Gertrude Stein and Picasso: The Language of Surfaces Author(s): L. T. Fitz Reviewed work(s): Source: American Literature, Vol.

45, No. 2 (May, 1973), pp. 228-237 Published by: Duke University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2924449 . Accessed: 17/02/2012 08:12
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Gertrude Stein and Picasso: The Language of Surfaces

L. T. FITZ University of Alber ta

GERTRUDE STEIN saw Pablo Picasso's development in terms of a This was the struggle with the problemof what is struggle. seen,the struggle "not to express the things he did not see, thatis to say the things everybody is certain of seeingbut which theydo notreallysee."1 in his use of Picasso,Steinpointsout,is not like otherpainters technique.She setshim offfromCourbet, the foremost exponent of photographic who realismin painting, and even fromMatisse, is probably the co-founder, with Picasso,of modernart: One daythey askedMatisse he saw it as he if,whenhe atea tomato, painted it.No, saidMatisse, when I eatit I seeit as everybody seesit and it is true from as every one Courbet to Matisse, thepainters saw nature seesit and their preoccupation was to express thatvision, to do it with moreor less tenderness, sentiment, serenity, penetration but to express it as all theworldsaw it. . . . But Picassowas notlikethat, whenhe ate a tomato thetomato was noteverybody's tomato, notat all and his effort was notto express in his waythethings seenas every one sees butto express them, thething as he was seeing it.2 Steinseemsto be saying thattheseotherpainters used an avantgardetechnique to express, however obliquely, something thatcould be expressed by any technique-namely, the naturalworld as they and everyone else thought theysaw it. But Picassoused his unusual but to delineate not to enhancean old visionof reality technique a new one. And whatwas thisvisionof reality? Steintellsus: whom ofthetime a feature with oneseesonly ofa person Really most one is, theother features are covered by a hat,by thelight, by clothes forsport and everybody is accustomed the wholeentirely to complete one from their knowledge, but Picassowhenhe saw an eye,theother
1 Stein, Picasso (Boston,1959), p. I9. 2 Ibid., p. I 7.

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for himand as a theonehe saw did exist himand only for didnotexist is a reconstructherest one seeswhatone sees, painter.... he was right, havenothing to do withreconstruction, memory and painters tionfrom onlywithvisible themselves they concern to do withmemory, nothing things.3 not on an epistemology patterned Picasso'svisionis instinctively eyebecauseof has another unlikeHume's-we assumethata profile a onethat everytime we have observed memory-we remember and disclosed to us turned has person the the past, in profile eyed to Stein,was withthe according a secondeye.Picasso's"struggle," Shouldhe,by suggestintopictures. to putfaith ofwhether problem faithin the "otherside" of a call upon the viewer's ing roundness, to be flatpaintedsurfaces human body,or should he let pictures naturalobjectsas theyreallyare seen? Picasso was prerepresent of a the existence to suggest sentedwith the problemof whether or to paintthe to a face in profile secondeye by givingroundness see thatthisis all we actually confession withthefrank flat, profile a humanbeingcan know at each moment in real life,"everything of all his experiences."4 of his existence and not an assembling theselines,Steinsaw along struggle Picasso's Having conceived and as being mainlyfromcubismto flatsurfaces his development the back of unseen:namely, lines.For cubismhintedat something memory fromthe viewer's the cube,whichhas to be reconstructed of cubes. ("Afterall one mustknow more than one sees and one at what arrived Picassofinally does not see a cube in itsentirety."5) in two diwhen he began to paint strictly Steincalls "realization" feature Lines becamea prominent withno hintof a third.6 mensions concept had replaced the threeof his art. A two-dimensional dimensional conceptof cubes. Faith had been removedfromhis All thatwas therewas what we reallysee. painting. cubism from of Picasso'sevolution In order to developthistheory forthepresence forSteinto account it was necessary to flat surfaces, which definitely of many othertrendsin Picasso's development AfterPicasso left of style. do not amountto any linearevolution but to flatsurfaces he did not go immediately forexample, cubism,
3Ibid., p. I5. 4 Ibid., p. 35. 5 Ibid. 6Ibid., p. 36.

