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Course: Modernisms 1900-1980 > Unit 3
Lesson 1: Cubism- Cubist Sculpture II
- The Case for Abstraction
- Picasso's Early Work
- Picasso, Portrait of Gertrude Stein
- Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein
- Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
- Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
- Pablo Picasso, Three Women
- Inventing Cubism
- Cubism and multiple perspectives
- Synthetic Cubism, Part I
- Synthetic Cubism, Part II
- Salon Cubism
- Pablo Picasso and the new language of Cubism
- Braque, The Viaduct at L'Estaque
- Picasso, The Reservoir, Horta de Ebro
- Georges Braque, Violin and Palette
- Braque, The Portuguese
- Braque, The Portuguese
- Cubist Sculpture I
- Picasso, Guitar
- Picasso, Still Life with Chair Caning
- Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler
- Picasso, Still Life with Chair Caning
- Pablo Picasso, The Three Musicians
- Pablo Picasso, Guitar, Glass, and Bottle
- Conservation | Picasso's Guitars
- Picasso, Guernica
- Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso: Two Cubist Musicians
- Fernand Léger, "Contrast of Forms"
- Robert Delaunay, "Simultaneous Contrasts: Sun and Moon"
- The Cubist City – Robert Delaunay and Fernand Léger
- Juan Gris, The Table
- Cubism and its impact
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Conservation | Picasso's Guitars
Photography helps MoMA conservators determine how to treat Picasso's 1913 Cubist sculpture, Still-Life with Guitar. To learn about how art changes over time, enroll in one of MoMA's courses online. Created by The Museum of Modern Art.
Want to join the conversation?
- Does it matter that the triangle is not original? How much of the object could we replace before we no longer consider it to be the 'original' work of art?(18 votes)
- Your question is quite similar to Theseus's Paradox. The paradox questions whether an object that has had all of its parts replaced is still the same object. For instance, if a wooden boat has all of its planks replaced, is it still the same boat? Depending on your viewpoint, the original work could be considered "intact" if (a) the replacement piece is from the same time period, (b) the main pieces remain untouched, or (c) all original pieces remain. For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus(13 votes)
- Would the splotches and such not be considered part of the "life" of the piece, much like how we view our experiences as part of us?(3 votes)
- It's an interesting question. It seems like a lot of conservationists have made the case to preserve art as close as possible to what it was as it was created, rather than letting art degrade over time. An interesting artist to consider here is Dan Flavin, whose work is largely comprised of fluorescent cathode-ray light bulbs, which naturally die-off in a very clear and noticeable fashion. Here's an interesting article by The Getty Museum about conserving the ever-increasing number of materials used in modern and contemporary art: https://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/newsletters/24_2/feature.html(3 votes)
- There is no question for me, viewing artwork as close to how the artist finished it is most important. Has there ever been a restoration that has gone wrong?(3 votes)
- Is this "guitar" inverted/inside-out?(3 votes)
- Why was the angle changed in showing the restoration efforts at3:06? It is obvious that there have been changes through the restoration process but the change in angle and, therefore, lighting seems manipulative.(2 votes)
- Wow, an ordinary eraser is used for cleaning at2:30. That doesn't damage the paper?(2 votes)
- um I cant anserw your thing because it is not a good tpice to talk about(1 vote)
- very nice what is Picasso? I mean really,.(1 vote)
- He's a who, not a what. He was a modernist painter from Spain.(2 votes)
- At3:03, does "it helped to unify the planar elements" essentially mean it looks flatter?(1 vote)
- Is this suppose to be a guitar ?(0 votes)
- yes.
it's a sculpture by picasso, made just over a hundred years ago from cardboard, string and wire.
the video is about some of the techniques used to restore it, so it looks less dirty and aged.(2 votes)
Video transcript
- [Voiceover] The historical
photo documentation is obviously very interesting
for understanding the various transitions
that the guitar took. For conservators, those photographs can inform our treatments. When the museum acquired the guitar, it was missing the triangular head stock. And when the guitar was reassembled, in about 1980, a facsimile was made. That was made of a dark coardboard, and this is the one that was displayed with the guitar for it's entire time that it's been at the museum. When you actually look at
the historical photographs, the tonality of that triangular headpiece actually has much more in common with the face of the guitar, and it's not dark. One of the main treatments done for this exhibition was that new one was made, much more in line with original dimensions based on the historical photography, the color it seems to be more accurate, and the placement is
more consistent as well. I think it really helps
to define this front plane that extends from the head stock down through the face. The table top, which arrived at the museum with the guitar was not
displayed with it initially, as you can see, it's a section that's cut directly from a pre-fabricated box, these are the staples that would have held the box together. And if you can imagine that that is the side of say the top of a box, this would have extended out further. This part that's lighter was protected from the
light when the table top was installed, and then these two holes that are underneath are the holes that the table top gets pinned to the wall through. When the guitar was reassembled in 1980, it was not surface cleaned. Over the course of, at that point, it's 70 year life, it had accumulated dust and accretions from being
in Picasso's studio, but then also being stored in a box. The splotches and the accretions
were really distracting to the visual understanding of the guitar, and so the decision was
made to give the guitar a thorough surface cleaning. Surface cleaning paper involves using various techniques ranging from erasers to soft brushes, other tools. When I was working on the guitar, I had to build up supports for my hands so that I could get down
into the very tight spaces and kind of devise my own
surface cleaning tools so that I could get to
that depth of the knack. One of the main effects is
that the overall coloration of the guitar is much more even. It helped to unify the planar elements.