One of the works I have chosen to analyze is Picasso’s Ma Jolie. The reason I chose this particular work was because of what happened to my perception the first time I saw it. When I first saw Ma Jolie, I thought it was just a bunch of geometric shapes and lines, with no discernible subject. The portrait was right next to Braque’s Man With a Guitar, which had a very similar style, but which at least hinted at a masculine figure. It took a comment from Eli and a literal step back to realize that Ma Jolie really did have the distinct shape of a female figure. It was almost a stereograph-like effect, in that I suddenly saw something that I couldn’t see before. It was a really cool effect, and I thought that I really wanted to write about this work.
![](https://classconnection.s3.amazonaws.com/924/flashcards/2618924/jpg/ma_jolie-141B2F086DB22475D40.jpg)
Ma Jolie (Picasso 1914) – Can you see the woman?
I am considering Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon for the second work, although this may change. I would like to see the new Cubism sculpture exhibit as well, and see if there were any pointillism or impressionist paintings I missed. I kind of want to compare Ma Jolie to a pointillism painting, because there are some elements that I feel are surprisingly similar, but I can’t recall a specific one at the moment. I went with Les Demoiselles d’Avignon because it’s one of Picasso’s earlier Cubism works, and you can definitely see similarities in style but it’s also very, very different from Ma Jolie. Also, it’s probably the most famous of the Cubism era, which makes it interesting to pit it against something less well known.
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4c/Les_Demoiselles_d'Avignon.jpg)
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (Picasso 1907)
I haven’t really gone back to MOMA since the last post, so if you want to read my thoughts, that’ll be here. I suppose when I go again, I would be thinking more about analysis and historical/outside context, as well as meaning and perceived audiences, that sort of thing. I might go about it by imagining a mental audience in my head with art snobs from different eras. Might be fun.
-Jessica Ng