Listen to Gertrude Stein's poem "If I Told Him: A Completed Portrait of Picasso".cub·ism/ˈkyo͞obizÉ™m/
Noun: An early 20th-century style and movement in art, esp. painting, in which perspective with a single viewpoint was abandoned and use was made of simple geometric shapes, interlocking planes, and, later, collage. It was created by Picasso and Braque.
What parallels can you find between the experience of listening to Stein's poem and the experience of viewing this painting by Picasso? What aspects of Picasso's painting style are echoed in Stein's language? Include observations about both works in your responses.
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| Picasso: Portrait of Ambrose Vollard, 1910 |
A parallel I noticed was that The painting seems to have a lot of the same shapes put together and around the painting in different ways and colors. In the poem words are repeated numerous times, but in very different contexts or phrases are repeated flip-flopped or with the same word mixed around to create different meanings. The painting does this too the similar shapes are manipulated in various ways to create different shadows and features of the man in the portrait. The painting is made of a variety of shapes repeating but in different instances of the painting such as the contrasting yellow of the man's forehead, the poem will repeat a phrase a lot of times and then change phrases and start again, sort of like the way the shapes and colors do in the painting.
ReplyDeleteLike what Cacia said, the painting has lots of geometric shapes that are overlapped each other. Then, the poem repeats same words many times. Repeated words are reconstructed to create different meanings of sentences. The painting is portrait of one man. Surrounding of the man and man's face are fragmented, but audience still can figure out the man. Then, there is bright yellowish color that is contrasted to neutral color. Like the painting, the poem repeats same words and phrases lots of times, therefore, as I listened the poem it sounds that it is disorganized. Repeated words and phrases, however, are used to express one theme. Both the painting and poem looks like they are disorganized, but the man in the painting and the theme of the poem are obvious, so that, people can clearly understand what they try to express through them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Cacia and Minju that the jagged lines/fragments in the Picasso are similar to the repetition and disorganization of the poem. To me, the Picasso looks like a broken mirror, and the relentless poem resembles those countless breaks/shatters in the glass.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to point out how there are dark black patches on the painting, scattered about. It looks as if Picasso took a bit of a sponge and dabbed it down a few times on the image with some balck paint. COULD THIS ALSO BE WHAT THE POEM MAY RESEMBLE? This dabbing, these blotches of dark spots?
I agree with the following comments about the lines and fragments being similar to the repetition of the speech in the poem. However, I do not find it to be disorganized at all. I feel that the repetition of the poem are either repeated in the same way or each statement is just stated a different way. Similar to the painting where each line and fragment create a new fragment. There are many different ways to approach and view the painting. Which is what the poem does as well. Each sentence is either a statement or question, but appears to be approached in a different way when it is repeated.
ReplyDeleteLike what Cacia said, I noticed the technique of repetition from both works.
ReplyDeleteIn Stein’s poem, the woman says the same thing over and over again and
That leads to different phrase and it gets repeated. In the Picasso’s painting,
The geometric shapes seem to be repeated over and over but it eventually
Leads to the different shapes. Also, the way both of these works express the idea is in the
Same way. Both of these works is abstract and hard to figure out what it is about if we did not know the name of these works. (Even if we knew, it is still hard.) The stein’s poem, the woman talks about resemblance. I wonder if that word is related to the repetition pattern of Picasso’s painting.
I agree with ryan, Although the poem/ paintings content is hard to follow in an abstract way they are even more organized than more representational art. the shapes in the painting and the words in the poem have a rhythm. i think that the painting is more successful in that because in my opinion language is more about just telling.
ReplyDeleteLike what everyone was saying I agree that the painting consists of repetition of geometric shapes. Unlike a lot of the paintings that consists of both soft and geometric shapes (does this make sense?) Picasso's painting consists of shapes that have sharp edges. Gertrude Stein's poem shows this in a good way. Listening to the poem, I’ve realized that there was a lot of repetition in the words similar to the painting which has repetition of patterns and shapes.
ReplyDeleteWith the repetition there is also this play on different perspectives. This shows up in the painting as well, each angle looks at the same section several different ways. By doing this the meaning or perspective of what is being viewed as changes drastically. Like in Stien's poem, the use ond a would as apposed to a could changes the sentence considerably, only instead of a would or a could Picaso is using the play of light and dark.
