Weeping Woman with Handkerchief by Pablo Picasso

Weeping Woman with Handkerchief by Pablo Picasso is a depiction of despair and pain. The woman represents the painful realities in the world.Weeping Woman with Handkerchief is an oil painting on canvass done by Pablo Picasso, a Spanish artist. The painting is part of Guernica, which is a collection of antiwar masterpieces of 1937. In the Weeping Woman with Handkerchief, tears fell from the woman’s face which was reported to be inspired by artist-photographer, Dora Maar. Picasso’s captured in this painting his feelings toward the events in Spain.

The Weeping Woman with Handkerchief

The Weeping Woman with Handkerchief shows a woman who is in deep sorrow. One hand is at her heart while tears come streaming down her face. Her head is covered with traditional Spanish head covering called mantilla. This represents the ideals of Spanish womanhood.

One can see a line down the center of her face which is a technique developed by Picasso to show different angles or perspectives of an object or person. It is intended to depict the frontal side and the profile of the person at the same time.

The artist Pablo Picasso used oil on canvass on this painting. Picasso used watercolours prepared by hand on larger surfaces. Pablo Picasso's Weeping Woman with Handkerchief (1937) used a new way of depicting perceptions which is abstract painting based on African Art.

It shows the essence of a subject rather than its realistic portrayal. Andre Breton said that Picasso used Surrealism. During his time, the art was influenced by changes in science and society which showed less on tradition and a different view of the uncertainties of surface structure, and these were the underlying concepts on the idea of Modernism.

Picasso was among the pioneers of the style known as cubism. Through cubism, Picasso “examined” the primary geometry of things and the idea of seeing the same object from a number of different perspectives at the same time.

Symbolism of the Weeping Woman

His portrayal of people, like the weeping woman with handkerchief showed a distorted physical reality through exaggeration of shapes or setting things in the “wrong” place. Picasso did not want a realistic depiction of the world but in expressing deeper emotions of human experience through his art.

In the Weeping Woman with Handkerchief, Picasso created a huge collection of antiwar canvas Guernica in 1937 to protest the lives lost in the Spanish Civil War. The name Guernica is derived from the Basque city Guernica which was bombed by the Germans during the Spanish Civil War. After Picasso completed Guernica he continued to explore one of its motifs: the weeping woman. He was the subject of his paintings in the succeeding months.

The main theme of the Weeping Woman with Handkerchief is sorrow and pain. Tears which can be seen all over her face in the Weeping Woman with Handkerchief symbolizes despair. She represents both Picasso's public and private agony. Most of all, she is an emblem of the faces of life and the world around.

She was the victim of Spanish Civil War which Picasso strongly opposed, the grieving mother who lost her child in the war, the terrified peasant, the stunned survivor. She was also a depiction of Picasso’s lover at that time, the artist-photographer Dora Maar.

This is one of Picasso’s unforgettable masterpieces because of its raw portrayal of deep emotions. Its method of depiction is unique too being abstract; it is more concerned with showing the feelings or evoking emotions rather than the realistic depiction of the object or person.

Aristotle's Four Causes

Aristotle's four causes: material, formal, efficient and final causes basically are the different ways the question "why" is answered.

Aristotle's four causes theory maintains that all the causes can be grouped into several divisions. These divisions are based on the ways in which the question "why" is answered. The account of causes are based on the fundamental principles or general laws wherein the whole is simply the sum of its parts.

According to Aristotle, the major kinds of causes fall under four divisions:

Material cause
Formal cause
Efficient cause
Final cause


First Cause - Material Cause

This is the first cause. Material cause pertains to the physical cause of an object. The Material Cause therefore occurs because of the parts, constituents or materials. The explanation of causes is derived from its parts such as factors, elements, constituents, ingredients, forming the whole.

Aristotle cites bronze and silver as examples of material cause. These elements are the causes of a statue. Therefore, one needs bronze in order to produce a bronze statue. The bronze is subject of change because it undergoes changes in order to result in a statue. The changes the bronze undergo include being melted and put in a wax cast to be shaped into the desired form of a statue.

Second Cause - Formal Cause

The second cause according to Aristotle is the formal cause. This cause pertains to the essence or "pattern" of something. The Formal Cause simply points out to what a thing is. It identifies the thing.

