Compare and Contrast

                  

              

 I wanted to recreate this piece by Picasso in a way that was more natural and organic from the original yet I wanted to keep a few aspects. I used all of the same colors from the original piece. Also, I kept the same texture Picasso used in this painting. However, I changed the style of the painting. Picasso's piece is more geometric and rigid with his shapes and mine is more organic and free flowing. Another aspect is that my piece is a self portrait and Picasso's piece is a portrait of someone else so the subject matter is completely different. These are the similarities and differences between Picasso's piece and mine.

Completed Piece

WIP

Work in Progress

Pre-Production

This is my small pre-pro before I got into the real thing. Testing out the oil paint.

This is a self portrait in graphite. I did this because the painting I'm reproducing will be a self portrait.

Objective Critique

This piece is a Cubist painting made by Pablo Picasso. It's a portrait of Dora Maar, as you can se she is seated in an armchair, smiling and resting her head on her hand. The face is shown in a combined frontal and profile view, with a red eye and a green eye facing in different directions. It Combines the use of geometric-like shapes and strong colors. The shapes that Picasso used make up the figure of a woman are somewhat random in which they aren't an exact shape. They fall between organic and geometric designs which gives the piece variety and unity. Picasso also uses values in his colors to create contrast in the piece. As you can see with the black on her garment compared to the more lighter and vibrant colors on her face.  Picasso also uses the shapes to create emphasis. As you can see in the piece the woman is holding her hand on her face and the lines in the wall are pointing at her face. The lines on the wall create movement to the piece. Picasso used the Principles of Design very well in this piece.

Subjective Critique

I thought this piece was very ugly. This portrait is not very attractive and gives a sense of flatness to it. There are some good reasons as to why I am not very fond of this piece. For one as I stated before, it is very flat. The portrait give a sense of flatness with all its random shapes and its lack of depth. Even though Picasso did try to add a little perspective with the background the main focus remained flat with no depth. I also find it displeasing the way the the hands were rendered. The shapes and lines seem very random on the right hand. I would make a few changes for this piece. I would try to give this remake a more naturalistic form instead of the cubist, random shaped portrait. Using a naturalistic form on the woman by adding more texture and value would give the piece a more balanced look. Also, I think adding more depth to the wall by giving it a better perspective could work.  this work would make it seem more interesting and appealing to the viewers. Although, I would still keep the colors in the piece which are very vibrant. I believe that with this combination the piece would be much pleasing to the viewers.

Original Image

This is a Portrait of Dora Maar by Pablo Picasso. It was done in 1937 with the unique Cubism style. The medium used in this piece was oil paint on canvas. This was Picasso's style that made his artwork so popular.