1998.73 Picasso, Bottle of Port and Glass | DMA Staging Content Management System

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Pablo Picasso's Bottle of Port and Glass from 1919 exemplifies the second period of cubism, called synthetic cubism, which for Picasso lasted from about 1912 until the 1920s. During this phase, the artist continued to seek art's liberation from the imitation of nature by addressing the basic elements of perception and pictorial notation. In synthetic cubism, however, spatial qualities are displaced by the assemblage of flat elements, often including different forms of collage, which further complicate the play of image and perception. The black-and-white silhouette of the port bottle is crisp and clear. The pipe and pouch of tobacco at right are highly simplified, almost schematic. Words and lettering (a characteristic element of the cubists' probing of reality and image making) are introduced into this composition in a central, rather painterly passage, which seems to hover at center left. Picasso's complex play with levels of reality is apparent in the introduction of an off-white frame or margin that bears his signature at lower right. The ascetic palette of analytical cubism has ceded to more heightened colors—a subtle range of blues and greens sets the tone of the composition.

Adapted from

Dorothy Kosinski, "The Cubist Challenge," in Dallas Museum of Art, 100 Years , ed. Dorothy M. Kosinski (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 2003), Pamphlet number 80.

NOTES

Created 1911

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Checked Piction

Bottle of Port and Glass exemplifies the last stage of the synthetic cubism that Pablo Picasso adopted in 1912 as he continued to address issues of perception and pictorial notation. The schematicized pipe and pouch of tobacco and the blunt profile of the stemmed glass are characteristic of these years. The inclusion of words and lettering is another element in Picasso's probing of reality and image making.

Bonnie Pitman, ed., "Bottle of Port and Glass," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 239.

Catalogue essays

The Cubist Challenge

Modernism

Artist/designers

Picasso, Pablo (Spanish, 1881-1973)

Cultures

Geography

Place of origin: Paris (France): TGN: 7008038

Process/materials

Oil on canvas

Historical periods

Individuals

Subject terms

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WEB RESOURCES

Guggenheim, New York~Learn more about the life and works of Pablo Picasso.
Tate, London~Explore synthetic cubism with the Tate.

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TI Pablo Picasso, Bottle of Port and Glass

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Apply to objects where number equals 1998.73

General Description

Pablo Picasso's Bottle of Port and Glass from 1919 exemplifies the second period of cubism, called synthetic cubism, which for Picasso lasted from about 1912 until the 1920s. During this phase, the artist continued to seek art's liberation from the imitation of nature by addressing the basic elements of perception and pictorial notation. In synthetic cubism, however, spatial qualities are displaced by the assemblage of flat elements, often including different forms of collage, which further complicate the play of image and perception. The black-and-white silhouette of the port bottle is crisp and clear. The pipe and pouch of tobacco at right are highly simplified, almost schematic. Words and lettering (a characteristic element of the cubists' probing of reality and image making) are introduced into this composition in a central, rather painterly passage, which seems to hover at center left. Picasso's complex play with levels of reality is apparent in the introduction of an off-white frame or margin that bears his signature at lower right. The ascetic palette of analytical cubism has ceded to more heightened colors—a subtle range of blues and greens sets the tone of the composition.