Speaker details Picasso's art

Anne Morse spoke to a packed room inside the Hall of Honors about Pablo Picasso and how his artwork challenged the art world as part of the University Honors Community Lecture Series.

Morse, a Senior Lecturer in Museum Education and liaison to the academic community for the Art Institute of Chicago, based her presentation off of the current exhibit "Picasso and Chicago" at the Art Institute which is celebrating its 100-year relationship with the artist.

In 1913, Picasso's works would join thousands of other pieces of European art that would travel from New York's 69^th Regiment Armory, to the Art Institute of Chicago, and then end at Boston's Copley Society of Art  as part of the "Armory Show."

"Little did the planners know that the radical European styles such as Cubism, Fauvism, and Futurism would draw such a huge response from Americans who were used to seeing realistic paintings.  Newspapers, critics, and magazines hated the show and many people went to see the art just to make fun of it but some people left with a greater understanding of art.  As the show was such a success, the later editions called for the most outrageous and extreme pieces to be showcased," said Morse.

Chicago became the only museum to host the Armory Show during the 1913 tour and quickly birthed the site of America's early modern art culture.

Picasso was immediately recognized as a far better artist than his own father at the age of 15 but soon began to associate with progressive artists who broke away from traditional, high style methods and painted lower class pictures.

"He began to run into some problems when he fell into a crowd of artists and was looked down upon by the critics of his time.  Picasso would often paint lower class workers, their leisurely activities, and their interactions which is not something the rich would prominently display in their galleries," said Morse.

Those interactions led to his unique career in art where he explored all mediums of art from clay sculpture to his cubist styling that took artistic genius to create, Morse said.

Picasso never did step foot in Chicago but the city still felt a strong connection with the European artist. He donated the blueprints for the "Chicago Picasso" in Daley Plaza after architect Richard Bennett sent him a poem to design the monument.

"The project was almost entirely free for the city.  Picasso turned down all payment for the design and the United States Steel Corporation in Gary Indiana assembled the monument for no cost.  During the unveiling in 1967, a large crowd gathered to witness it and not everyone was pleased with the monument. Mayor Richard Daley gave a speech that day and when you go back and listen to his words he never mentions that the generation standing there would appreciate it but he does say that it was a great day for the city and that in the future people will come to appreciate the monument," said Morse.

Forty-five years after Mayor Daley's speech, the Art Institute's exhibition is a testament to Picasso's popularity in Chicago. The exhibit runs through May 12. More information is available online at www.artic.edu.