Picto Diary - 04 October 2018 - The "Art" of Picasso
Above: Picasso's "Guernica."
Stephen D. Taylor is with Margaret Taylor at Museo Picasso Málaga.
Yesterday at 11:15 AM · Málaga, Spain ·
We tried and failed (no reservations) to see Museo Picasso Barcelona in June.
Prolific artist Picasso has museum collections in Marseille and Nice as well.
We were glad to gain admittance to the Malaga Picasso museum. Picasso lived most of his life, and completed most of his paintings, in Italy and France. But, he was born here in Malaga where this Picasso museum has a collection of over two hundred Picasso works.
The museum in Malaga has to be seen if only to understand the "artist's" considerable impact on Western Culture...an impact not altogether positive, in my opinion.
Notwithstanding, one has to admit that Picasso's art, whatever one thinks of it, has had significant cultural impact. Picasso's Guernica (1937) (above image) is considered the single most impressive piece of art in Spain. It is a monumental canvas - one of Europe's must-see sights, in the Prado Museum in Madrid. I have seen Guernica hanging at the Prado on a previous visit to Spain in 1968. "Guernica" is not only a piece of art, but a piece of history seeking to capture the horror of modern war.
Guernica was born in response to the Spanish civil war (1936 to 1939) which pitted the democratically elected Second Republican government against the facist general Francisco Franco. Franco won and ended up ruling Spain with an iron first for the next thirty six years. During the war, Picasso's Guernica was used as a rallying point to raise money for the losing Republican cause.
Cultural impact of Guernica? Yes... considerable. But, is it art?
For me Picasso cubism, not withstanding its cultural impact, is a midway descent into the artistic chaos of Warhol (can of tomato soup) or Smithson (inchoate pile of glass shards).
ie. art as a gag... a joke... a scam...a form of mass hypnotism on amoeba minds unable to discern what is lofty from what is base.
Do an experiment. Take two groups of ten ten year olds. Give each group member a canvas and a palate. Tell the members of group one to reproduce Picasso's "The Dream." Tell the members of group two to replicate El Greco's Exfolio de Cristo. The chances of finding a successful replication of a the Picasso far exceed the chance of obtaining a close facsimile of the El Greco. In fact, the chance of getting a successful el Greco reproduction under the circumstances of this experiment is nil. One, el Greco, is art, requiring unique skill to produce...the other, Picasso, is playing with color, where innumerable clones could be created with random attempts by the inexperienced.
In October 2016, TIMDT and Mwah (sic) saw Smithson's works at Dia:Beacon Museum on the Hudson in New York State We also observed selected Warhol works at a recent exhibit the Seattle Museum of "Art."
At Dia:Beacon I asked the young, female docent explaining the Smithson art piece, a disjointed pile of glass shards on the floor if Smithson actually fashioned the "art piece" himself. The teary, Smithson groupie, a Smithson besotted, young twenties, docent replied, "Oh no! Smithson is dead! A certified committee of Smithson experts is empowered to replicate his work, any time, any place." Whahhh? This is art??!!
Unimaginably, on some lists of the world 's top art pieces, is Smithson's absurd Spiral Jetty, on the remote shores of the Great Salt Lake.
Thanks to aberrant art pace setters like Picasso, what is considered art today is a mishmash of valueless, uninspiring, objects, filling space. No inspiration. No aspiration. Instead, beaucoup nilhist inspired deconstructionism of true art. Check Guernica, in the image above: it certainly has more in common with Smithson's disjointed pile of glass shards than it does, say, El Greco's Expolio de Christo.
A friend said, "Art is who we are." Unfortunately, she's right. Absent inspirational art, and glutted by low standard "faux art," low standards of art bleed over into other elements of our culture. Witness the success of the ongoing trashing of the "presumption of innocence" standard in the US. A world without standards, including artistic standards, begets, ultimately, anarchy.
Art lovers, hunker down.
Spanish artists? Aspirational El Greco, seen in all his glory in Toledo this trip, is 10x Picasso. 10x Dali.
I did like Picasso's plaster owl sculpture, though.
Note: Full disclosure. TIMDT and Mwah (sic) have driven out (2015) to the north end of the Great Salt Lake to see Smithson's Spiral Jetty.
Malaga, Spain. 04 October 2018
El Contadore recounts the history of his 30 some odd times running with the bulls at the annual San Fremin festival in Pamplona.
Bishop joined el Contadore in Pamplona in 2012 to run with the bulls, but, after assessing his 100% prospect of being in near space with a freaked out bull, and considering his then age of 65, the Bishop chickened out.
At Pamplona, to engage in the festivities, the Bishop had to be satisfied with getting drenched with sangria, hurled by revelers, while seated with spectators, in the bull ring. And truth be told, locals seemed to take disproportionate pleasure dousing the two, revelling American geezers with Sangria.
Above: TIMDT rides the Noria Mirador Princess ferris wheel, Malaga, Spain. 04 October 2018.
There once was a woman from Cod,
Who thought all kids came from God.
But it wasn't the Almighty, who lifted her nighty.
Roger, the codger, by God!
Bishop, TIMDT, el Contadore and Eton Mum.
Over fresh seafood and nostalgic, early-in-the-day, Marie Brizzards, drawing from the endless repository of jokes, ditties and one liners from el Contadore. Its great to see el Contador in such good cheer on his 80th birthday celebration.