ReplyDeletei would like to DISAGEE with Grete and Ryan on the rhythmic patter on the poem and painting. A rhythm is a steady beat, you can count it....THE POEM DOES NOT HAVE RHYTHM!!!!!!!! I think the poem has beats of breaths and thought, but NO organized rhythm....and the Picasso does not reflect a rhythm at all, its a painting, not music, with jagged lines, breaking up the painting into differently shaped and sized fragments...thats not rhythem
ReplyDeleteI agree with Andrew on the different perspectives and how each fragments is like a different way of looking at a figure, at a slightly different angle. The poem does this too, very well, with the different sentence scructures of the same words :)
I have the same opinions as other people that Picasso's painting has similar geometric shapes forming the portrait and the poem also has different words, but patterns forming the entire poem. I think both the painting and the poem are similar in that those separate factors gather together to form the whole. Also among those factors, there are smaller or shorter ones and bigger and longer ones. Looking at one single part or several parts, a viewer or a listener can't figure out what it is. However, looking at the whole painting and listening to the entire poem, one recognizes that it is a portrait and a poem.
ReplyDeleteId like to DISAGREE with turner, There is a rhythm, but the tempo certainly has intervals of change, but it defiantly has a rhythm. The thing that makes it seem like it doesn't have a tempo is the fact that it takes and original set of rhythm, then it re-arranges it, then re-arranges that and THEN goes back to the original once more. I think what turner is mistaking for a lack of rhythm is actually in reality a complex way of executing rhythm.
ReplyDeleteBoth the poem and the painting consist on repetition. when i listened to the poem, i did felt a resemblance between it and the painting. because i find like a struggle in both.. i feel they are both not clear and if you get to break down the poem or the painting in pieces it wouldn't make sense by itself at all.. both pieces of art are puzzled together (in my opinion) to form something with meaning.
ReplyDeleteto start off simply, both are extremely complex, abstract, and confusing works of art. this painting is something that can be interpreted in many ways and i feel the same goes for the poem, and this is because of the lack of clarity both posess. it is unclear in this painting what exactly is going on because of all the different shapes, and the complete abstractness and "unreality" (if thats a word) this is not an negative thing, it is just a quality such abstract works of art tend to have. and the poem is unclear because it is not formatted or worded like a normal poem, or like we normally speak. it is not obvious what is going on the painting or the poem, and it is up to the listener/viewer to decide. i also found a pattern of repetition in both. in this painting, there is a pattern of geometric shapes, and in the poem a repetition of words in each line. i feel like the painting in a way works really well with this poem, like listening to this poem and looking at the painting at the same time would be a very interesting experience. i feel this way because this poem is absolute madness, and i feel that this painting in a way could be interpreted as the madnesss that takes place in ones head (like all the shapes are exploding out of the man's mind as a representation of confusion and madness.)
ReplyDeleteI agree with hannah about its abstractness. There is a recognizable pattern and some we get the general idea, but the form is all over the place. It's not pollack work, or devoid of meaning but somewhere in the middle.
DeleteI agree that 'The painting seems to have a lot of the same shapes put together and the poem repeats certain words numerous times, but in very different contexts or phrases are changed and manipulated." I think they are similar, or one echoes to the other with the repetition within each pieces. I also agree with sangeeun that the viewers can not recognize the painting or the poem by looking at a word of the poem or the close view of a shape in the paininting.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with turner as well. There is a rhythm and flow of the poem, which is dictated by both the line breaks, punctuation, and mechanics of the phrases. Also the point of the assignment is to describe the experience listening to the poem vs. looking at the painting. So you're comment is just off topic, and false. I feel that the boxes in picasso's painting aren't fully defined, you don't know where one ends and the other begins. The only true clear borders are the corners of the actual painting. Similar to the poem, in the sense that frases blend in two eachother. The breaths are in strange places. The end and beginning of thoughts one come when the entire piece begins and ends. It feels like a rollar coaster, with lots of hills, as apposed to a bus ride and a plain ride, and a car ride.
ReplyDelete- John Moriarty
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