Essay and Art Essay

In the essay Pablo Picasso: Living in His Own Shadow, author Ellen Goodman uses fact, emotion and personal experience to illustrate the cycles of creating and aging, living in the limelight and passing on the torch. Goodman captures the sadness and the beauty of being replaced or falling out of fame while using Picasso and his works as an example of how even the most talented of persons must succumb to limitation. Goodman makes a point that some artists graciously recognize when it is time to cease their works but others persist despite the fact that their prime has passed. According to Goodman, Pablo Picasso represents the limitations in which we all must recognize but also the beauty in rebellion and persistence. Goodman juxtaposes Picasso against many famous people who like Picasso grew old and eventually had to admit that they could no longer perform at peak performance. â€Å"It is said that when Picasso was a teenager, his artist-father gave the boy his own palette, brushers and colors, and never painted again, (LoRocco & Coughlin, 1995, p. 198).† This actually seems to be factual. When Picasso was 13-years-old his father gave up painting admitting that his son had surpassed him in skill, (Pablo Picasso, n.d.). It is interesting that Goodman introduced the essay using this example considering the entire essay is about artists and well known figures who did not step out of the spotlight when their time was due.   Ã¢â‚¬Å"We feel sad that Joe DiMaggio sells coffee makers and uncomfortable that Willie Mays ‘stayed too long.’ Few of us know how to deal with the man or woman who ‘used to be’ somebody, (LoRocco & Coughlin, p. 199).† Goodman describes her personal feelings when reviewing Picasso’s work at an art exhibit. She states that although Picasso was an exceptional artist at every age his later work is lacking in many ways. Goodman uses her observations to express sympathy toward Picasso as opposed to disdain for his later works. â€Å"Yet as we wandered through the last thirty years of his life, you could see it all slip. The exhibit kindly excludes the commercial peace doves and greeting card poster art of the last few years. But still, it is easy to see the versatility turning frenetic – the search turning downhill. There is even a sense that perhaps he began to imitate himself – not just create but to create ‘Picasso,’ (LoRocco & Coughlin, p. 198).† In essence Goodman shows contempt for Joe DiMaggio and Willie Mays yet for Picasso Goodman expresses a sense of being perplexed and full of wonder, similar to her response to other artists including Frank Sinatra and Tennessee Williams. â€Å"It is something I have thought before. I’ve though of it whenever Tennessee Williams turns up in the news, alive but rarely well, writing poorly in comparison to his own brilliant retrospectives. I’ve thought of it when Frank Sinatra goes on stage, all blue eyes and strained vocal cords. They are pale versions of themselves, (LoRocco & Coughlin, p. 198).† But was Picasso a â€Å"pale version† of himself? According to Goodman there was a sense of grace and rebellion in the fact that Picasso worked until his death. â€Å"There is something, not sad but remarkable, in this refusal to ‘act his age,’ or retire gracefully. Surrounded by his own collection of his favorite cubist work, he must have known his limits. But out of compulsion or conviction he kept working.† It is true that Picasso worked rigorously until his death. â€Å"Death holds no fear for me,’ Picasso recently told a friend. ‘It holds a kind of beauty. What I am afraid of is falling ill and not being able to work. That’s lost time, (Time, 1973,  ¶ 1).† Picasso, as opposed to Mays and DiMaggio, did not work to make extra funds doing something which reminds us of their failing talents, like sell coffeemakers, Picasso worked to work. He created for the enjoyment of creating. His final work may have been pale in comparison to the masterpieces of his youth but as Goodman points out everything in life pales in comparison with youth. â€Å"Living in your own shadow is a problem of aging athletes and beautiful women and artists and actors and, to an extent, all of us, (LoRocco & Coughlin, 1995, p. 198).† Goodman’s experience at the exhibit for Picasso’s art left her contemplating what it would be like to find oneself living in a world where the past constantly haunts the present. She expresses the sadness of this by using examples of other artists and athletes who have made history and then faced limitations. But living with ones past is part of life and the limitations associated with aging do not have to be stifling. â€Å"Creation,’ Picasso said. ‘Is the only thing that interests me, (LoRocco & Coughlin, 1995, p. 199).† This statement must have been true for Picasso, who spent his entire life creating despite the fact that his later years are not defined as his most influencial in terms of artistic expression. References LoRocco, C., & Coughlin, J. (1995). The Art of Work: An Anthology of Workplace Literature (1st Edition ed.). : Glencoe/McGraw Hill. Pablo Picasso. (n.d.). Retrieved Jan. 4, 2009, from Wikipedia: www.wikipedia.com Time, H. (1973, April 23, 1973). Pablo Picasso’s Last Days and Final Journey. Time Magazine, .