Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso was a famous spanish artist and sculptor who was born on the 25th of October 1881 and died on the 8th April 1973 at the age of 91. Picasso’s work seemed to be split into different periods, the Blue period from 1901 to 1904, the Rose period from 1904 to 1906, the African Influenced period from 1907 to 1909, Analytic Cubism from 1909 to 1912, Synthetic Cubism from 1912 to 1919 etc.
This is the Chicago Picasso, or just referenced as The Picasso as it was left untitled, was a sculpture made by Picasso on 15th August 1967 that sits in the Daley Plaza in Chicago, Illinois. This Cubic sculpture was one of his first major public sculptures and has not been recognised as a well known landmark. The inspiration behind the sculpture isn’t really known, some say that it was inspired by a woman called Sylvette David who modeled for picasso in 1954 as he was stricken by her long neck and high ponytail, others say it’s an abstract version of an afghan hound dog that was a friend of his dog. It wasn’t until 1970 that Jacqueline Picasso, Picasso’s wife, explained to an australian lady that it was just a male baboon from straight forward, she said that Picasso loved the way that it changed depending on which angle you viewed it from. Picasso was commissioned to make this piece by the architects at Richard J. Daley Center in 1963, offering picasso $100,00 for it to be built but he turned down the payment saying that the sculpture was going to be his gift to chicago, the sculpture costed $351,959 which was helped paid for by 3 charities, the Chauncey and Marion Deering McCormick Foundation, the Woods Charitable Fund and the Field Foundation of Illinois.
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was an Italian artist who was born on 6th March 1475 and died on 18th February 1564 at the age of 88. Michelangelo was considered to be one of the best artists for his age or even arguably the best artist of all time. He was a rival against Leonardo Da Vinci
This is one of his most famous paintings, the Pietà, which sits in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. The marble sculpture is a work of the Renaissance of Jesus in the lap of his mother, Mary after his crucifixion. The details that michelangelo put into this piece separate it from what other artists would have done, most artists would make Mary look older to indicate she is a mother around age 50 or so, Michelangelo makes Mary look like a much younger woman and kept all her beauty by doing so, he says that a woman who are chaste will stay more fresh than a woman who is not chaste and since she was a virgin she kept her beauty for longer. Around Jesus’ body you are able to notice small details that show his crucifixion like small nail marks and wounds on his side.
This was another one of his most famous sculptures, just titled David. It was originally placed in a public square outside the Palazzo vecchio and unveiled on the 8th September 1504, it was then moved to Galleria dell’Accademia in 1873 then replaced at the original location by a replica. The statue of the Biblical David was originally going to be put on the roofline of the Florence Cathedral as one of a series of prophets. The statue now symbolizes the civil liberties defence in the republic of florence that had been threatened by stronger rival states and hegemony of the medici family.
Auguste Rodin
François Auguste René Rodin was a french sculptor who was born on 12th November 1840 and died on 17th November 1917 at the age of 77. He was able to make complex surfaces with clay. He is mostly known for his sculptures such as The Thinker, The Kiss, The Burghers of Calais and The Gates of Hell.
This is one of his sculptures, The Thinker. Rodin made the smaller plaster version around 1881 but the 1st scale model was only made around 1904, where it was shown off at the Salon des Beaux-Arts, it was then bronze casted in 1906 then put up in the Panthéon in 1922 then moved to the Hôtel Biron which was later turned into the Rodin Museum. It was originally called The Poet as it was going to be part of a much larger commission for a doorway surround called the gates of hell, another one of his works. It was going to be bigger than most of the statues featured there, critics had thought that it was supposed to represent Dante at the gates of hell thinking about his poem while others argued that Dante was clothed during his poem and that the statue doesn’t represent Dante’s looks.. It was first named The Thinker by workers who thought it bares some resemblance to the statue of Lorenzo de Medici called Il Pensieroso by Michelangelo. Rodin then decided to treat it as it’s own figure and wanted to have it displayed on a high platform, height chosen by the owner. The sculpture being nude is a choice by Rodin as he wanted to make a heroic like figure that represented intellect and poetry, he also wanted it to be in the tradition of Michelangelo. Many different casts of this sculpture have been made but only 28 of which are made out of bronze which are all in museums or public places for viewing.