When sculptor David Smith was attending art school, he worked at a steel mill to pay the bills. But seeing metal sculptures by Pablo Picasso in 1931 was the "liberating factor," he said, in realizing that steel could be his art, instead of merely a way to fund his education, which at that point focused on painting. Picasso's work has had a powerful influence on generations of artists who found inspiration in his rule-breaking ethic, unorthodox aesthetic, and groundbreaking techniques. The exhibition Picasso and American Art visually illustrates this impact. Following is a verbal rundown of the Spaniard's influence as told by painters and sculptors of yesterday and today.
"You must have heard that there was an exhibition of 400 paintings by Picasso. It was so beautiful, and it revealed such genius and such a collection of treasures that I did not pick up a paintbrush for a month."
--Louise Bourgeois, 1939"I remember one time I heard something fall and then Jackson [Pollock] yelling, 'God damn it, that guy missed nothing!' I went to see what had happened. Jackson was sitting, staring; and on the floor, where he had thrown it, was a book of Picasso's work."
--Lee Krasner, 1969
