The Imploring 1937

Editor: Here we have Picasso's "The Imploring," painted in 1937 with oil paint. The figure's fragmented form and raised hands create an unsettling, almost mechanical feel. What do you make of this piece? Curator: It strikes me as a critical reflection on the materials used, the very act of creating such a distorted representation of the human form in the late 1930s. The starkness of the oil on canvas highlights a departure from traditional portraiture and reveals the mechanization of the body, brought forth through industrial advancement and mass production. Editor: The "mechanization of the body"... Could you elaborate on that idea? Curator: Certainly. Picasso deliberately reduces the human form into angular components, almost like interchangeable machine parts. The harshness of the lines and disjointed presentation speak volumes about the devaluation and fragmentation experienced by many during that period in history, influenced by new advancements in mechanization. Is she imploring something of the factory, of its owners? Is she even still a "she" or a worker, dehumanized, with "claw" hands? Editor: So, you are focusing on how the artwork itself – its materials, techniques – comment on the society it came from, especially the rapid industrialization of the time? Curator: Exactly. The "high" art of painting turns here toward something of an anti-monument, by showing its material process; and challenges elitism by showing, and decrying, the conditions and industrial exploitation of "low" work. What looks at first like an intensely private cry might in fact be the very illustration of this industrial violence. Editor: I never thought of it in terms of the art materials commenting on industrial mechanization. This changes my perspective quite a bit. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure. It is a complex conversation and well worth having when looking at works of such calibre!