— at Los Mellizos Málaga. 04 October 2018.
Stephen D. Taylor is traveling to Madrid, Spain with Margaret Taylor from Málaga María Zambrano railway station. 04 October 2018
Above: Sea of olive trees. near Cordoba, Spain. 04 October 2018.
As seen from window of speeding train en route from Malaga, Spain to Madrid Spain.
TIMDT and Mwah (sic) would spend the night in the Airport Hilton Hotel before flying off the next AM from Madirid to Salt Lake City. Delta to JFK. Delta JFK to SLC.
TIMDT and Mwah (sic) are eternally grateful for having been invited to join el Contadore and Eton Mum in Spain for el Contadore's 80th birthday celebration. Eton Mum's organization and planning of this celebration and ensuing trip has been nothing short of legendary, a fitting tribute to the legendary life of el Contadore who had spent 7 years living and working in Spain.
Now, the Bishop is having to contend with repeated pleas of TIMDT to return to Spain, if for no other reason than the seafood.
Addendum:
Very happy to see you on your feet and mobile, Steve. Waitin' for the snow to start fallin'!!
Norman and Suzanne,
Washington, CT
My daughter just shared with her 8th grade class that many of the diseases attributes to Columbus and his men had already arrived in North America....
Been to the Barcelona museum.
Long Beach,
Park City, UT
It’s taken you quite some time to try and catch up….keep trying, maybe you’ll get there some day. Try visiting what is left of the Jewish Synagogue in Toledo.
Jack Aroon,
Mahwah, NJ.
We saw the Toledo synagogue. We've also visited synagogues in St. Petersburg, Mumbai, and Cochin in recent years. Poignant to see remnant of once vibrant culture, since eradicated from all of these locations.
Hi Steve,
So my wife’s cousin and I flew to Spain a few years ago, rented BMW GS’s out of Malaga and then road around southern Spain. We stayed at the Los Angelas Hotel in Granada that was located just down the hill from the Alhambra. I remember being told that the wood carver’s that worked on the palace had their eyes gouged out after they finished the palace. The reason we were told was the because the ruler didn’t want anyone to have a palace as beautiful as his. We’re not sure the story was true but sure made an impression on us.
So, are you headed to Rondo yet? That was also a highlight of the trip to Spain.
Take Care
HP2,
Colorado Springs, CO
Excellent historical account.
Hamilton,
Turramurra, NSW, OZ
Great notes! Wish I could be with you. October 12 is Columbus Day—we celebrated it yesterday in Utah. So many attempts by liberals and those who would rewrite history to pull Columbus down. Absurd accusations have been hurled against him and many places have abandoned Columbus Day altogether. Try to find a copy of Washington Irving’s “A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus”. Irving had access to original documents that allowed him to write a magnificent biography of Columbus. It was published in 1828 in the US and England in 3 volumes US and 4 volumes England. I have an 1828 English edition published in London in 4 volumes. It is a compelling account. I had to read all four volumes before I could do anything else!
Be sure to read it.
I get hungry whenever I read your notes. Be sure to pass on my very best to el Contador and Eton Mum!
The Monk,
Gooseberry, UT
Great tour description and recap of the Moorish occupation of Southern Spain! We loved that entire area. Food, scenery, history! Many leftover Arabic-influenced words, not the least of which are all the "Guads", as in Guadalquivir, Guadalajara, etc, from "Wadi", which is Arabic for river or watercourse, often wet only in the rainy season.
Couple of minor points: the Armada predated Admiral Nelson by about 200 years. The English fleet was directed by Lord Howard, Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins. Their faster and more maneuverable ships harried the better armed but less agile Spaniards and prevented them from escorting barges full of over 15,000 soldiers of the Duke of Parma's army to invade England and restore Catholicism. I enjoyed reading "In the Confident Hope of a Miracle" by Neil Hansen about Philip II's certainty that God would not let a Spanish Catholic attack on heretical Protestant England fail.
Airstream,
Santa Barbara, CA
Uhhh.... errr..... I just put "Nelson" in there to see if anybody was reading it. Congratulations on passing the test.... cough.... cough.....
Image of Cumil the sewer worker. Bratislava, Slovakia. 03 October 2018.
Image captured and forwarded by The Pope as he tours the region.
TIMDT and I were in Bratislava in fall 2016 where we captured a like image of Cumil.
Debate rages on as to what this cheeky chap is actually doing as he pokes out of a sculptural manhole in Bratislava’s old town district. The odd statue was installed in 1997 as part of an effort to spice up the look and feel of the area which was traditionally marked with drab Communist-era architecture and decoration.
As Cumil is leaning out over a curb it comes as no surprise that his head has been clipped off more than once by careless motorists. The statue isn’t just a danger to drivers, but to pedestrians as well. Woe betide the drunkard stumbling their way home in the dark; he’ll have you on the floor if you’re not paying attention. In order to protect drivers, amblers, and most importantly, Cumil himself, the city installed a warning sign just above his head. The unique sign seems to be saying, “watch out for creeps underfoot.”
Physical dangers aside, Cumil has come to be a beloved institution in the city and visitors come from all over to lay in the street and look him in the eyes, or just sit on his head. You can decide for yourself whether the old man is a bronze peeping tom or not.