Special Exhibitions
Picasso: The Artist's Studio
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Special Exhibitions |
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Picasso: The Artist's Studio |
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The Tate Gallery, London Nude Woman with Necklace, 8 October1968Oil and alkyd paints on canvas, 113.5 x 161.7 cm Tate, London Fotiní Koussiaki, PhD Research 'Picasso's Painting Materials and Techniques' RCA/V&A Conservation Programme with Tate Further information: www.tate.org.uk, www.conservation.rca.ac.uk During the years 1963-1973 Picasso often depicted isolated figures such as Nude Woman with Necklace of 1968, one of five versions of the same theme completed that year between 7th and 10th October. In this painting, Picasso experimented with restructuring parts of the female body while remaining faithful to the Cubist principles of simultaneity. Thus the body is seen in profile, yet one can see all its parts. Over time Picasso continued to rework the image by changing its structural elements. These alterations are readily visible to the naked eye, especially when viewed under raking light from the left. X-radiographs reveal even more alterations to the background, as well as to the figure's face. Picasso's unfailing formal control in his late paintings belies the apparent carelessness of execution. Vivid colours, energetic brushwork, and deliberate contrasts between glossy and matte surfaces heighten the immediacy of Nude Woman with Necklace. These aspects of the paintings indicate that Picasso was keenly aware of the material properties of paint and skilfully exploited his medium, using a variety of pigments and paint types, including artists' oil paints and the recently developed alkyd housepaints. The colour and appearance of household and other industrial paints fascinated Picasso and he began using them as early as 1912 to create powerful contrasts between the traditional artist's oil paints and enamel colours. His use of industrial paint can be seen as an attack on tradition, as well as recent avant-garde masters. Thereafter, Picasso continued using these paints, primarily for their material properties. Through scientific analysis, it has been possible to show that in this painting Picasso used housepaints and mixed them with, or applied them alongside, traditional oil paints of the highest quality, thereby exploiting differences in gloss and texture to create powerful and varied optical effects. For example, the white paint of the necklace is oil paint and was probably applied directly from the artist's tube by squeezing white paint onto the surface of the canvas. In contrast, the glossy and fluid orange area in the lower left corner of the painting was found to contain a mixture of alkyd resin (an indication of the presence of housepaint) and oil medium. Analysis of many other areas of this painting have shown a widespread use of housepaints, often brightly coloured and manipulated into a range of transparencies and surface textures. Examination and analysis of Nude Woman with Necklace demonstrate an intimate link between Picasso's choice of materials and the visual effects he achieved. Understanding the relationship between technique and appearance -- that an artist's choice of materials is not accidental -- is essential for the conservator. This knowledge must play a crucial role in determining conservation treatments, especially in preserving the artist's intention and effects. See The Tate Images Page 3 of 7 | On the next page: The Art Institute of Chicago |
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