This series is fulfilling its promise after a weak first episode. Picasso's shifting from older to younger self within one hour works fairly well, as do the dynamics of his relationships with women, especially his difficult affairs with Fernande, Dora, and the others. Fernande's remaining with her oppressor (before being "rescued" via opium by Picasso) is believable given human nature and her own strained circumstances. Apollinaire is well-played, as is Max Jacob. Believable if not too honorable is Picasso's reluctance to sign a petition calling for Jacob's release from the Nazis: Picasso didn't want to (further) endanger his position as a great artist by Nazi persecution himself. It was a cowardice, but one not so easy to judge given circumstances. I await further episodes with interest.
2 Reviews
"All the Rules...I Want to Smash Them!"
lavatch9 May 2018
Warning: Spoilers
This fourth program juggles the period of the German Occupation with Picasso's struggles to find his artistic voice in Paris in the early twentieth century.
In early 1944, Picasso's friend Max Jacob is arrested by the Gestapo and taken to the Drancy internment camp. Jean Cocteau asks Picasso to sign a petition for the release of Jacob. But the conflicted Picasso refuses to sign; he is detested by the Gestapo and may do more harm than good. But Picasso's great friend Jacob dies shortly at Drancy shortly before he was to be transported to Auschwitz.
A new acquaintance of the young Picasso is the iconoclastic poet Guillaume Apollinaire (Wilhelm Albert Wtodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowick), whose outrageous Dada poems are shocking the public. At home, Apollinaire is cuffed around by his mother for being a degenerate. It is clear that he will not last long in his day job at the bank. The group of Picasso, Jacob, and Apollinaire share in common the creed that "artists must be free. No restrictions." For Apollinaire, art is not pretty; rather, it should evoke a state of "perpetual moral subversion."
Apollinaire recognizes that Picasso is besotted with young Fernande Olivier. Apollinaire assists Picasso in charming Armande with one of the things that Apollinaire knows best: opium. It also doesn't hurt that Picasso has completed a beautiful portrait of Fernande that he sets up in his apartment as a shrine to her. Fernande will be a lifelong lover and model for Picasso.
Ever possessive of Picasso, Dora Maar seeks to undermine his relationship with the aspiring artist Françoise Gilot. Dora is becoming a pathological liar: she claims that her bicycle and dog have been stolen to get Picasso's attention. The self-destructive and jealous Dora does harm to herself, leading to hospitalization and shock treatments. The perceptive Françoise recognizes the extreme vulnerability of Dora and shows compassion.
The youthful Picasso has labored on a painting inspired by the people he has seen in the impoverished Bateau-Lavoir district of Montmartre. His inspiration is the Harlequins. Yet he is haunted by the breakthrough works of Matisse and recognizes that his own "Family of Saltimbanques" piece cannot possibly compete in originality to Matisse. He has discovered the "evil behind the eyes" of the Harlequins. And he has captured the essence of the some of the people he has observed at the Lapin Agile. But he has not yet discovered the form in which to present them.
Picasso claims that he despises "rules." But he has not yet formulated the parameters of his own art. But he has the wisdom to know that "I need to find a new way of seeing things." Consequently, Picasso decides to withdraw his entry from the salon competition. Clearly Picasso is not content to remain in the shadow of Matisse: "I'm not submitting . It is not good enough!"
To be continued....
In early 1944, Picasso's friend Max Jacob is arrested by the Gestapo and taken to the Drancy internment camp. Jean Cocteau asks Picasso to sign a petition for the release of Jacob. But the conflicted Picasso refuses to sign; he is detested by the Gestapo and may do more harm than good. But Picasso's great friend Jacob dies shortly at Drancy shortly before he was to be transported to Auschwitz.
A new acquaintance of the young Picasso is the iconoclastic poet Guillaume Apollinaire (Wilhelm Albert Wtodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowick), whose outrageous Dada poems are shocking the public. At home, Apollinaire is cuffed around by his mother for being a degenerate. It is clear that he will not last long in his day job at the bank. The group of Picasso, Jacob, and Apollinaire share in common the creed that "artists must be free. No restrictions." For Apollinaire, art is not pretty; rather, it should evoke a state of "perpetual moral subversion."
Apollinaire recognizes that Picasso is besotted with young Fernande Olivier. Apollinaire assists Picasso in charming Armande with one of the things that Apollinaire knows best: opium. It also doesn't hurt that Picasso has completed a beautiful portrait of Fernande that he sets up in his apartment as a shrine to her. Fernande will be a lifelong lover and model for Picasso.
Ever possessive of Picasso, Dora Maar seeks to undermine his relationship with the aspiring artist Françoise Gilot. Dora is becoming a pathological liar: she claims that her bicycle and dog have been stolen to get Picasso's attention. The self-destructive and jealous Dora does harm to herself, leading to hospitalization and shock treatments. The perceptive Françoise recognizes the extreme vulnerability of Dora and shows compassion.
The youthful Picasso has labored on a painting inspired by the people he has seen in the impoverished Bateau-Lavoir district of Montmartre. His inspiration is the Harlequins. Yet he is haunted by the breakthrough works of Matisse and recognizes that his own "Family of Saltimbanques" piece cannot possibly compete in originality to Matisse. He has discovered the "evil behind the eyes" of the Harlequins. And he has captured the essence of the some of the people he has observed at the Lapin Agile. But he has not yet discovered the form in which to present them.
Picasso claims that he despises "rules." But he has not yet formulated the parameters of his own art. But he has the wisdom to know that "I need to find a new way of seeing things." Consequently, Picasso decides to withdraw his entry from the salon competition. Clearly Picasso is not content to remain in the shadow of Matisse: "I'm not submitting . It is not good enough!"
To be continued....
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