Pablo Picasso painted it…Wallace Stevens wrote about it…David Hockney was inspired to make 20 etchings of it…What is it? A blue guitar. Yesterday I had the pleasure of reveling in guitars at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Guitars and similar stringed instruments, particularly the lute and mandolin, are on display, including a number of blue guitars. The story of guitar-making in the United States is a fascinating tale of immigrant success based on a love sound and beautiful design. Here’s a virtual field trip in case your plans do not include the Big Apple before the Fourth of July:
Here is a link to the Metropolitan Museum exhibit that started me thinking:
If you have an I-phone or I-Pad, you can also download the audio guide through I-tunes.
If you haven’t succumbed to the I-Age, here’s a preview that will whet your appetite
To track the train of inspiration, go to these Picasso Links from the Chicago Art Institute:
At the Museum of Modern Art, New York, you can see Picasso’s Three Musicians.
Wallace Stevens’ long poem, “The Man with the Blue Guitar,” will repay your patience. A U Penn professor has excerpted it here:
I hope you are not in such a rush…
In a lovely return from one art to another, David Hockney created 20 etchings in response to Wallace Stevens’ poem, and you can see and read about these here:
Are you an art teacher hoping to integrate these ideas through a critical thinking exercise? Give your students a chance to create individual blue guitars and write about them with the Picasso-Blue Guitar Art Project:
If the coloring book is your tool of choice, here is a link to a page featuring Picasso’s The Old Guitarist, as a blank canvas.
What color is your guitar today? Is your day green? Share your story.
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