The Mystery of Picasso

The Mystery of Picasso is a foreign documentary art film, first produced and released in 1952 by Frenchman, Henri-Georges Clouzot. Le Mystere Picasso, its original title, is A Milestone Film & Video and Cinema Scope piece. As eluded in the title, its essence centers on the renowned Pablo Picasso and his approach to painting. In total, twenty-two scenes reveal twenty pieces of art created before viewers’ eyes in a matter of one hour and fifteen minutes. Clouzot implements a unique filming technique to capture such detail; even the filming process should be appreciated as a work of art.

Additional films directed by Clouzot include, Diabolique (1954), The Wages of Fear (1953), and more recently, Messa Da Requiem (2005), to name a few. This dvd from Cinema Scope offers a main menu with scene selections in chronological order by title of piece. English speaking audiences benefit from the option of turning on English subtitles. Though the majority of the film is nonverbal, on occasion the director and artist converse in French about the filming process. Pablo Picasso is actually of Spanish origin; the content of his work is evidence to this fact.

The documentary opens silently, in black and white. A drastic key light from above illuminates the distant profile of a man sitting on a box, smoking, as if in deep concentration. Suddenly, the frame perspective widens to reveal an art studio, with an old cinema film camera and a single easel set directly before it. Overhead key lights also create the luminosity upon these two new objects. The man rises: passing through a cloud of smoke, he approaches the easel. He appears to pick up a drawing utensil and the camera changes perspective to provide a dramatic close-up of his face. We hear a swiping sound, similar to the noise made by a large marker on a poster-board. A French-speaking narrator says, “What’s impossible for poetry and music can be seen in art: the artist’s mind is exemplified by looking at his hand. This is what the artist is experiencing.”

Below is the closing scene of the film where Picasso strolls out of the studio, observing his work.



Clouzot uses orchestra music to signal the beginning and end of Picasso creating a piece. They play for each new drawing or painting. Contents of the pieces include men and women, still life, and bulls and matadors. The tempo and speed of the orchestra reflects the scenes portrayed. For example, the piece entitled, “The Bull Ring,” has brass instruments such as horns, bells, and trumpets playing at a furious rate as Picasso makes strokes with his brush or maker. Most often, the artist starts out with black, curved lines to create forms, he then adds layers of primary colors, suggests 2-D space, and finishes again with dark shades of black to add depth and implied texture. It seems that the making of the pieces was done separately from the sound recording. The music is added secondary to filming.

What I most appreciate about this film is the way the dated techniques add to its already unique content. One can actually hear the rolling of the film, scrolling through the camera reel. During still frames of the art pieces, we are actually seeing live filming which is shaky and unsteady. At one point, a third camera man reveals behind the scene individuals, such as the lighting crew members, the main camera, the director, the artist, and even the set. Movie sets have evolved greatly since this 1950’s era; however, the creative nature of the crews and producers transcend time.

Pablo Picasso was born in 1881 in the town of Malagara. He became a nationalist and moved to Paris in 1904 to the area of Montmartre and eventually relocated to Montparnasse. He was inspired not only by fellow artists in the area, but also through immersing himself in writing, music, and dance; this incorporates him into the Modern art movement and helped to further develop his Impressionistic art. He was “roped to every artistic innovator the city had to offer;” which is why he can be referred to as art’s most “ruthless innovator.” Paris, France set the scene for Modernist innovation because of its liberal acceptance of everything expressive. Fellow renowned artists, such as Chagall and Van Gough had, at one time or another, passed through these same towns where Picasso resided.

This French director attempts to capture the essence of Pablo Picasso making his art. We, the audience, should be grateful for the chance to witness the master at work. This is a dramatic, wonderful peak into the life of Picasso as an artist.

References

Clouzot, H. G. (Director). (1952). The Mystery of Picasso (Motion Picture). Paris: Filmsonor.

Panero, J. (2010). Why Paris? Humanities, 6(31), 10-15. Retrieved from Humanities International Complete on January 25, 2011.