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from pathoftrue flatness Stein regards as periods ofrelaxation the stylistic struggle, periods outside themainstream of Picasso's develdevelopment, opment. Of thesetemporary sidetracks in Picasso's Stein remarks,
African art like theother influences whichat one timeor another art diverted Picassofrom theway of painting whichwas his,African consoled Picasso's andhisFrench cubist comrades were rather things that
visionthanaided it. .
vision.'

from the roundedforms showing Italian influence. Suchdeviations

characterized by instead entered intoa longstylistic period chiefly

They wishedto lead Picasso away fromhis real

After course, Stein these periods ofseduction awayfrom histrue tells us,Picasso beganhisstruggle again:
thestrugEach timethatPicassocommenced againhe recommenced butsimply gle to express in a picture thethings seenwithout association as things for seen and it is onlythe things seenthatare knowledge
Picasso.8

work as Theoretically, it should be possible to seeall ofPicasso's "true selection of Picasso" and notmerely as sidetracks. ButStein's light on her important periods is interesting to us because it sheds which that thiscubist-flatness struggle ownwork. It is myfeeling in herown to Picassois present Steinsaw as beingso important style. workand is one keyto hersometimes puzzling shares with which Stein's Thereare,I believe, three style things on which concentrates a style Picasso's: (i) a cubist approach; (2) and (3) a calligraphic what rather than what is remembered; is seen characor nonsymbolic of language. Let us takeup these concept oneat a time. teristics cubism' that was so whatthere Stein was about quickly grasped
9 Several critics (e.g., John Malcolm Brinnin in The Third Rose: Gertrtde Stein and Her Wor-ld,Boston, I959, or Michael J. Hoffman in The Developinent of Abstractionismin of Stein's style Stein, Philadelphia, I966) have noted the affinities the Writings of Gentrtrde with cubism. The comparison is usually extended mainly to the supposed jettisoningof subject matter by both Stein and the cubists. That either cubist paintings or Stein's writings lack subject matter seems to me to be open to question. A number of critics, of course, have noted obvious connections between Stein's writing and the visual arts in general; Michael J. Hoffman, for example, points out her borrowing of the terms "portrait," "landscape," and

7 Ibid., p. I 9. 8 Ibid., p. 35-

Steinand Picasso Gertrude

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it-its had gonebefore artthat all other from different profoundly lackofa focal point: itstotal corner tocorner, from sameness
of of thiswar,I9I4-I9I8, was notthecomposition The composition there in which was nota composition thecomposition wars, all previous menbuta combya lotofother surrounded wasonemanin thecentre ofwhich noran end,a composition a beginning hadneither that position in factthecomposition corner, as another was as important one corner of cubism.10

it lacks ofaction; point lacksa focal fiction Stein's Likecubism, them makes that throughout havea sameness a climax. Her stories theplotis forexample, In Melanctha, thanstories. portraits more Thereareno toholdus.Thereis no suspense. notmeant obviously and of Melanctha liesin thecharacters The interest realsurprises. repetition much through and gradually, is unfolded Character Jeff.
as important Everypage is literally (Stein calls it "insistence").1" paintpartof a cubist page,just as every other to theworkas every is a perfect otherpart.This technique as every ing is as important "The theme[of to present: one forpresenting what Steinis trying new Three Lives,which contains Melanctha] . . . is an essentially there is in or development realprogress one: thetheme of how little mosthumanlives,how muchrepetition.."12 writingshows the same lack of focal Stein'sautobiographical writings aboutherautobiographical is morenotable point:"Nothing than how, whether she is dealing with her house,her books,her or evena good meal she herfriends, herfamily, dogs,herpictures, on impression makesa moresalient has enjoyed, noneoftheseitems thepage thananyother."13 in thisgeneration thatare the im"In the threenovelswritten Steintellsus, "thereis, in thisgeneration," thingswritten portant There is none in Proustin The Makingof in noneof thema story. ofwriting This is theimportance portraits or in Ulysses." Americans can hear or read everyofstories: anybody literally instead "Anybody or everything thathappensevery aboutanything thingor anything
Literature, " Twentieth-Centtury "still life" from the visual arts ("Gertrude Stein's 'Portraits,' XI (Oct., I965), II5-I22). 10 Picasso, p. II. 11 Stein, "Portraits and Repetition" in Lecttues in America (Boston, I957), pp. I65-206. 12 Times LiterarySupplement, April 4, I952, p. 236. 13 Ibid.

