Variations on Picasso Three Musicians©Francois Humbert, last updated 9th of January 2012

Paris la ville lumiere.

During the period period 1900 to 1930 Paris attracted numerous artists from around the world among them Picasso. Picasso and Paris would become a beacon for modern art, the synergies created by Gertrude Stein and artists such as Matisse Chagall Stravinsky Hemingway Tristan Tzara or Toulouse Lautrec ... and the creativity of Picasso and Jean Cocteau is brushed with style in the Cocteau Party of Woody Allen movie “Midnight in Paris”, an original and witty clin d'oeil to the Cinema classic directed by Jean Cocteau “le Testament d'Orphee” with Jean Marais, Francois Perrier. Maria Cesares and...Picasso!. Picasso classic realist paintings such as Mother and Child or the Boy with the Pipe or even Boy leading a horse that rivals Paul Cezanne Bathers attract with the period rose some of the highest painting prices today worldwide, however Picasso modern art such as The Demoiselles d'Avignon or the Portrait of Dora Maar fetch similar dizzy prices. After the loss of Eva his second compagne Picasso had a very productive period which produced both classic and modern paintings, the three musicians(1921) is one of these defining moments in modern art, and subsequently for Paris too, the moment Picasso introduces Cubism... and breaks with several centuries of classic tradition.

Variations on Picasso Three Musicians

Picassomo is a variation on Picasso Three musicians(1921) exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art(New York) using different set of colors. The Wood Colors have been replaced by brighter ones but the scale and consistency of each replaced color is preserved.

The cube in which the musicians are playing, square shapes, and the perfectly ambivalent perspective in the original remain in the acrylic variations. Looking from the distance one could have the feeling of card board cutting and pasting shapes(ABC D1-3) in four squares of similar size(see picture to the right and below), however there is a lot more in this painting than making squares and counting hands heads and feet. The Three Musicians was purchased by a private collector and donated soon after to the New York Museum of Art(see previous picture).

The 3 musicians are a bridge between the classical period “Lapin Agile” and “Garçon à la pipe” and the modern “polyvalent perspective” period such as Woman at a mirror(1932) albeit the classic style “Maternite” (Mother and child) was also painted in 1921.

Four or the five most expensive paintings today are from Picasso half are from the classic period and the other half from the modern period, the boy with the pipe is considered to be the

most expensive classic painting but the Lapin Agile which as not been for sale for a considerable amount of time and some period rose paintings could be as dear.Similarly the Portrait of Dora Maar is the most expensive painting of the modern period but because the Three Musicians have never been for sale for nearly a century it is difficult to know if it would top the list.

In a survey conducted by the International Council of Museums in 1971 and published by the the Courier of Unesco, the UN Education cultural and Science branch, it was found that modern art and Jackson Pollock modern paintings that fetch around fifty to one hundred million dollars in particular are among the “champion hates” and at the top of the least liked paintings in the same survey.In the same survey either of Picasso style surprised everyones by ranking well when compared to either modern or classic paintings

According to William Withrow, Director of the Art Gallery of Ontario(the survey was conducted in Toronto) “In the Art we

tend to love the things which are most familiar. Exposure means familiarity, and familiarity in this case brings the reverse of contempt. In all efforts to educate we must move from the known to the unknown... this is particularly essential in art education”.

The picture of Picasso above and after are from the above survey also published by the quarterly magazine museums or from the author.Google “1000 Years in Paris” for more .

Musicians Variations by F.Humbert

Picasso Three Musicians

F Humbert Variations on Picasso Three Musicians on location in the backyard

and framed.