Artists dissatisfied with the injustices around them often express their desire for change by representing their ideals through the worlds they create. Consider two (2) of the following works in light of the cultural milieu in which they were created. Ground your response with details about the individual artists that you have learned from the reading, and be specific in your description of the works’ shared formal qualities and/or construction by using some of the following terms in your post: cubist, fauvist, primitive, contour, planar, and cropping. The works are: Samurai Leaving Home on Spring Day, Japanese woodblock print by Toyokuni III, 1852; Wooden Ceremonial Fang Mask, Gabon Africa, 19th century; The Dessert (Harmony in Red) by Henri Matisse, 1908; Guitar, cardboard construction by Pablo Picasso; The Yellow Christ, by Paul Gauguin, 1889; and Blue Nude, cut paper collage by Henri Matisse, 1952. As usual, click on the images to see them large.
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October 6, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Clement Bilhorn
Both Picasso’s “Guitar” and Matisse’s “Blue Nude” are similar in that they are extremely abstract, representing more the distinguishing qualities of their original subject rather than creating a realistic, accurate depiction. Picasso’s “Guitar”, however, is interesting because despite having been disassembled and remade in a cubist fashion, it is still recognizable as a guitar, since viewing something from multiple perspectives is very hard to simulate in 3-dimensional space. However, “Guitar” remains unusual and still distinctly cubist because Picasso has chosen to render certain aspects of its form in unusual ways, such as turning the air hole into a solid object surrounded by empty space, a reverse of the original. “Blue Nude” is also interesting because, although technically a 3D construction, it is portrayed as a 2D object with a distinct sense of perspective caused by the overlapping shapes of the body parts. Thus, Matisse has managed to use 3D space to create a 2D shape that appears 3D even though it is not so.
October 9, 2010 at 10:41 pm
Dan Wanee
The Wooden Ceremonial Fang Mask is the type of “primitive” art that inspired Picasso to create the Cubist style. The Cubist style was developed during a time when a great number of artists that had amassed in Paris were trying to make stylistic advances. In looking to “primitive” art, particularly African masks like the Wooden Ceremonial Fang Mask, Picasso created the extremely influential movement of Cubism. His work laid the foundation for exploration of abstract art. The Wooden Ceremonial Fang Mask is certainly abstract, while the face is stretched, with certain features like the nose emphasized, and others, like the mouth, nearly absent. Both the mask and “Guitar” have all the parts of their real life subjects, but “Guitar” is unique in that it does not drastically change the actual dimensions of its subject. Most of the parts of a real guitar are present, but Picasso seems to have deconstructed it in his mind in order to show the different planes that are present in the various shapes and parts of a real guitar. Particularly noticeable is the sound hole, which has been re-imagined as a solid cylinder, though it’s shape and relative depth are realistic. In summary, the influence of primitive African art is clearly seen in Picasso’s work, while both distort objects to create a new perspective.
October 10, 2010 at 11:55 am
Ryan Seager
Picasso’s “Guitar” and the Ceremonial Fang Mask both seem to be physical objects that have been sculpted in such a way that caters to the abstract. Cubism seems to demonstrate the formal structure of the two pieces in such a way the despite their abstract nature we are able to see a simplistic idea behind what has been created. Also the contour of the two figures emphasizes the physicality, we are able to touch and feel the edges and outlines of what has been created. despite the differences between the two pieces they a relational due to their structure and seem so thought behind the unique shapes and designs. These 3-dimensional objects show something more that just style, an underlying combination of things to construct a recognizable object.
October 10, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Megan Mitchell
Gauguin’s “Yellow Christ” is a good example of much of what defined this artist’s work throughout his ground-breaking career as a painter. Gauguin was interested in primitivism. Having worked as a stock broker in an industrial city and holding strong emotions against such a lifestyle, he sought purity and utopia in art by rejecting industrialism and going back to what he considered more primitive, therefore more pure, more spiritual. He spent time in the countryside, and then even more primitive societies such as Tahiti, where he did a lot of his work. In this painting we can see the onlookers of the crucifixion wear bonnets. It can also be noted that he is modeling his style somewhat off of Japanese woodblocking style. He uses heavy block contour lines flat areas of color, and dramatic cropping. He seeks to infuse spiritual feelings in his art in a primitive, simple, unique way. His coloration is simple, yet bright, and abstract… hence the name, “Yellow Christ”. Henri Mattise also had a primitive approach to color. He loved color and built his career around the manipulation of color, which is exemplified well in “The Dessert (Harmony in Red)”. He used absract colorism, flat areas of color, some obvious contour lines, and he was influenced by japanese prints. He was called a fauvist, meaning he had a reductive handing of paint and brilliant colorism. He longed to convey the world untainted by modern technology and industry as Gauguin’s work had done, but unlike Gauguin, he did not translate his interest in primitive through non-western cultures(Gauguin did this with a lot of his, especially later, work), but he usually used subjects more from classical tradition. He had a profound respect for a Utopian vision of humanity’s past, but also for academic tradition.
