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The Studio, 1925 |
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The 1934 Drawing and its Correspondences in Picasso's Oeuvre
The Studio, 1925This painting contains numerous motifs associated with an initiation into an esoteric society.
The scroll, the open book, the severed arm, the head and the builder's square are all occult symbols that are common to a number of esoteric societies. When the Studio was painted in 1925, Picasso had a close relationship with the Surrealist movement, under the leadership of André Breton. Breton had previously sourced many of his ideas for his Surrealist Manifestos from Alchemy and other forms of magic. He encouraged members of he group to become artist magicians and they all shared an irrational world view in which their paintings were believed to have a magical influence upon the world itself. Canseleit, a leading French alchemist in the same period once described André Breton as, "a leader of a school of Alchemy, like himself". By the 1920's, Paris had for decades been at the centre of an occult revival, and it was into this, at the turn of the century, that Picasso had been drawn, principally through his association with the poets Max Jacob, Alfred Jarry, Guillaume Appolinaire, and later, by the similarly mystical personalities of Erik Satie, Jean Cocteau and Serge Diaghilev. Picasso was fascinated by myths and legends and was also conversant with the symbolism of the Tarot and Astrology. By the time of the Surrealists he was recognised as a Magus and was a fatherly figure head for many of the group, although he never became a member of the movement itself. It is perfectly possible that Picasso may have been initiated into an occult group in or around 1925, possibly even the mysterious "Prieure de Sion," whose leadership has since been linked with Jean Cocteau. Because the 1934 drawing contains such a high level of concealed alchemical and magical motifs, it to some extent supports the initiation interpretation of this painting, first proposed by the American "Guernica" scholar, Melvin Becraft, in a recent addendum to his book, "Picasso's "Guernica", Images within Images."
© Mark Harris 1996, 1997 Related Picassos
Next Section: Themes of the 1934 Drawing |
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© Mark Harris 1996 (content), Simon Banton 1996 (design) In general copyright of works by Pablo Picasso are the property of the heirs to the Pablo Picasso estate |
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