Portrait of Picasso is a Portrait of Picasso is a Portrait of Picasso, 1986, FILOART
Gertrude Stein’s Rose*, could be many different things. Rose can be a woman’s name, a color, a flower…
But, what is a Portrait of Picasso is a Portrait of Picasso is a Portrait of Picasso?
When Picasso was painting himself (Self-Portrait, Picasso, 1906), he was looking at a reflection (probably in a mirror) of some- thing and painting it. In this case this “something” was himself, his own reflection.
This Self-Portrait was made when Picasso was still in the Rosa period and the same year that he painted the Portrait of Ger- trude Stein**. It was when he was taking his first steps toward Cubism. When the faces in his paintings assumed another dimension, when they started resembling masks made by anon- ymous African sculptors.
About 80 years after Picasso’s Self-Portrait, a similar attempt took place. Somebody was drawing something, something that he/she/they were looking at. This, however, was not a mirror reflection, but a painting called: “Self-Portrait of Picasso”. When we observe “A Portrait of Picasso is a Portrait of Picasso is a Portrait of Picasso”, at the first glance this work is more similar to a supermarket product than to a citation or copy of Picasso’s Self-Portrait. But getting near to this work we can see the similarities and differences between these portraits.
Let’s analyze the works. When we look at Picasso’s portrait we can come to this conclusion: he is the author of this work, he painted different layers one over the other, he mixed the colors, he was used matte colors, and he signed the painting. He was the object and the subject on this work.
In the work from 1986, there are several differences: We don’t know the author (is it one or more authors? Is it one or more observers?). What we know is that this work was made by
an anonymous group. In this work there are three (different Picasso) portraits, each of them different from the other, colors are pure and single (unmixed), full of contrast (pink and blue are also used). The work develops in different layers, one next to the other. In this work Picasso is an object (or objects). These three portraits are missing their bodies, they resemble busts. This work is not signed.
Is this work deconstructing of the work in a way, or decon- structing the person, or deconstructing the process of observing?
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*”A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.” was written by Gertrude Stein as part of the 1913 poem “Sacred Emily”
**To those who protested at her (Gertrude Stein’s) mask-like features, Picasso replied: “everybody thinks that she is not at all like her portrait but never mind, in the end she will manage to look just like it.”