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Hidden painting found under Picasso's The Blue Room

2014-06-23 15:57 China Daily Web Editor: Yao Lan
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Hidden painting found under Picasso's The Blue Room

A hidden painting has been found by scientists beneath the brush strokes of The Blue Room, a 1901 Picasso artwork.

Art experts and conservators at The Phillips Collection in Washington used infrared technology on the masterpiece, revealing a bow-tied man with his face resting on his hand.

Picasso created both works in Paris during his famous blue period.

"It's really one of those moments that really makes what you do special," said conservator Patricia Favero.

Acknowledged as one of the 20th Century's greatest artists, Pablo Picasso focused on monochromatic paintings in shades of blue and blue-green during his blue period from 1900 to 1904.

The Blue Room has been the subject of exploration since 2008 by experts from the Phillips Collection, National Gallery of Art, Cornell University and Delaware's Winterthur Museum.

Improved infrared imagery allowed them to see a man wearing a jacket and bow tie, resting his bearded face on his hand with three rings on his fingers.

When the image was turned on its side, it revealed a portrait of a man.

Technical analysis confirmed the hidden portrait was likely to have been painted just before The Blue Room.

Favero added that, having found the second image back in 2008, they then wanted to know who the man was.

"We're still working on answering that question," she said.

Curator Susan Behrends Frank told press agency AP: "When he [Picasso] had an idea, you know, he just had to get it down and realise it," explaining that the artist had quickly painted over another completed picture when the inspiration took him.

"He could not afford to acquire new canvasses every time he had an idea that he wanted to pursue. He worked sometimes on cardboard because canvas was so much more expensive.''

The Blue Room has been part of the Phillips Collection since 1927.

Conservators suspected back in 1954 it may have had another painting below its surface, as brushstrokes did not match the composition of a woman bathing in Picasso's studio.

But it was not until the 1990s that an X-ray revealed a "fuzzy image" of something under the main image.

Research on The Blue Room will continue and curators have planned a 2017 exhibition focusing on the painting and the portrait beneath it. It is also part of a tour to South Korea in 2015.

This is not the first time a hidden image has been found beneath a Picasso artwork.

A technical analysis of La Vie at the Cleveland Museum of Art revealed he had reworked the painting's composition, while a moustached man was found beneath the painting Woman Ironing at Manhattan's Guggenheim Museum.

 

毕加索名作画中有画

据英国广播公司(BBC)网站6月17日报道,人们在毕加索1901年画作《蓝色房间》下发现一隐藏画作。

华盛顿菲利普收藏馆的艺术专家和管理员用红外线技术扫描这幅杰作,发现了一位打着领结、托着腮的男人。

这两幅画是毕加索在“蓝色时期”在巴黎创作的。

“发现这个‘画中画’真是一个激动人心的时刻,”管理员Patricia Favero说。

作为20世纪最杰出的的艺术家之一,在1900年至1904年的“蓝色时期”里,毕加索侧重于应用蓝色或蓝绿色阴影创作单色画作。

来自菲利普斯收藏馆、国家美术馆、康奈尔大学和特拉华州温特图尔博物馆的专家们从2008年开始研究《蓝色房间》。

改良的红外线成像让他们看到一个系着领结、手戴三个戒指,并且把留着胡须的脸枕在胳膊上的男人。

把画作顺时针转九十度垂直观看时,一名蓄胡子的男子赫然出现。

技术分析证实,被隐藏起来的肖像很可能创作于《蓝色房间》之前。

Favero还表示,从2008年发现背面图像起,他们一直想知道那个男人是谁。

“我们仍然致力于解决这个问题,”她说。

馆长Susan Behrends Frank告诉美国联合通讯社:“一旦他(毕加索)有了灵感,他必须抓住它并且描绘出来,”意思是当灵感迸发时,艺术家们会在另一幅已完成的画作背面作画。

“他不能在每次灵感到来时都能找到新画布继续作画。有时他会画在卡纸上,卡纸比帆布便宜多了。”

《蓝色房间》从1927年就被菲利普收藏馆收藏了。

早在1954年,管理员就怀疑这幅画的背面还有一幅画,因为画上的笔划与一个女人在毕加索画室里沐浴的构图不符。

直到20世纪90年代,X射线才揭示了主要图像背后的“模糊图像”。

对《蓝色房间》的研究会继续。该馆长计划在2017为这幅画和画背后的肖像举办一场展览。这也是2015年韩国之旅的计划。

这不是第一次发现毕加索的画中画。

克利夫兰艺术博物馆的一位La Vie技术分析员透露,他曾对曼哈顿的古根海姆博物馆的《熨衣服的女子》进行重新加工,发现了隐藏画作里的小胡子男人。

 

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