - Pablo Picasso" Picasso is labelled a rebel, as he was one of the first artists to embrace this new style of producing artwork. I suppose rebel is an appropriate name as he broke away from the norm and the traditional methods and subjects of painting.

                                     http://www.artchive.com/artchive/P/picasso_protocubism.html

                                                 Pablo Picasso, 1908, Seated Woman

This is a painting made by Pablo Picasso in the early stage of Cubism. In my opinion this is obviously an early Cubist painting as the form of the woman is still recognisable however it is somewhat distorted by the lines cutting the image which is a recognisable trait of Cubist paintings.  From these early attempts at distoring images and breaking away from the realistic looking paintings, Picasso started his collage based Cubist work. Which in some respects, you could say took him full circle as what is more realistic that the object itself?

                                          Glass and Bottle of Suze (1912), Pablo Picasso

This is an observational painting of a Glass and bottle, however i do not think it is too bold to say that it is not immedietely clear. You can really see the transition from his early Cubist paintings to his later attempts, even if it was only in a space of a few years. I will follow on from this post quite fittingly with the next step on the timeline, Postmodernism!!!


References
http://www.ehow.com/facts_5751030_early-modernism_.html
http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/sr204/picasso.htm
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/P/picasso_syntheticcubism.html