The fact that one may get nothing out of it as yet in the way of tangible or even vaguely experienced emotions is beside the point. The interest in this whole matter rests on the fact that here is revealed a new form of aesthetic expression as yet only tentative and groping perhaps, but reaching out in new directions. And it must not be forgotten that the pioneer is usually misunderstood; he is so far in advance of current ideas as to be out of touch with his fellow men who might appropriately be called follow-men, they lag so far behind the progress of new ideas. Cézanne and Picasso—they mark the parting of the ways: a fulfilment and a promise. Quo Vadis?[43]
Not many years ago Picasso was painting under the influence of the pointillists. Almost every year he changed his style, until he developed the pure, the geometrical Cubism of the drawing shown herein. He had a period of painting very uninteresting blue portraits, one of which was shown at the exhibition.
His “Woman with the Mustard Pot” belongs with his sculpture, which is interesting but, to most people, ugly.
He has such phenomenal powers of absorption and his technical facility is such that he does anything he pleases
PICASSO
Drawing
with ease, and what he does today is no sure indication of what he will attempt tomorrow.
For the moment he seems absorbed in the music of planes, so to speak. Take, for instance, a still life wherein there seem to be a pipe, a wall, a musical instrument, a glass, something like a stairway, street signs, etc. These may or may not have been the objects the painter had before him, but whether they are or not it is quite clear that he was not content with dealing with superficial planes, that is, with the visible lines and surfaces of the objects, but he lets the planes project and intersect very much as if the objects were semi-transparent.