Interesting... Picasso's portrayal of himself publicly was, from what I've heard, quiet different from what he really felt... which coincidentally is exactly what that quote is about. And of course if Picasso's real intention was to play his "admirers" like a fly fisherman; to soak them for their various vanities, he would always have to come across publicly as their "beloved Picasso". As I said in my last note, I've always felt that as time went on, Picasso really did many, many "silly" works. His cubist works - particularly his initial ones - were quite outstanding (I feel he owed a great deal to Braque for this), but as time went on..... sillier and sillier. Eventually he could pee on a wall and some rich guy would come along and buy the wall...
Sometimes a novel is a very useful tool for disclosing reality... Just speculating of course. P. ----- Original Message ---- From: Stephen A. Lawrence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, October 7, 2007 9:16:21 PM Subject: Re: [VO]:WEAPON OF INDIFFERENCE Picasso The Picasso quote appears to be a piece of _fiction_. Picasso never said it. I couldn't believe the quote when I saw it -- it goes against everything I've read about how Picasso portrayed himself, at least publicly. I dug around on the web a bit, found the quote repeated a lot without any context which would indicate whether it was for-real or not ... until I finally came across this page, which actually gives the source of the quote: http://www.peacasso.com/Pablo_Confess.asp The quote is from a book, "Libro Nero", by Giovanni Papini. The site has this explanatory footnote on the quote: > Please note that a viewer of this web site was kind enough to obtain > confirmation from Antonio D'Amicis of www.giovannipapini.it that Il > Libro Nero is a work of fiction. The interview never really happened. > However, I still like it and think Master P is probably "out there > somewhere" laughing his xxx off at all of this. Just my opinion, > nothing more. Papini was a novelist and "Libro Nero" appears to be a novel. The quote is from an interview which takes place in the novel. R.C.Macaulay wrote: > > > > WEAPON OF INDIFFERENCE > > > > “From the moment that art ceases to be food that feeds the best minds, > the artist can use his talents to perform all the tricks of the > intellectual charlatan. Most people can today no longer expect to > receive consolation and exaltation from art. The > ‘refined’, the rich, the professional ‘do-nothings’, the distillers of > quintessence desire only the peculiar; the sensational, the eccentric , > the scandalous in today’s art. I myself, since the advent of Cubism, > have fed these fellows what they wanted and satisfied these critics with > all the ridiculous ideas that have passed through my mind. The less they > understand them, the more they admire me. Through amusing myself with > all these absurd farces, I became celebrated, I am rich. But when I am > alone, I do not have the effrontery to consider myself an artist at all, > not in the grand old meaning of the word: Giotto, Titian, Rembrandt, > Goya were great painters. I am only a public clown_ a mountebank. I have > understood my time and have exploited the imbecility, the vanity, the > greed of my contemporaries. It is a bitter confession, this confession > of mine, more painful than it may seem. But at least and at last it does > have the merit of being honest.” > > > > Pablo Picasso, 1952 >
