Homme et femme 1921

Editor: So, here we have Picasso's "Homme et femme" from 1921, a drawing made with charcoal and pastel on paper. My first thought is that it feels both classical and deeply unsettling at the same time, like peering into a fractured mirror. What do you make of it? Curator: Unsettling, yes, like catching a glimpse of a dream trying to remember itself. I see Picasso wrestling with form, pulling it apart and putting it back together in a way that isn't quite "right." Notice the confined space; it feels as though he's trapped them in a box, or maybe they're trapped inside of him. It's Cubism, but not the joyous, fractured Cubism of his earlier years, is it? More somber, almost… primitive. Editor: I can see that, it almost feels expressionistic, with the sort of angular despair you see in some of the German artists. But what’s the story behind these two figures, or is there even one to tell? Curator: Perhaps the story is the feeling. He's stripped away the narrative, leaving only the essential tension between the masculine and feminine. The drawing is the story, its angularities and soft shades clashing like personalities, and how one sees both tenderness and unease in the hands clasped between them. Do you find it hopeful or resigned? Editor: I guess that I'm still deciding whether I see this work as hopeful or resigned. This piece really does challenge you to bring your own feelings to it, doesn't it? Curator: Indeed. Isn't that the joy of looking? Finding a question rather than an answer, a conversation with oneself sparked by lines on paper.