October 11, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Emily Labutta
Picasso’s Guitar uses cubist ideas to reshape a guitar so that it’s not all there but it is. Picasso’s culture saw WWII, but this work doesn’t seem to comment on the war. Gauguin’s The Yellow Christ is rather primitive, in that not much detail is sought, and planar, in that not much dimmension and shadow is employed. It is remarkably flat. Gauguin’s work reflects the cultural reliance on Christianity at the time.
October 11, 2010 at 3:31 pm
Kenny Piccolo
Pablo Picasso’s “Guitar” and Henri Matisse’s “Blue Nude” have many differences between them and break away from the traditional laws that were casted before the modern movement. The time period before the modern movement was characterized by proportions, placement, and shapes; however, these two works are different. Picasso’s work has a “Cubist” component to it and is three-dimensional. I think Picasso wants his society to be as perfect as the properties of mathematics that make up the polygons used in his artwork. On the other hand, Matisse introduces an ambiguous form of a human. My interpretation is that he de-emphasizes the importance of the body in his society, making room for an emphasis on maybe the soul or justice. His work received much criticism for his “Fauvist” work style.
October 11, 2010 at 7:03 pm
Jason Bhatta
Picasso’s “Guitar” has clear elements that it is during his cubism age. The jutting edges and the surreal look to a normal object give way to its abstract nature. Picasso does a great job of deconstructing the guitar to show the observer each part that makes up the whole but in a new way. The wooden ceremonial fang mask has features of a primitive artwork showing simple design of the face with exaggerated figures such as the bone structure of the eyes and the elongated nose.
October 11, 2010 at 9:17 pm
David Querfeld
The ceremonial fang mask and Matisse’s “Blue Nude” show two largely different cultural backgrounds. The fang mask was made by an artist for a specific use in a religious ceremony. The mask’s use determined the need for it and the multi-planar creation. Matisse’s “Blue Nude”, on the other hand was created to be admired as a work of art, not for any specific purpose. The focus for this piece was the contour as opposed to the planar arrangement of the idea.
October 11, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Dylan Mooney
Both Matisse’s “The Dessert” and Picasso’s “Guitar” are peculiar to me, in that both the artists, especially earlier in life, exhibited traditional artistic skill and talent, but both chose to use a more modern, abstract approach when crafting their pieces. Matisse’s piece exhibits the stereotypical fauvist characteristics with its vibrant patches of color and abstract as opposed to representational imagery, specifically how the tablecloth and the wall blend together and the trees have a seemingly unnatural white color for their leaves. On the other hand, Picasso’s piece is stereotypically cubist in nature. It is a sort of geometric re-imagining which we so often attribute to Picasso, from the neck to the strings to the sound hole. Despite these differences, both artists fall under the category of primitive modern artist, in that they have taken their pieces, simplified them, and created something abstract and original.
October 11, 2010 at 10:50 pm
Matthew Wheatley
The Dessert (Harmony in Red) by Matisse and Guitar by Picasso are both very abstract and present the image in a new way. Picasso’s Guitar has been deconstructed in a cubist style. He has taken all the pieces and put them back together in a new, but still recognizable way. Matisse’s Dessert presents a scene that would have perspective in a way that no longer has perspective. He goes back to a much more primitive way of showing shape and space. Both of these works show something that we know and present it in a new way. For Picasso it was a normal guitar and for Matisse it was a previous painting.
