Aug. 17, 2021
Artist and Model
For a time I worked as a guard from a the exhibition Masterpieces From The Musee Picasso, Paris. That exhibit had a record breaking attendance record. One day a good looking couple about twenty five or so came into my gallery. They were well dressed but their taste had an edge to it. When they got about six feet from the Picasso painting Still Life With Pitcher And Apples (1919 oil on canvas), the man broke away from the knock out woman he was with, leaving her standing alone in the middle of the gallery, and made a beeline to the painting. With his face only about twenty inches from the painting he started to caressing the frame. Which brings to mind in this case of the choice of direct life experience or contemplation for an artist for an artist to learn from. With Picasso there was no seperation between life and art....It was more than a photo op in the series of photos where he is having his meal, eats the fish on his plate, pulls the skeleton off, and impresses it onto clay as the start of a new work. So which would have been better for that artist...(or any artist?)... In this case stay with girlfriend ( the real world ) or go off and caress a painting which is when you get right down to it is only oil paint on canvas ( an abstraction )?