Weeping Woman was a favourite of mine as a Teen. I had a poster of it on my wall, It's emotion spoke for me, when I lacked the words.
When I joined steemit I considered utilising it as my user name, but it doesn't really represent me anymore.
Then I came across
Girl Before A Mirror
It represented a dimension of human experience that I relate to more now.
A blatantly sorrowful figure appealed more to my adolescent self.
The more understated quiet self assessment that occurs privately, in an intimate moment of self judgement, resonated as something I wanted to explore at this juncture of my life.
I'm not overly self judging. I have a pretty OK self concept.
I do have as everyone does, that internal subjective dialogue that on occasion speaks to me as I would never speak to anyone else.
It was something I wanted to explore with everyone. Those core beliefs and seemingly automatic responses, that we develop early and continue to reinforce without even thinking.
As it happens they are paintings of two different Picasso muses.
They were both reported to have been abused by the artist and their lives with him overlapped.
They met one day by chance at the artists studio.
Apparently when they challenged him to choose, he told them to fight it out.
The pair fought physically. To the amusement of Picasso who described it as, one of my choicest memories.
The altercation perhaps an insight into the character of Picasso more so than the woman he utilised as his inspiration.
When his wife Olga learned of his affair with Marie-Thérèse Walter she filed for divorce. He refused to divorce, though they remained separated.
Girl before a mirror
Marie-Thérèse Walter was only 17 when she met the 45 year old artist. She had a child to him. He supported her financially, though she and her daughter Maya lived separate from his public life.
She took her own life in 1977 four years after the artists death.
Maya with doll
The weeping woman
Dora Maar went on to have an artistic career in her own right.
She experienced depression and isolation during her life which is expressed in her own body of work.
She was subjected to controversial treatments by psychoanalysis and psychiatrists Jacques Lacan, including the then illegal electroshock treatment.
image source credit https://www.pablopicasso.org
I love the cubist style
I probably won't get a chance to enter something new, as I can't do too much at the moment, but I will see what I can find stashed away.
I encourage you to have a go at a cubist work for this contest
Many entries are by fabulous accomplished artists.
https://steemit.com/artstyleart/@aksinya/6th-artstyleart-theme-announcement-cubism-architecture
I wrote an entry for a poetry slam with reference to Marie-Thérèse Walter
Wow that was 9 months ago!
https://steemit.com/doodle/@girlbeforemirror/poetry-slam-challenge-5-ode-to-marie-therese-walter
