Wikipedia: Pablo Picasso/Talk

Showing revision 7

Who on earth were the Stuckists?

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/2001/05/24/FFXODZOE3NC.html

GWO - (who is only just resisting the urge to add "nobody ever called him an asshole" to the original page on Pablo Picasso...)

", a view echoed by the Stuckists" I'd like a reference for the 'must paint' line, by the way. Picasso was a horrid man and given to statements like that which he often as not didn't mean, so I'd like to know where/when he said it.

Well maybe he didn't mean it but he was scornful of Maar's photography and encouraged her to focus on her painting. Similarly for a number of his other mistresses, even Ferdinande was encouraged to paint. Whether there is one particular quote that will "prove" the point, I don't know, that would take a true scholar rather than a jobsworth like myself.

Sorry you felt the need to remove the Stuckist reference I felt it made an interesting Wiki link. Unusual connections makes for interesting browsing.

Also isn't "horrid man" a little strong? Wouldn't "flawed" be more neutral?

He was always scornful of any woman's work as an artist. All of 'em. He didnt' think much of most painters, either. I think he was a great painter, but nasty. Read the Norman Mailer biography - he was more than flawed. I restrained myself from saying so in the entry, but someone will come along and document it in the 'life' section, I hope. On the Stuckists, I don't see why they shouldn't show up, but I wouldn't think in the introduction. --MichaelTinkler

I realise this is getting silly but I do think you are being unfair here. He felt Maar was a good artist but found it difficult to disentangle his feelings for her from his views on her works. He seemed to have a more balanced view of her in his last years. I don't really feel that Norman Mailer is the best biographer of Picasso either. I think you are over-stating the case for him being "nasty", he was capable of acts of great spite and cruelty, he could be cowardly and greedy but in a long and complex life that does not make him that different from many other people in similar situations.