Violin 1912

Curator: We are standing before "Violin," a gouache on paper created by Pablo Picasso in 1912. The work exemplifies his Cubist style. Curator: It has a muted palette, all tans and grays, blues and greens… I'd almost call it anemic. What do you make of it? Curator: On the contrary, I find the composition strikingly self-assured. Notice the way the planes interact—the abstracted shapes evoke a violin while simultaneously asserting their materiality on the picture plane. Curator: Well, the material execution seems pretty straightforward, simple washes of color. How do you reconcile such mundane materials with the ambition of Cubism? Curator: Consider the radical gesture Picasso is making by fracturing the instrument. He’s dissecting perception, challenging our conventional understanding of representation itself. The geometry provides an internal logic divorced from objective reality. Curator: But, is it really divorced from reality? He's literally deconstructing a commodity object. The violin as bourgeois decoration... is it possible he's exploring these instruments’ place in the cultural landscape? Curator: A valid interpretation, perhaps, though I maintain that the strength of the work lies in its formal innovations, the interplay between representation and abstraction. How he has so intelligently employed shapes. Curator: It’s just so... flat. How could a two-dimensional depiction, however fragmented, compete with the real thing? It’s as though the life has been pressed out of it. Curator: But that compression creates an exciting tension! Look at the various textures and shades juxtaposed that are all so skillfully applied; it all speaks volumes to the viewer if they are inclined to delve deeper into the ideas being posed by the piece. Curator: Fair point. I am stuck though, on these readily available materials...I do wonder, in an attempt to render such elevated form and concepts, why he wasn’t thinking bigger. Why did he stop here? Curator: Ultimately, "Violin" asks us to question what we see, how we see it. Its genius lies in this perpetual state of inquiry. Curator: It reveals the fragile construction of objects, and of art making. Perhaps there’s beauty in the fragility as well.