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8 [Background info] [K-6: Looking] [K-6: Making] [7-12]
Self Portrait 30 June 1972
Wax crayon on paper 65.7 x 50.5 (cat. 86)
Courtesy of Fuji Television Gallery
© Succession Picasso, Paris, Viscopy Ltd, Sydney, 2002
SUPPLEMENTARY IMAGE:
Picasso at La Californie 1967
Photo Henri Cartier-Bresson
© Henri Cartier-Bresson/ Magnum Photos
A short man with broad shoulders, a dash of hair across his forehead, black eyes round as a seal's. This is the image of the artist with whom we are all familiar. But what looks back at Picasso from the mirror at the age of 90 going on 91 on the last day of June 1972? This self-portrait, crayon on paper, looks unlike anything he ever made. Mixing strength and vulnerability, power and powerlessness, this work both intensifies the history of the introspective self that began in the West around 1629 with Rembrandt, and it does what the Spanish temperament is proverbially tempted to do: it tries to stare down Death itself.
An old friend, Pierre Daix, recalls seeing the work in an unfinished state. '[Picasso] held the drawing beside his face to show that the expression of fear was a contrivance; then he laid the sheet down without a word, leaving it to curl up again.' Three months later, on another visit to the studio, Daix noticed Picasso had deepened some of the harshly coloured lines: colours identical to those used in the painting done after the death of Julio González. 'He did not blink. I had the sudden impression that he was staring his own death in the face, like a good Spaniard.'
Death is the ultimate otherness, the absence of ourselves from the world. Is Catalan machismo, in the form of the belligerent gaze, the only way that Picasso could set the hallucinatory omnipotence of the self against the tragic uncontrollability of fate?
The art critic Leo Steinberg comments: '[The drawing] projects the symbolic form of [Picasso's] dying [and] constitutes a rare icon of death in the first person.' The death prefigured by Picasso's Self-portrait occurred nine months later on 8 April 1973.
K-6
LOOKING IDEAS
Look at this self-portrait drawing, which Picasso made when he was 91 years old. What does his face tell us about his life? Compare this drawing with the photograph taken of him when he was an older man. What does each image tell us about Picasso?
Focus on the drawing. What is Picasso thinking about? How is he feeling? Is this drawing about how Picasso physically looked or about how he felt? Are there any clues that tell us Picasso was close to his death?
Look into the eyes. What do you think Picasso can see? Thinkup some words to describe these eyes.
Imagine Picasso has a special message for you. What could this be? Tell it to the class. What would your reply be?
Describe how Picasso might have drawn this self-portrait. What colour came first? Where was his starting point and guess what was his last mark on the page. Look for his signature.
MAKING IDEAS
Using coloured pencils and crayons, make a drawing of the rest of Picasso's body.
Look into a mirror and draw a self-portrait. Make another drawing of how you think you might look at 91 years of age. Display these two drawings together.
Make a series of line drawings of people in old age. Display.
LINKS TO KEY LEARNING AREAS
- HSIE: Identities, Time and Change.
- Mathematics: Shape
- PDHPE: Growth and Change
7-12
FRAMING QUESTIONS
Frames: Subjective / Structural / Cultural
Look at this drawing. Describe your response. It is said that the eyes are the windows to the soul. What can you tell about Picasso from this image? What is he looking at - the audience, himself or something intangible? Consider the date of this work and Picasso's age. How does this affect your interpretation of the work? Would you classify this as a private or public expression?
Compare Self Portrait 1972 with the Cartier-Bresson photographic portrait in the exhibition (above). How does the art-making process of each work convey a sense of capturing a decisive moment?
Cartier-Bresson stipulated that the photographic portrait be exhibited only with this drawing. Do they complement or contradict each other? Discuss. | 
