tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4638619958588096610.post2141698141099535798..comments2023-11-22T09:11:01.567+00:00Comments on George Szirtes: Picabia and romantic mechanicsGeorge Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08889600788146987089noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4638619958588096610.post-69588269219533049682009-02-15T07:49:00.000+00:002009-02-15T07:49:00.000+00:00At school we had to draw lots of things like that ...At school we had to draw lots of things like that in Physics. I can hear the his chalky utterings:<BR/> "Stop asking silly questions Williams!" <BR/>How I bravely bore the vindictive stings and thwacks of outrageous misfortune you would not believe my dear George.Gwil Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03305768121713053837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4638619958588096610.post-10834814034426065692009-02-14T15:20:00.000+00:002009-02-14T15:20:00.000+00:00Yes, yes, I agree George with much of this. I spok...Yes, yes, I agree George with much of this. I spoke too quickly and too soon, though I think that the best art, including surrealist art (certainly Picasso's!), rises above any isms or ists. I was thinking of those muddled manifestos of the time, those clunky Dada diagrams and one-off visual puns by Duchamp and some of his followers. But I was silly to make pronouncements about "playground nihilism" etc. Consider my dismissals dismissed.Mark Granierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09899629187771913398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4638619958588096610.post-71576057927175404802009-02-14T13:13:00.000+00:002009-02-14T13:13:00.000+00:00Klee is, of course, much superior, an altogether g...Klee is, of course, much superior, an altogether grander figure. It's just that I am aware of him being grander, whereas Picabia's work of this period almost makes me giggle. And I am not much given to giggling. As such. Not quite like your Dadaists in the nihilistic playground at any rate.<BR/><BR/>But the Surrealists were by no means always po-faced. In fact hardly po-faced at all. Blimey! Think Max Jacob, Jacques Prevert, Max Ernst, Robert Desnos, Rene Magritte!Picasso in his Surreal period. Bunuel! I think it's some other Surrealists you must be thinking of.<BR/><BR/>I'll trace up your link, Mark. Thanks for that.George Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08889600788146987089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4638619958588096610.post-48964368391922473322009-02-14T11:42:00.000+00:002009-02-14T11:42:00.000+00:00"But there is something beautiful, playful, a litt..."But there is something beautiful, playful, a little subversive and strangely romantic about his machine drawings. It is as if art were discovering the geometry of the machine but couldn't help scribbling on it, or pretending it was an angel or a vision of some sort."<BR/><BR/>Nicely put. I haven't seen this drawing before and it seems to me very much of its period. I can see why you like it, and I do too: graceful playfulness, always to be saluted. However, Klee is my personal hero from this period, and his work still towers above so many others, present day artists included. He made a study of grace and playfulness, but brought so much more to it, upped the ante above and beyond the po-faced surrealists and Dada's giggling playground nihilism. I blogged a bit about him here: http://markgranier.blogspot.com/search/label/Paul%20KleeMark Granierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09899629187771913398noreply@blogger.com