Projectives

This is a chalk on canvas piece called "Bust of a Woman" by Picasso. We discussed it in class today, and I was struck by the diversity of the interpretations it received from my classmates. Some saw this woman as being seductive and others saw her as being afraid. While some saw her hand gesture as one of strength and confidence, others saw it as one of defensiveness.

As I began to formulate my own interpretation, I started realizing how much of ourselves we project into works of art such as this, that are striking enough to provoke us, and ambiguous enough to force us to draw our own conclusions.

So, how do I see this woman, aside from what Picasso may have intended?

First, her gaze and her positioning (her body is centered to the left of the canvas) indicates to me that there is someone standing at her side, facing her. Her hand, the focus of piece, is rather masculine, and it divides the image in two--to the right is mostly shadow and darkness, and to the left, the softness of her shoulder, breast and arm is illuminated. Therefore, I see her masculine hand as obstructing the view of her softness, her vulnerability, from the figure on her left, who is off the canvas.

So, I suppose I see this woman as someone who is misunderstood. She is soft and feminine, but often, the first thing one notices about her is her masculine qualities (intellect, assertiveness, competitiveness, maybe?). Or perhaps, this image reflects the struggle of defining what it means to be a woman, given the striking juxtaposition of the masculine hand next to the soft shoulder. Or maybe this girl is guarding her vulnerability by using her masculinity as a shield. She doesn't want her softness to be seen.

See? It's a projective. : )