October 12, 2010 at 7:48 am
Scott "Hutch" Hutcherson
Both The Blue Nude and The Dessert (Harmony in Red) are done by the same person, Matisse. However both are incredibly different. The Blue Nude is a more abstract piece, where as the dessert focuses on the single lady eating her dessert. The dessert is ground in fauvism, using different unnatural colors and simple forms to depict the work. It seems that later in life, Matisse decided to go along a more abstract route, as is evident with the blue nude. Whereas you can think of many different depictions the blue nude could have, there are significantly far less for that of the Dessert.
October 12, 2010 at 8:04 am
Ainsley McCullough
Gauguin’s “Yellow Christ” is very symbolic as is takes place in a more modern European era. Gauguin could be making a statement about the Spirituality of 19th century Europe. The bold lines and colors really make the images in the painting very defined. The fall colors in the background bring out the yellow color of Christ. The painting is very simplistic which shows Gaugin’s resentment of industrialism. He spent time in the countryside, probably similar to what is pictured in the painting. It is also a very planar painting. There is not much depth and it appears to be fairly flat. “The Dessert (Harmony in Red)” by Henry Matisse is very characteristic of the fauvist movement in art. Matisse used brilliant and bold colors and a free, uncontrolled manner of brushstrokes. This is uncharacteristic of the era and Matisse was met with criticism at the time.
The two paintings are similar in that they both utilize bright colors. They are both characteristic of impressionism in that neither have a main central focal point.
October 12, 2010 at 8:37 am
Kristin Kroeze
“The Yellow Christ” by Paul Gauguin shows the spirituality and the crucifixion in the view of the nineteenth century. It is a planaar piece because there is not much to it; it seems to be pretty simple and flat in form. The artist relies heavily on the bold lines because those are what define the piece of artwork. Also, the colors in the background cause the yellow in Christ to be dominant and one of the first things a reader sees when looking at it. The second piece, the guitar by Pablo Picasso is a very abstract piece. There is so much uniqueness to it and it is the result of being cubist. It is different that any other guitar and has a sort of geometric re-make. A guitar is very straightforward and has one idea of what it looks like however Picasso makes it different and very abstract.
October 12, 2010 at 10:40 am
tony vargyas
I think that they works of Blue Nude and the African Mask share similarities behind each artists, however they do have distinct differences. The African Mask is a lively and primitive figure as to possibly what African people used to wear on their faces. It’s a great history lesson for all of us. The abstract, confusing face gesture is not very inviting but it definitely intrigues the audience at hand. It is a very prominent mask that will catch anyones attention. Since it is a Wooden Ceremonial Fang Mask, I take it as these African tribesmen would wear this to burials or even a celebratory meeting. This on contrary has a double meaning. It could mean life or it could mean the grief of death and they don’t want to show their faces to the community. The Blue Nude, is similar in a way. It is a painting so it is not a prominent, 3D figure that is tangible. However a very elegant figure if i must say so myself. This painting symbolizes life and a new start. I say this because the body is contoured in a way like a newborn baby. It is curled up in a ball insecure and unfamiliar with the world around this figure.
October 13, 2010 at 12:39 am
Tanya Rymas
Henri Matisse employed a primitive approach to his piece Blue Nude, a cut paper collage published in 1952. Matisse was one of three artists who helped to define the revolutionary developments in the pastic arts. Although he was traditionally labelled a Fauve, by the time this piece was published, he upheld classic French painting. Matisse created the work The Dessert (Harmony in Red) in 1908, during his Fauvist time. Although he created both these works, they are vastly different. The Dessert (Harmony in Red) contains vivid and colorful shapes and distortions, whereas Blue Nude is expressed in one color, with shapes placed together to form a body. The Dessert (Harmony in Red) emphasizes its expression through flat shapes and controlled lines, which Blue Nude also expresses.
October 13, 2010 at 10:52 pm
Jeremy Heuslein
“The Yellow Christ” was created by Paul Gauguin in a more primitive style, one that reflected his Japanese wood carving influences. The planar style also impacts the viewer’s experience as it is more simplistic than, say, abstract cubism or surrealism. But what is great about it, is that in its very visual simplicity, it is appealing but also with his use of background figures, Gauguin complicates his art, telling multiple and complex stories through it. “Blue Nude”, which Henri Matisse constructed in 1952, is also simple in style, although it is definitely more Fauvist than “The Yellow Christ”. The reduction to the bare feminine form, which is reduced further through gaps and implication, emphasizes the style and movement of the artist — also his cubist background comes out in it.
