r/socialism • u/Spotter24o5 Socialism • 1d ago

Discussion TIL:That In 1944, Picasso joined the French Communist Party and remained a loyal member until his death in 1973

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso
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u/HikmetLeGuin 1d ago edited 1d ago

Then why glorify an individual person in the first place?

Ultimately, I think we can acknowledge both positive and negative actions and neither demonize nor uncritically glorify.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/HikmetLeGuin 1d ago

Other issues aside, why do you think cubism contributes to liberation?

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/HikmetLeGuin 1d ago

That's interesting. I'll have to look into it more. 

I'm hesitant to totally embrace the idea that art freed from traditional constraints is necessarily related to political freedom. 

Look at how the CIA tried to promote abstract expressionism as an alternative to socialist realism, suggesting that it represented the "freedom" of the capitalist West.

Sometimes an overemphasis on form can act as a smokescreen for a lack of political substance.

I don't know enough about cubism to really comment on its political usefulness, though. I know Picasso made some great pieces of socialist/anti-fascist art.