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on thatday.... Novels day justas it has happenedor is happening are reallythenmoreof the same..."14 thenwhichtella story Stein gives a of Picasso'stechnique, In her closingdescription thata thingwithout of herown: "[He] understood fairdescription is moresplendidthan a thingwhichprogresses."15 progress only to express We havesaidthatSteinseesPicassoas attempting by memwhat is interpreted not the eye and whatis reallyseenby of an objector a characonlythoseaspects presents ory.Steinherself We are told what a to our fivesenses. themselves terwhichpresent personlooks like and what he saysbut seldomwhat he thinks. which do forpaintings her own preference Steinhas expressed realismbut are frankly not deceiveone by theirthree-dimensional paintedsurfaces: and lookslikeit or to look like something Whether it is intended and doesnotlooklikeit it to looklikesomething it is intended whether thatforme it has achieved remains thefact makesno difference, really on a oil painting on as beinganin and foritself, it exists an existence flat surface.16 according objectsand character BothPicassoand Steindelineate him," Stein saysof interest "The soulsof peopledo not to surfaces. of lifeis in the head,the Picasso,"thatis to sayforhim thereality not interest Stein,forthe soulsof people are to be foundin works soul than like Three Lives. But she nevershowsmoreof a person's It is notthatStein his wordsand actions. he himself showsthrough thatforher the advocates judginga book by its cover.It is simply Afterall, place of importance. cover itselfassumes a particular in real life we do not see into people's thoughts;we know a can person'ssoul onlyfromwhat he saysand does. Otherauthors what to her to limit Steinprefers portraiture exactly be omniscient; to she can reallysee, in the same way thatPicasso limitshimself In her frommemory. what is seen and not what is reconstructed been labelledsubjective, who has so often Stein, Gertrude portraits, senseof theword. joinsPicassoin beingobjectivein theprofoundest
14 "Portraitsand Repetition" in Lecttres in America (Boston, 15 Picasso, P. 49. 16 "Pictures" in Lecttres in America, p. 6i. 17 Picasso, p. I4.
I957),

face and the body...

."7

We cannot say that the souls of people do

p. I84.

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in critiThe word "surface" usuallyhas pejorative connotations cism:to saythata pieceof writing givessurface treatment to a subjectis to saythatit givessuperficial treatment."8 But Steinhas raised the exploration of surfaces to an art,and she admiresPicasso in thosephasesof his careerin whichhe has done the same. We have seenthatin fiction like ThreeLives Steinuses a style whichis objective: it tries to catchtheessence of an objector characterby delineating its surface characteristics. But thereare two Stein styles:a stylethatcan be paraphrased and a stylethatmakes no syntactical senseat all. The paraphrasable style is used in hercritical and autobiographical writings and in fiction like ThreeLives. The unparaphrasable styleis used in poems ("Susie Asado," "Preciosilla"), certainplays ("Ladies' Voices," "What Happened"), and certain short portraits (the second"Picasso,"the second"Carl Van Vechten," "JeanCocteau,""Lipschitz," "the Sitwells").The second style, like the first, has much in commonwithPicasso'sstyle. of choosing theproblem BothSteinand Picassohad to confront We can see the development forartistic of subject matter treatment. it withHemStein's own theory aboutsubject matter bycontrasting ingway's.Hemingway was certain the subject matterwas allin art: important an experiI thought aboutTolstoi and aboutwhata great advantage an-d enceofwarwastoa writer. certainly It wasoneofthemajor subjects whohad notseen one of thehardest to write truly of and those writers or it werealways very jealousand tried to makeit seemunimportant, abnormal, or a disease as a subject, while, really, it was justsomething had missed.19 quiteirreplaceable thatthey Stein,on the otherhand,repeatedly emphasizes the importance of divorcing and experiences. (See oneself from one'sown memories Whatare Masterpieces, My LittleDog Knows Me, I Am An American butParis is My Home Town.) What she evidently is getting at is thatif one has somereallygreatexperience in one's past,such
18 This is precisely George T. Wright's objection to Stein's writing: "Wherever the art of Gertru(dcStein is basically comic, an art that skips over surfaces an(l laughs at people's vanities, the attitude does her art good. But whenever in her later work she trics to probc the (Ieeper feelings, wherever she essays an art of tragedy or pathos, her view of human sufferingis too restricted" ("Gertrude Stein and Her Ethic of Self-Containment," Tennessce Sttudies in Literattire, VIII, I963, 22). 19 Hemingway, The Gr-een Hills of A4frica.

