Saturday 28 November 2015

The metamorphosis of Picasso


      Some days you wake up with a feeling that this day is going to be special, and so it was with me today, when I decided to head to the NIE (National Institute of Education) library within the NTU campus, after having heard from several sources that it was a great library, with a very good collection of books from all genres and departments. With rain on its way in the form of an overcast sky, I happily cantered over to the Library building, anticipation bringing a spring to my steps. It turned out exactly as I had expected it to be- vast, silent, an amazing collection and practically deserted on a rainy Saturday.
       


















After browsing through some excellent collections on very interesting topics, I characteristically gravitated towards the visual arts section, and found myself some excellent company for the remaining of my afternoon.


















 "The Ultimate Picasso" (Barnes and Noble), written by three leading authorities on the different periods of his artistic career, is considered one of the most "sumptuous" work on the extraordinary genius of the greatest artist of all times. I knew I had found my muse of the day!!


This is his first painting, called Matador, from the bullfights he attended along with his father, who was also an artist.

Matador



I will not go into the details of the book, except that some of the snippets from his life are really worthy of awe and respect.






The most fascinating aspect that I found today was how his self portraits reflected the metamorphosis of his painting style.According to this snippet here, " His self portraits and drawings reflect his anxieties, his tensions and his challenges, as well as his penchant for caricature and masquerade"




And I was so unnerved by his gaze, described in the books as "la mirada fuerte, a piercing gaze, visual predation". One look at the changing face of the ever evolving Picasso, and you will perceive the dynamism, the vigor, the sheer energy and hunger in him.




 Here are the many self-portraits, over the course of his career, which reflect the distinct styles that he developed and honed. No matter how many times I see him, his eyes distract me to no end!!
















I believe the following series of paintings give a glimpse of the way he started out to perceive his subject, and slowly the soft, melancholic naturalistic details of his earlier Blue and Rose periods paved way towards a more robust, visually stunning, almost unrestrained bacchanalia that reflected from his later period when Cubism became an established, highly respected and sough after technique that became a brand of its own.

Changing Minataur


And I love his line drawings.




The Lovers

The Two Sisters


Once Cubism took root as the dominant style of the great artist, his signature style, his brand, his inner essence, there was no looking back. One look at this, and you know, it is UNIMITABLE.





Look how beautiful the transition was:

Woman with her hair in a Bun

Girl in Chemise



Boy with the pipe


You can feel the fragility, the pathos, the rendition being true to its subject during the Blue and Rose periods.And then, this:


Women at the fountain

These women are full blooded, earthy, almost African in their robustness.

His very famous portrait of the American writer, Gertrude Stein, follows this style, which in turn inspired her later poems. She was one of the first patrons of Cubist art, and Picasso's closest friend.

Gertrude Stein


And then this later:






Girl with the pigeons


Which finally culminated in one of the most riveting, famous and expensive paintings ever:
the Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, where he depicted five prostitutes from Barcelona. Very few artists have been able to capture this aspect of feminism. When you stand in front of this painting, you are no longer the onlooker, you are no longer the voyeur. It is these prostitutes that stare back unabashedly at you. Look at their expressions. Almost tingles the spine, eh?

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon




That's Picasso for you!












I'm off to home now. Will probably catch the movie, "Surviving Picasso" tonight. Hope Anthony Hopkins has done justice to the sheer genius that was.....PICASSO.

Tuesday 1 September 2015

14 stories that inspired Ray



      I bought this book at the Kolkata Airport last time I was returning from India. Edited and translated by Bhaskar Chattopadhyay, this book comprises fourteen stories by various authors that Ray transformed into great cinema, some of which are world renowned for their universal and timeless themes.




"Devi" or "The Goddess"written by Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyay as "Devi"




"Kapurush" or "The Coward" written by Premendra Mitra as "Kapurush"




"Agantuk" or "The Guest" written by Satyajit Ray as "Athithi"





"Goopy gyne Bagha Byne" written by Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury




"Teen Kanya" , that is a triptych comprising of three short stories, all written by Tagore:



"The Postmaster"



"Monihara"



"Samapti"




" Mahapurush" written by Rajshekhar Basu as " Birinchi Baba"


"Jalsaghar" or "The Music Room" written by Tarashankar Bandopadhyaya as "Jalsaghar"



" Mahanagar" written by Narendranath Mitra as "Abotaranika"




"Parash Pathar" or "The Philosopher' Stone" written by Rajshekhar Basu




"Sadgati" written by Munshi Premchand




"Shatranj ke Khiladi" written by Munshi Premchand



"Pikoor Diary " written by Satyajit Ray


   I think this is a must read for literary as well as cinema fans, because firstly, it is a sheer joy to behold a motion picture that is based on a book or novel that one has read time and again, with it's own private visions in a reader's mind. Secondly, it provides Ray fans with a glimpse of the great director's interpretation and rendition of such classic stories that he translated to celluloid. The themes that he chose range from the joyous to noir, mundane to profound, dramatic to slice-of-life, and all of them resonate with a global audience.