Saturday, February 24, 2018
Analogy between College and Les Demoiselles d”Avignon
So I wasn’t in class on Monday when Quinet and King provided some background on modernism but I opened Quinet’s email and saw the attachment of Les Demoiselles d”Avignon by Picasso. A friend of mine has a glossy mini poster of said oil painting pinned up next to an advertisement for kylighters (guess which picture caught my eye lol) on her room wall. This piece was groundbreaking in the development of modern art and I couldn’t help but draw parallels and dissimilarities between Picasso’s painting and my friend’s transformation and experiences in college. The figures in Picasso’s painting are exposed, unconventionally and confrontationally presented to the public; it’s the beginning of something new. When thinking of my friend, I remember she declared herself unconfrontational BUT as we kept talking, she and I both commented on how much bolder she was now; college and all it has to offer gave birth to a new side of my friend, socially and academically, just as the explosion of primitivism and liberation found in Les Demoiselles d”Avignon gave birth to an artistic revolution.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Hmm interesting comparison, Margot! Just to add on with this idea...
The figures in the painting are not realistic at all. The anatomy is all messed up, for one, and I'm pretty sure people don't have waists that skinny outside of Disney movies! But if you really wanna stretch it, I guess college for a lot of people can help you to "find yourself"/your true form...so maybe who you are coming out of college is a more authentic version of yourself rather than what seems like just some shapes thrown together...if that makes any sense.
Also, some of the figures in the painting have on masks, which is reminiscent of some African cultures, which people of Western Europe at the time (not saying it was right for them to think this way!) viewed as barbaric. I don't really think college in and of itself is barbaric (we're supposed to become more learned and "cultured," after all), but I think some parts of it definitely can give off that impression. For example, hazing rituals related to fraternities/sororities can be pretty barbaric, at least according to some of the horror stories I researched for Life Skills.
Post a Comment