[Archive May 5, 2006]
This week at Sotheby's Pablo Picasso’s (1881-1973) portrait of his mistress, Dora Maar, "Dora Maar With Cat" (1941) was sold at auction for $95.2 million. This was the second highest price ever paid at an auction. Picasso’s 1905 "Boy With a Pipe (The Young Apprentice)" sold for $104.1 million in 2004 at Sotheby's. Supposedly, the anonymous buyer spent $102.7 million in total at this auction.
A previous high mark at auctions in recent years had been Vincent van Gogh’s “Portrait of Dr. Gachet” which sold for $85 million at a Christie’s auction in 1990. These sales are a good “case study” in market value. The market value is what someone would pay for such a work. It is not necessarily indicative of the popularity of the artist although Picasso’s works are well known and seem to be a “good investment”. Some collectors will pay premium prices to complete their collections.
It is not necessarily indicative of the cultural value of the piece. Culture is in the heart and mind and is expressed through art. “Dora Maar au Chat” is hardly on the hearts and in the minds of most people although it does showcase modernity.
Along with others, I certainly do recognize a “genius” in Picasso’s works. However, I don’t appreciate this “genius” in the nearly same way that I appreciate very clearly the brilliance of say Fra Angelico (1387-1455), Michelangelo (1475- 1564), Pieter Brueghel (1525-1569), Jan Brueghel (1568 - 1625), Caravaggio (1571-1610), Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), or Claude Monet (1840-1926) to name a few.
The market value of “Picasso grade” original artwork is out of my reach to say the least. It is the conscience of the buyer to determine if the prices paid are justifiable given their means and other pressing concerns. Nevertheless, these “other pressing concerns” should not consign art to the margin of a society. Unfortunately, high prices overshadow more worthy considerations of artwork like its place and significance in a culture. I though that this would be a good point of departure to briefly consider this “place and significance of art” as expressed by John Paul II in his Letter to Artists (April 4, 1999).
God therefore called man into existence, committing to him the craftsman's task. Through his "artistic creativity" man appears more than ever "in the image of God", and he accomplishes this task above all in shaping the wondrous "material" of his own humanity and then exercising creative dominion over the universe which surrounds him. With loving regard, the divine Artist passes on to the human artist a spark of His own surpassing wisdom, calling him to share in His creative power. Obviously, this is a sharing which leaves intact the infinite distance between the Creator and the creature, as Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa made clear: "Creative art, which it is the soul's good fortune to entertain, is not to be identified with that essential art which is God Himself, but is only a communication of it and a share in it".
That is why artists, the more conscious they are of their "gift", are led all the more to see themselves and the whole of creation with eyes able to contemplate and give thanks, and to raise to God a hymn of praise. This is the only way for them to come to a full understanding of themselves, their vocation and their mission.
Surely, not all artists are conscious of their mission in relation to the Divine. However, it is safe to say that, in their own methods of expression, they do indeed point to more than “material things”. (I have true artists in mind here. Not the cheap “shock artists” who assault authentic values and what others hold dear.) They help to free us in a certain degree from the slavery to materialism. They remind us that “all that there is” is not exhausted in the material dimensions of reality.
It is true nevertheless that, in the modern era, alongside this Christian humanism which has continued to produce important works of culture and art, another kind of humanism, marked by the absence of God and often by opposition to God, has gradually asserted itself. Such an atmosphere has sometimes led to a separation of the world of art and the world of faith, at least in the sense that many artists have a diminished interest in religious themes.
You know, however, that the Church has not ceased to nurture great appreciation for the value of art as such. Even beyond its typically religious expressions, true art has a close affinity with the world of faith, so that, even in situations where culture and the Church are far apart, art remains a kind of bridge to religious experience. In so far as it seeks the beautiful, fruit of an imagination which rises above the everyday, art is by its nature a kind of appeal to the mystery. Even when they explore the darkest depths of the soul or the most unsettling aspects of evil, artists give voice in a way to the universal desire for redemption. (Letter to Artists, No. 10)
Image: Dora Maar au Chat (Pablo Picasso , 1941)
Tags: Pablo Picasso, Sotheby's,Dora Maar
