Carlos Cruz-Diez: Art Before the Digital Age

Before the generative artists working today, there were creators, like Op artist Carlos Cruz-Diez (1923-2019), who combined the science, technology and materials of their day, to play with our senses. 

 

When digital technology ramped up in the 1970s and ‘80s, artists began to experiment with machine-made art and early home computing systems.

 

 

A show at the Tate Modern looks at vintage technical works that came before what we know today, including an installation by Cruz-Diez.

 

Cruz-Diez was born and raised in Caracas. He was a visual artist, whose interest was on the interaction of color and light. Cruz-Diez was considered one of the greatest artistic innovators of the twentieth century.

Electric Dreams: Art and Technology Before the Internet will be on display at the Tate Modern through June 1, 2025.

 

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 When art critics get together they talk about Form and Structure and Meaning. When artists get together they talk about where you can buy cheap turpentine. - Pablo Picasso

 
In preparation for a current exhibit at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, art historians examining Pablo Picasso’s 1901 painting Portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto, discovered the portrait of a woman under the painting’s surface.

 

The image emerged when the researchers examined the painting using x-ray and infrared imaging.

 

The year 1901, living as an artist in Paris, was a difficult one for the 19-year-old Picasso. He often painted new works over old works, without priming the canvas, because he couldn’t always afford new materials.

 

It was also the year that his close friend, artist Carles Casagemas, shot and killed himself. The two young men shared a studio in Paris. While on a trip to Spain, the two had a falling out and Casagemas returned to Paris alone. 

 

Casagemas had a history of depression and excessive alcohol use. One night in Paris, he invited a few friends to join him at a cafe. He was in love with a woman named Germaine, who had modeled for him but had rejected his proposals of marriage. Toward the end of the evening, Casagemas aimed a pistol at Germaine, shot at her but missed. He then turned the gun on himself and died than night.

 

In the upper right hand corner of the Portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto is an image of Casagemas’ body in a coffin. The woman in the underpainting may have been Germaine or her sister. Both women modeled for Picasso and Casagemas. The woman’s image may even have been a part of the original painting as evidenced by her position in the composition, where she appears to be resting on the same table that de Soto is sitting at.

 

The experience of Casagemas’ death is said to have contributed to Picasso’s Blue Period (1901-1904) with other works that included paintings of Casagemas.

 

The Portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto is currently on exhibit alongside other works in Goya to Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Oskar Reinhart Collection at the Courtauld Gallery in London through May 26, 2025.

 

 

Picasso was a prolific printmaker during his lifetime. He created more than 2,000 prints during his lifetime, with a focus on lithographs and linocuts. The British Museum is currently exhibiting many of those works in a show titled Picasso: Printmaker that will be on display through the end of March.

 

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Please contact us if you would like more information about the work of Carlos Cruz-Diez and Pablo Picasso available at VFA.

 

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March 5, 2025