Not Comics: Picasso’s hidden imagery


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Friday, August 28, 2009


Hey everybody, Frank Santoro here with a “Friday distraction” of sorts. I taught some classes over the summer about classical painting structures and composition as they apply to comics. During the class I often referred to a book entitled Picasso’s Guernica – Images within Images by Melvin E. Becraft. It’s a fascinating read. It’s a “map” to look at Picasso’s most famous painting in a new way.

Not comics, but definitely something to chew on. Enjoy!

The pdf of Becraft’s book is here.

Also, this essay on the subject is interesting as well.

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5 Responses to “Not Comics: Picasso’s hidden imagery”
  1. Mark says:

    I had no idea that Picasso encoded imagery in his paintings. I like the idea that Picasso thought of himself as a hermetic magician.

  2. Kioskerman says:

    It would be great to have every friday a "Friday lesson" on some of the things that are going to be covered on your book.
    A sort of preview?
    Thanks for the pdf.

  3. Frank Santoro says:

    Picasso also encoded his still life works, ascribing meaning to particular objects. This way he could make paintings about his lovers without his wife knowing what the paintings were truly about.

  4. HarryNaybors says:

    Pablo Picasso's approach to comic art is a very well known fact:

    http://aguilarsutil.blogspot.com/2008/03/picasso-franco-y-los-cmics.html

    http://chiquirritipis.blogspot.com/2008/10/picasso-y-sus-historietas-aleluyas-1904.html

    At the very end of his life he regreted in a famous quote not to have been a comic-book artist

  5. Frank Santoro says:

    thanks.

    "Harry Naybors". That's funny. Nice reference.

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