October 13, 2010 at 11:33 pm
Luke Van de Krol
I am going to look at The Yellow Christ by Paul Gauguin, and Blue Nude by Henri Matisse. The Yellow Christ shows women with blank expressions at the foot of the cross, probably representing how the French people of Paul’s century were more rational than spiritual and were ignoring what Christ did for us. Gauguin, one of the first artists to utilize primitivism, reveals this frustration through this piece. Also, part of the cross is cropped, so only some of it is visible. He would be classified as fauvist, classically, because this picture can be characterized by its vivid colors in juxtaposition, contour, and contrast of colors. Blue Nude by Henri Matisse also shows his exploration of primitivism. Following a trip to Algeria, Matisse was deeply affected by this new world of color and wanted to represent this through his work of Blue Nude. He uses contour to emphasize negative space to form this body. The piece is blue to literally represent the color. Also, the lack of details gives room for imagination. It is abstract, figuratively creative and colorful in a way. In this piece, Matisse is successful in representing Algeria in his work.
October 14, 2010 at 8:19 am
Rachel Wassink
“Guitar” and “Blue Nude” are both recreations of known objects. Picasso recreates a guitar through adding pieces of cardboard. Matisse recreates a body by adding pieces of paper together. Picasso recreates a guitar in a cubist fashion, but it is still recognizable by the viewer that it is a guitar. Neither work is completely realistic to what actual guitars and actual bodies look like, but they are both clearly seen as a guitar and a body. Both works have a planar aspect in that several flat pieces have been combined to make the work. Matisse chooses to lay his flat pieces flat onto a surface to cause the work to appear two-dimensional. Picasso chooses to use his flat pieces in different forms so that they create a three-dimensional object.
October 14, 2010 at 10:25 am
Yoshi Kozawa
The Samurai Leaving Home on Spring Day and The Dessert, are constructed through cropping. Manipulating the piece of art through removing irrelevant elements and focusing on the main objects in the perspective of the artist. This construction technique changes the aspect of ratio so that the overall composition is more aesthetically sound. The Dessert also displays Matisse’s fauvist quaity because of the wide and long brush strokes and the wide array of colors, the Samurai Leaving Home on Spring Day, made from woodblocks display unique color arrangement, while also appearing painterly, with a nonsensical placement of objects; both pieces simplify and abstract their figures because of the two-dimensional style.
October 14, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Courtney Goll
In comparing Guitar by Pablo Picasso and Blue Nude by Henri Matisse (1952), one first notices the different styles of the artists. Matisse uses the fauvist idea of vivid expressionistic and non natural use of color throughout his piece, where as Picasso constructs his piece with his cubism and made use of the interlocking planes to form the cello. Both art pieces have clear contour qualities, and the edges are defined. Also, they both have clear planar aspects, and they merely differ in that the cello has planes in three dimensions, and the blue person only is two dimensional.
October 14, 2010 at 4:06 pm
Mary O'Hara
Comparing, Paul Gaugin’s work of the Yellow Cross and Henri Matisse’s The Desert, there are several forms that are smilar while also different. While many viewed the word primitive or savage with negative connotations, Gaugin saw the primitive life to have more substance and purposeful than life that would be spent in a city. “The term primitive or savage has negative connotations, but for Gaugin,a primitive life was in many ways more authentic and meaningful than life spent in the civilized city.”
In vision After the Sermon, it includes a small group of women in traditional dress standing next next to a peacher. His Yellow Cross work shows similar woman in the background which seem to also be of primitive nature keeping with his theme.
“Henri Matisse was building a career based on the manipulation of color.” This can be seen in this work through his use of fauvism involved with different vibrant colors in juxtaposition to each other. Cubism shows up in his work. Although it may too subtle to be considered in the genre, there are different figures in the painting with certain geometrical shapes such as oranges, apples and lemons. This work is distinctly planar where the images don’t seem to be on a defined space. The table looks like it might be physically there while at the same time, it appears that the objects are floating in sapce.
October 14, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Adam Mosbrucker
“Guitar” by Pablo Piccaso is a very interesting and engaging piece. It brings the cubist form to light and attracts the viewers eye due to the guitar seeming to be all there, yet so far apart. WHen I look at “Blue Nude” by Henri Matesse it gives me the feeling of primitive. By using single abstract pieces Matesse brings to life a primitive women seeming to be trapped within this confined space dying to get out.