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withthememory so engrossed in a war,one becomes as fighting matter. it forsubject to choose one is forced that ofthis experience even matter, of subject in thechoice freedom complete wants Stein at all. matter in a work nottohavesubject ofchoosing tothepoint importance: matter is onlyofsecondary To Stein subject
and peopleas a waytheonlywaythathe is able to landscapes objects

of anyabout thesubject talked dealof nonsense is a great There hasto use andthepainter for andin itself . . . A picture exists thing.

he usesthatis the of thethings conscious has gotten to be abnormally . ... and thelandscapes theobjects events thepeople

or paints now ... everyone who writes to exist.... Just get the picture

of choice butstyle-the matter is notsubject affirms WhatStein did notcareso muchabout words:"They[Elizabethan writers] a said meant knewthatwhatthey they said although whatthey word andanother andoneword thewords, liked dealbutthey great beingchosen."21 wordwas always nextto theother can of course, matter, of subject The denialof theimportance to someof thatarenotacceptable lead to extremes of aestheticism the "unparaStein'ssecondstyle, critics. the moststyle-conscious arrived Sheapparently suchan extreme. represents style," phrasable matter subject ofconsidering thehabit through first extreme at this language of regarding thehabit through and second unimportant, as calligraphy. of of thetechnique manifestation habitis another This second flat ofobjects surfaces in presenting One whois interested surfaces. wouldcertainly and Picasso were, as bothStein in artor literature, suggest forsymbols to makeanyuse of symbols, notbe expected fact.Languageis perceived beyondthe immediately something Because for theobject "apple." is a symbol theword "apple" symbol; of any in flatsurfaces stripped Steinand Picassowereinterested in themselves, as things cameto viewwords meaning, both hidden stood symbol. traditionally which thewords for theobjects denying decoratively tousetheRussian alphabet began example, for Picasso, called"Deux Femmes He also painted one picture in hispictures. in whichSteinretechniques, usingcalligraphic Calligraphiees" and and the art of painting joiced."In the Orientcalligraphy
20 Stein, What Ar-e pp. 85-86. Maste-pieces (Los Angeles, I940), 21 "What is English Literature," in Lectures in America, p. 30.

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sculpturehave always been very nearly related," Stein explains. "In China the letterswere somethingin themselves.. . . For Picasso, a Spaniard, the art of writing,that is to say calligraphy,is an art."22 on the calligraphic quality of Picasso's Later Stein commentsfurther work during one phase of his career: than tendency calligraphic alwayswitha rather his pictures, in decorating one. a sculptural
* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

pleasure he tookgreat of I9I3 to I9I7 one seesthat In all thisperiod

it wasno longer flat surfaces, torather changed FromI9I4 to I9I7 cubism in thisway himself and Picasso reallyexpressed it was writing sculpture, no, reallynot,to reallywritewith sculpture, becauseit was not possible,
not.23

Stein herselfalso came to regard words as things in themselves. She enjoyed not the meaning of a word but the way it sounded; not the meaning of a line but the look of a printedline on the page. For example, she objected to the use of question marks,exclamation marks, and quotation marks because "they are ugly, they spoil the To Stein, these markings on line of the writingor the printing."24 the page were of value not as symbolsfor objects but as decorations: "The question mark is alrightwhen it is all alone when it is used as a brand on cattle or when it could be used in decoration,"she tells us, "but connected with writingit is completelyentirelycompletely uninteresting."25 As for using words as pure sound, Stein herselfgives us an account of how she fell away from meaning: while verymuch takenwiththe beauty I foundthatI was fora little of the sounds as theycame fromme as I made them. This is a thin-g thatmaybe at anytimea temptation.... of me and it rather got the better This melodyfora littlewhile after of whichI have just spoken, was at thattimethatI wrotetheseportraits the second Picasso, the second Carl Van Vechten,the Jean Cocteau,
22 Picasso, pp. 33-34. W. H. Gass's article "Gertrude Stein: Her Escape from Protective Language" (Accent, XVIII, Aug., I958, 233-244) contains remarks on Stein's interest in calligraphy. 23Picasso, PP. 37, 39. 24 "Poetry and Grammar," in Lectures in America, p. 2I3. 25I)bid., p. 2I4.

