Picasso's studio in the town of Vallauris, where he worked beginning in 1948, was next to a yard into which potters threw debris—pieces of metal and shards of ceramics. After deciding to sculpt a goat, Picasso searched the yard for discarded materials that could suggest parts of the animal's body. He crafted a skeleton with these objects, and filled out the sculpture with plaster. A wicker basket forms the goat's rib cage; two ceramic jugs were modified to serve as its udders. Flat palm fronds shape the slope of the goat's spine and the length of its snout, and metal scraps are used as structural units throughout.
Focus: Picasso Sculpture, July 3–November 3, 2008.
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Pablo Picasso
Spanish, 1881–1973 1251 works onlineWith these words, Picasso shed light on two central principles of his artistic production over nearly 80 years: his openness to a diverse range of styles, subject matters, and mediums, and his resistance to the notion that change in art necessarily corresponds to improvement or progress.
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