October 14, 2010 at 7:35 pm
Kristen Brown
Picasso’s “Guitar” is obviously a form of cubism. It is very abstract, but the viewer can still identify the object he was portraying. “Blue Nude” by Matisse is also rather abstract. It even appears to be primitive. They both work with 3 dimensional space in unique ways, and intrigue the viewer to find deeper meaning in the piece.
October 15, 2010 at 3:07 am
Josh Miller
In his piece Blue Nude, the artist Henri Matisse employed an interesting and almost primitive kind of approach to cut paper collage. Henri Matisse was apart of 3 artists who defined the revolutionary changes in the pastic arts. Although he has been traditionally called a “Fauve”, by the time this piece was published, he had become a part of classic French painting. Matisse painted “The Dessert” in 1908, during his “Fauvist” period. Although Matisse created both pieces, they are incredibly different. The Dessert is characterized by vivid and colorful shapes and distortions, whereas Blue Nude was made solely in blue (with a white background), with shapes placed on canvas to make a human form. A similarity between the works is that both The Dessert and Blue Nude emphasize their expression through flat shapes and controlled lines.
October 16, 2010 at 12:25 am
Chris Bradley
Matisse’s works, The Dessert and Blue Nude portray two different cultural backgrounds in which the works were created. The Dessert was made during the Fauvist time; this can be seen from the brilliant colors and also the use of nature in the work. Matisse uses nature in the dining room to create the table and the rest of the setting through visible plants and vines in the work. Although our page says that Blue Nude was created in 1958, I read that it was originally created in 1907, but was burned in effigy at an art show. This paper creation of Blue Nude was much more modest and not as realistic which may account for why it was more widely accepted.
October 16, 2010 at 12:49 am
Yaphet Tedla
I decided to compare Samurai Leaving Home on Spring Day and Picasso; The Yellow Christ. Both show a utopian world. The Samurai picture depicts a women in a beautiful garden looking for something while Picasso’s picture show women serving at the feet of Jesus. Both in their perspectives would be a world that is ideal. If i am a christian i would want to be at the feet of Jesus and if i was a samari i want to be with the women in the beautiful garden. However, as both pictures are showing some characters are unsatisfied about the world. The samari ready to leave while the young individual i leaving through gates. Even though their world looks good they are unsatisfied and they want more. Both are waiting for the world that is before them. Ready to take a pilgrim in search for their souls.
October 17, 2010 at 11:37 am
Korey Dalton
Completed in the latter portion of Matisse’s life and work, Blue Nude, or Blue Nude II, is a cut Gouache-painted paper collage, which is interesting because it utilizes one color instead of the many that Matisse was more known for. This is evident in an earlier 1907 oil painting also called Blue Nude (Souvenir of Biskra) which is more in the deep, colorful, fauvist style that Matisse is known for. This work, instead, has a more planar quality, in which Matisse makes the figure look flat and two-dimensional. The color is bright, providing contrast to the canvas, emphasizing the planar quality.This is interesting compared to Picasso’s Guitar which is clearly not meant to look two-dimensional. Instead, Picasso has imagined a world in which the guitar is seemingly deconstructed and reconstructed. He seems to look at the essence of a guitar and displays what he finds to us.Picasso’s guitar focuses on the contours of the individual shapes that compose a guitar as well as their function. When contemplating the idea of a guitar, I believe Picasso has chosen a more cubist approach, which Picasso pioneered. Instead of using one plane, Picasso has created multiple planes that intersect one another and do not allow the viewer to know any mathematical facts about the guitar’s depth. Similar formal qualities and methods of construction make Blue Nude by Henri Matisse and Guitar by Pablo Picasso interesting to compare. The friendship, rivalry, and shared search for the ideal between Picasso and Matisse seems evident in their work. Both of these works definitely seem to seek an ideal world that is not in reality. Both artists have placed a heavy emphasis on shapes and lines as the means to convey their ideas. They both have chosen one hue and have constructed their pieces from different materials than just paint as the means to convey their ideas. This lack of variation makes the viewer focus on the shapes that create the object, as well as the object itself. Matisse and Picasso have chosen one subject to portray and paint no background, narrowing the viewer’s focus even more. Both break out of conventionality and push limits, creating an unattainable world, which must have been influenced by their times in Paris, as during their lifetimes, Paris was a hub for artistic movements and new ideas.