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26 traits.

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quantities of porJoeDavidson, EdithSitwell, the Sitwells, Lipschitz,

of Picasso in additionto her portraits Steinhas done two short long essayon him.27 The first is in her more traditional style-it as, such statements through catchesthe essenceof Picasso directly "He always did have something having meaningthat did come call nonrepresentational outofhim."28 The secondis whatwe might in the sound of long o's and the pleasing art,withall its glorying sightof manys's. calligraphic If I toldhimwouldhe likeit.Wouldhe likeit ifI toldhim. wouldhe likeit. Wouldhe likeit ifNapoleon wouldNapoleon and so shutand shutters and so shutters shutand shutters Shutters and so.... thispoem, One can imaginethatSteinwould have lovedto engrave ofPicassobuta tribute as Blake did hispoems.It is nota description that she at that time assumptions to him, written out of stylistic sharedwith him. whichwas totally painting did onlyan occasional Picassohimself fromobjectsin the naturalworld.He did not long dally divorced Stein.Both did Gertrude withnonrepresentational art,and neither herreturn: Steindescribes movedbackintotherealworldofobjects. "I did beginto think drunkwithwhatI had done, thatI was rather Latershe tellsus what beingsober."29 and I am alwaysone to prefer it shouldnever she learned:"Melodyshouldalwaysbe a by-product be an end in itself shouldnot be a thingby whichyou live if you and so as I sayI very and truly are one who is to do anything really And what was it that she began again to began again."3" exactly do? "To get back to the essenceof the thing containedwithin itself."3' of thethingcontained within And in theend it was hercreation
York,
26 "Portraits and Repetition," in Lectures in America, pp. I96-I97. 27 Stein, "Picasso," in Selected Writings of Gertrude Stein, ed. Carl Van Vechten (New p. 335. I945), 28 The longer portrait is discussed brieflyby Richard Bridgman on pp. II8-i

I9 of his Bridgman's book in general is definitivework Gertrude Stein in Pieces (New York, I970). invaluable as background material but he makes no extended comparison between the aesthetictheoriesof Stein and Picasso. 29 "Portraitsand Repetition," in Lectures in America, pp. I97-I98. 30 Ibid., p. 20I. 31 "Portraitsand Repetition," in Lectures in America, p. I99.

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itselffor which we rememberher. Her brilliantsurfaceswill shine Criticswho admire her long afterher calligraphyhas been forgotten. style representationalstyle often feel that her nonrepresentational was a tragicwaste of talent.Ben Reid is typical: "It is sad," he notes, "that Miss Stein could not have reconciled herselfto the only language in which she can speak to us."32 To a comment like this, Stein might have answered with referenceto Picasso: theysay I can Picasso said to me once witha good deal of bitterness, I do draw perhaps theyare right, draw better thanRaphael and probably rightto the at least I have as Raphael but if I can draw as well better but no, theysay it, thatright, choosemy way and theyshouldrecognise no. him,perhapsbecauseI was I was alone at thistimein understanding . .. the same thingin literature. expressing Perhaps we are not ready to recognize the importance of the innovator,even when his work sometimesfalls short of art: Picasso said once that he who createda thingis forcedto make it to createthis and the struggle to createthe intensity ugly. In the effort thosewho follow ugliness, the resultalwaysproducesa certain intensity, thingbecause theyknow what they can make of thisthinga beautiful are doing,the thinghavingalreadybeen invented.34 Perhaps someday Stein will have followerswho will make a more beautiful thing out of what she began.
32 Reid, "Gertrucle Stein's Critics," University of Kansas
I953),

City Review, XIX (Winter,

:)3 Picasso, p. I 6. 34 Ibid., p. 9.

I2I-I30.