Artists of the 20th Century: Pablo Picasso

Good

Great for Teachers- good review. A bit fast for some Comm college students and for some reason the narrator put them to sleep. You should judge for yourself- classes/students may be different. I suggest a video that integrates in lively fashion, artists life and times with the work. This is more a "list" of his paintings.

wonderful movie

Adequate listing of Picasso's work but uninteresting and uninspired.

The first thing you need to know about the DVDs in the Artists of the 20th Century series is that they consist solely of artwork images - here, for example, you'll find no photograph of Picasso or the women in his life, no snapshots of the places he lived and worked, etc. - just images of his paintings and sculptures. The DVD jacket classifies this DVD as "a definitive biography accompanied by spectacular images of the artist's greatest work," but, strictly speaking, that just isn't so. Certainly, some biographical information finds its way into the narrator's script, but the details are sparse and quite limited. When it comes to the women in Picasso's life, by way of example, we are only told what happened to two of them, and denied anything resembling a sordid detail. I certainly don't feel as if I have a real handle on Picasso after having watched this 50-minute presentation.Another thing you should know is this: I know next to nothing about art, especially modern art. I acknowledge the fact that Picasso is regarded as an artistic genius and has influenced modern art to an extravagant degree, but I personally just don't like his work. My tastes are strictly Renaissance, and Picasso pretty much put the final nail in the coffin of classical painting. Most of Picasso's work makes no sense whatsoever to me. It became somewhat amusing for me to listen to the narrator's descriptions once the presentation advanced past Picasso's blue period. I quickly got lost in all the -isms at play in Picasso's artistic life: Cubism, surrealism, and all manner of abstraction-isms. Painting after painting bore no resemblance to its title. The narrator would tell me that so-and-so clearly represents such-and-such, yet I couldn't even spot anything wildly resembling the so-and-so that was supposedly so visible. As Picasso aged, his artwork just became more and more impenetrable to my eyes. I wish I could learn to appreciate modern art - but this DVD makes it pretty clear that I never will.I have seen one other DVD in this series (Salvador Dali), and I have to say I found this one much more impressive. For whatever reason, this Picasso entry seemed to have more information about the man behind the artwork. This is all well and good, but I still have to say that you would benefit as much if not more by seeking out Picasso's artwork on the Internet. I'm sure there are countless online galleries that give you much more detailed information about any given painting or sculpture than you will find on this DVD.

In the history of modern art, Pablo Picasso is a nearly mythological figure. Born in Malaga, Picasso was an innovative master of various media and as one of the most prolific artists in history, creating more than 20,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, and ceramics using all kinds of materials. First famous for his pioneering role in Cubism, Picasso's art developed with a pace and energy parallel to the sweeping cultural and technological changes of the twentieth century. Unlike many artists of his caliber, Picasso was an international celebrity as well as a profoundly influential figure in the art world. His work was exhibited on countless occasions throughout his lifetime, reaching the zenith of artistic recognition with the 1971 exhibition at the Louvre, in Paris, honoring him on his 90th birthday; until then, the work of living artists had not been shown there. Accompanied by images of the artist's greatest work.

I was very disappointed with this video. I could have made the same thing on my computer using powerpoint. But what frustrated me most was that the images and the narration were not in sync. The image would change while the narrator was still talking about the previous painting. Only redeeming grace is that is shows a broad spectrum of Picasso's work.