Among the works I've been looking at is Pablo Picasso's Night Fishing at Antibes of 1939. This large painting shown below (6 ft. 9 in. x 11 ft. 4 in.) is on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. This is about fishing -- men fishing, men fishing for women, women fishing for men, and it shows Picasso himself as the main character with the striped shirt standing in the boat. The colors are unusual for Picasso. The black background and emphasis on secondary colors green and purple give it a mysterious quality, almost like a dream. This painting does not portray beauty, but shows truth instead. The viewer is invited into a story.
Pablo Picasso, Night Fishing at Antibes, oil on canvas, 1939 |
At the beginning of my senior year I switched my major to studio art, and started doubling up on painting, drawing, printmaking, and design classes. I also took ceramics and weaving. Stony Brook had several large floor harness looms! But what interested me most was painting, drawing and printmaking. After a year taking courses in screen printing, etching and lithography, I knew I wanted to be a printmaker. My professors were practicing artists, including Ed Countey, James Kleege, Robert White, and Mavis Pusey.