Course Description

Instructor: Clark Poling, PhD

(6 sessions: Sep 11-25; Oct 9-23)

As the most famous artist of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso sparked innovative developments in art beginning in 1900. His rapid assimilation of Post-Impressionism, especially the lessons learned from Paul Cézanne, and his interest in archaic and tribal art led to the invention of Cubism in collaboration with Georges Braque. Cubism made possible diverse currents from Italian Futurism and Dadaism to abstract art from Holland to Russia. During World War One, Picasso became involved in work for the theater and a revival of classicism, which enhanced his fame and success and also challenged the directions in which modernism was moving. Then, his participation in Surrealism reversed the conservative character of his classicism and prepared the way to the complex symbolism and political nature of his response to the Spanish Civil War and World War Two. In his last decades, he pursued an artistic dialogue with Henri Matisse and worked on personal themes as well as recapitulations of works by his favorite old master painters. These diverse strands in Picasso’s career show a mixture of individual genius and responsiveness to his historical and cultural context. The creative complexity of his art left a legacy affecting generations of modern artists.

Clark taught for 33 years at Emory University, serving as chair of the Art History Department, director of the Michael C. Carlos Museum, and Faculty Curator of Works of Art on Paper.