October 19, 2010 at 8:34 am
Ben Meyer
Matisse’s Fauvist style in The Dessert (Harmony in Red) creates an abstract feel and seems to give color great siginificance. As its vibrant nature and strong intensity allow it to dominate the work, other formal qualities, like line and depth or space take on a smaller role. It also has an opimistic feel to is , as Matisse sought to make this scene ideal and without blemish. The color and lack of shadow achieve this. This style was slightly different from the Cubists of Matisse’s time, as he choose to focus on colors and their alteration, while his cubist counterparts manipulated forms to convey different messages. Gauguin’s The Yellow Christ is very interesting in the way it connects a more modern setting with an ancient event. He seems to be connecting an ideal setting in the New World or some other kind of small village (the way many people saw their new beginnings in America or other dissident groups who chose to live outside society) with Christ and His death. He may be saying that, no matter the setting, humanity is fallen and needs a savior. His use of color here accomplishes its end of creating an idyllic, serene background as the Christ is crucified in the foreground. This is a return to the past, as Gauguin used some patterns from Breton folk art. Also, it came at a time when the French peasantry in the countryside did not identify with the French nation; thus, they remained to small villages like this.
October 19, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Kristin Kokubun
The Dessert (Harmony in Red) by Henri Matisse, 1908 and Blue Nude, cut paper collage also by Henri Matisse, 1952 are pieces of art that use brilliant manipulation of color. Matisse focused on primitive artwork in order to portray the wold as full of rich sensual color. He uses definite contour lines to separate the flat areas of color. His images were shocking but effectively portrayed an exotic and colorful view of the world.
October 20, 2010 at 8:37 am
Mishael Lee
Paul Gauguin had a utopian vision in the “idealized, primitive past.” He was not satisfied in the life of industrialized/civilized European city. He tried to get his inspiration from folk-art. He includes spiritual themes in his painting. In The Yellow Christ, the figures are outlined in bold black lines. Intense colors are used. Shadows are used only for the women. The forms are flat. The subject on the cross is arranged in the foreground and the fields and trees in the background forms a simple pattern. The dominant yellow color in Christ is also one of the colors in the background landscape. Classical perspective is not used. The simplified lines, separation of colors, flattened forms all contribute to express the emotion of Breton’s childlike religious women. Pablo Picasso is a Cubist artist. He is influenced by “primitive” art. Cubist artists show more than one side of view at the same time. In The Guitar, The sections of the front (including the neck and the strings) and rear, interior and exterior, the object and the surrounding space are seen all at the same time. The brown color of the cardboard makes the viewer to think of the original guitar. Each piece is cut up separately, but viewers can recognize it as a guitar when they are assembled.
October 20, 2010 at 8:57 am
Nathan Hodges
Henry Matisse, a man of the arts. He has completed two pieces of work that share no similarities except for his signature in the bottom of the pieces. These two pieces are “The Dessert” and the “Blue Nude”. He uses a unique touch to seperate different items in his paintings
October 20, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Taylor Dalton
Pablo Picasso’s “Guitar” and Henri Matisse’s “Blue Nude” are different types of art in both composition and style. “Guitar” seems to be an abstract version of an actual guitar in an attempt to allow what seems to be a further look into the actual make up and specifications of the guitar. Blue Nude, on the other hand, seems to be less specific as if he wishes to not represent one person, but women in general. The same technique used with faceless masks which attempt to portray people in general instead of one specific person. Blue Nude seems almost primitive, as if there is not much detail, like anyone could paint it, although we know that’s not true.
October 20, 2010 at 9:49 pm
Garrett Cook
Picasso’s “Guitar” and Matisse’s “Blue Nude” both utilize the concept of cubism to illustrate the abstract. It is intriguing how with both the guitar and the the blue nude, the artists oversimplify the object depicted, but also bring their own abstract expressionism into the piece. I do believe that Picasso brings a little bit more of his own touch into his piece. He makes the guitar his own, whereas Matisse simplifies the human body as more of a generalization. He strips down the human body of clothes and detail to the bare essentials of what he views. Overall, I believe both artists express their own visions of the object depicted.