Picasso Film Series
A Fall 2009 series at Duke University,
in conjunction with the exhibition,
'Picasso and the Allure of Language'
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Sept 10 - Picasso: The Man and His Work (Edward Quinn, 1976)
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Sept 24 - Blood of a Poet (Jean Cocteau) and excerpts from
Picasso and Dance (Didier Baussy and Yvon Gérault, 2005) -
Nov 5 - Life Begins Tomorrow (Nicole Védrès, 1949)
Sponsored by the Nasher Museum of Art
and the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image
Films will be screened at 7pm in the Nasher Museum Auditorium
and are free and open to the general public.
Schedule of Screenings:
Thursday Sept 10:
(Edward Quinn, 1976, 90 min. total, in English, Color, DVD)
This Cannes Film Festival selection takes a comprehensive and fascinating look at the life and art of the legendary Pablo Picasso. During the last 22 years of Picasso's life, film maker Edward Quinn had complete access to the artist. Through a combination of exclusive home movies and intimate photos, as well as over 600 of the artist's works (many never seen in public), a living, breathing scrapbook of Picasso is realized. The film follows the parallel development of the artist's life and work, giving insight into his creative processes. Among other highlights are some of the last pictures ever taken of him.
Part 1 (1881-1937):
Starting in 1896, when he was only 15, we trace Picasso's artistic development, exploring his work as a youth, from the Blue period to the Pink period and his first steps into Cubism in 1906. Then we discover the Chrysteline period where he went from analytical to synthetic Cubism until entering his Neoclassical period in 1918. Part 1 culminates with the painting of his masterpiece "Guernica" in 1937.
Part 2 (1938-1973):
Through the war years and life on the French Riviera, Picasso's work moves on to include ceramics, sculpture, pottery and graphics. The period from 1946 to 1973 is made up primarily of home movies, showing his relationships with his children and the women in his life, and emphasizing the enormous amount of work accomplished by Picasso during his last 20 years. We observe Picasso, 90 years old, working on a copper plate engraving as we follow the progress and changes made through 6 different stages.
Thursday Sept 24:
Jean Cocteau makes his first foray into cinema with the haunting collage-like film Blood of a Poet. Borrowing the sexual undertones and dreamlike structure of his plays, novels and paintings, Cocteau presents a sequence of seemingly unrelated events, all depicting the philosophical and metaphysical struggles of the artist.
Plus excerpts from:
Picasso and Dance (Didier Baussy & Yvon Gérault, 2005, France, French with English subtitles, Color, DVD)
Pablo Picasso was involved in designing and creating the sets and costumes for nine ballets during the years 1917 and 1962. In Picasso and Dance, the Paris Opera Ballet performs two of them: 'Le Train Bleu' and 'Le Tricorne'.
Thursday Nov 5:
Special screening of Nicole Védrès's rarely shown semi-fictional meditation on the future of mankind after the advent of Atomic Energy!
Many prominent French artists and intellects contribute to the narration: Jean-Pierre Aumont plays "The Man of Today," Andre Labarthe is the "Man of Tomorrow," and Jean-Paul Sartre, Daniel Agache, Jean Rostand, Le Corbusier, Pablo Picasso and Andre Gide are respectively seen as "The Existentialist," "The Psychiatrist," "The Biologist," "The Architect," "The Artist" and "The Author". Film clips of hospitals, schoolrooms, scientific laboratories, and even nightclubs are woven into Védrès's fascinating tapestry.
Have questions about our schedule? Contact Hank Okazaki at hokazak@duke.edu