The Weeping Woman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Weeping Woman (Dora), (60 х 49 cm, 23 ⅝ х 19 ¼ inches) is an oil on canvas painted by Pablo Picasso in France, 1937. Picasso was intrigued with the subject, and revisited the theme numerous times that year.[1] This painting was the final and most elaborate of the series. It has been in the collection of the Tate Gallery in Liverpool since 1987.
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[edit] Echoes of Guernica
The Weeping Woman series is regarded as a thematic continuation of the tragedy depicted in Picasso's epic painting Guernica. In focusing on the image of a woman crying, the artist was no longer painting the effects of the Spanish Civil War directly, but rather referring to a singular universal image of suffering.[2]
The model for the painting, indeed for the entire series, was Dora Maar, who was working as a professional photographer when Picasso met her in 1936; she was the only photographer allowed to document the successive stages of Guernica while Picasso painted it in 1937.[3]
[edit] Dora Maar
Dora Maar was Picasso's mistress from 1936 until 1944. In the course of their relationship Picasso painted her in a number of guises, some realistic, some benign, others tortured or threatening.[3] Picasso explained:
"For me she's the weeping woman. For years I've painted her in tortured forms, not through sadism, and not with pleasure, either; just obeying a vision that forced itself on me. It was the deep reality, not the superficial one."[4]
"Dora, for me, was always a weeping woman....And it's important, because women are suffering machines."[5]
[edit] Earlier versions
The Weeping Woman in the Tate Gallery was the last of a series of paintings by Picasso depicting this subject. One of the earlier versions was stolen from the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, and later discovered in a railway station locker in Melbourne in August 1986. The thefts demands included an increase to arts funding.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ Léal, Brigitte: "Portraits of Dora Maar", Picasso and Portraiture, page 396. Harry N. Abrams, 1996.
- ^ Léal, page 396, 1996.
- ^ a b Léal, page 406,1996.
- ^ Léal, page 395, 1996.
- ^ Malraux, André: Picasso's Mask, page 138. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976.
- ^ http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rewind/txt/s1199862.htm http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3781362.html
[edit] External links
Weeping Woman at the Tate Gallery [1]