For instance, the formal cause of a statue is what it is. In order for a thing to be labeled as a statue it must have the following characteristics: a head, small size, shaped into a person or goddess. These characteristics explain the production of the statue which are referred to as the formal cause.

Third Cause - Efficient Cause

The third type of causation is the Efficient Cause. Efficient cause explains something at the point at which change occurs. Aristotle said that “Efficient cause is “the primary source of change.”

The Efficient Cause is that from which the change was introduced. It includes all factors of change whether nonliving or living. For instance, in the making of a bronze statue, the efficient cause of the statue is the sculptor.

This is because the sculptor introduces the changes to the bronze in order to turn it into a statue. But there is an in-depth explanation to the efficient cause or the principle that produces the statue.

Aristotle believes that the bronze statue is not just a handiwork of a sculptor but more importantly the real efficient cause is the art of bronze-casting the statue. The artisan merely shows his knowledge in creating a statue. The knowledge then, not the artisan, is the real efficient cause.

Fourth Cause - Final Cause

This cause explains the cause of something based on the reason why it is made. According to Aristotle, final cause is “the end (telos), that for the sake of which a thing is done.”

The final cause or telos is the cause why a thing exists. It is the conceived end the thing must serve. For instance, in the bronze statue example, the final cause of a statue is for portrayal of a goddess or for decorative purposes.

The different stages to make a bronze statue are done to attain a desired end which is, in this instance, the creation of a statue. Each step of the artistic production leads to the final cause or the reason to which the steps are done which is the bronze statue.

What is Cartesian Dualism

*Rene Descartes forwarded the idea that the mind and body are separate and distinct. The mind is capable of thinking while the body is not.

The concept of dualism is not new in psychology. It is an accepted concept in ancient Greece. Its relevance goes beyond ancient Greece as this concept was in the Bible, thousands of years before Greece came to exist. The ancient scriptures in the first book Genesis say that mankind was created in God’s image and Adam was breathed with the spirit before he became alive.

Biblical Basis of Dualism

From this line in Genesis, one can conclude that Adam was not totally made of a physical body but more importantly, a spirit breathed by God to him. That without this spirit, Adam would not be alive. This is the basic premise held by religious believers behind their belief that the body merely housed the spirit.

Plato and Aristotle had touched on the mind-body link. They pointed out that the human mind or soul could not be part of the physical body. But it was Rene Descartes that discussed this concept in detail. In his arguments and explanations, he called this mind-body link dualism.

Descartes’ famous saying summed up the dualism concept “cogito ergo sum,” “I reflect therefore I am.” Descartes believed that the immaterial mind and the material body are two completely different things. They are not one. That is why they function differently. They can only interact with each other but not be one.

Mind and Body as Distinct and Separate

Rene Descartes argued that the mind and body are distinct and separate. This is the first point of Cartesian Dualism. According to Cartesian thought, man looks upon his world as a direct reflection of him, his values, beliefs, experiences, conditions and development. Being a rationalist, Descartes believes that clarity of perceptions of intellect is the best way to gain knowledge. The information derived from the senses merely helps us to live in a practical manner.

In Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes explored his beliefs by starting with doubting or questioning his own beliefs so he could arrive at what he thought is certain. In this experiment, he pointed out the fact that he could doubt if he had a body by convincing himself and thinking that he could either be dreaming of it or it is an illusion created by evil, but he could never question the reality of his mind.

This served as the first basis for his theory that mind and body are totally different. The mind is conscious and self-aware unlike the brain, which is the seat of intelligence. The brain is part of the physical body but the mind or the spirit is not. The mind interacts with the physical body through the brain, more specifically, through the pineal gland in the middle of the two hemispheres of the brain.

In Meditation VI Descartes stated: “I have a clear and distinct idea of myself as a thinking, non-extended thing, and a clear and distinct idea of body as an extended and non-thinking thing. Whatever I can conceive clearly and distinctly, God can so create.”

The body could be divided up by removing a leg or arm, but the mind or soul is indivisible. The mind is not only indivisible but also invisible and immortal. The body is the exact opposite being visible, mortal and divisible. The mind in Descartes explanation is a “thinking thing” (lat. res cogitans) and immaterial. This “thing” is capable of doubting, believing, hoping and thinking on its own.

Life and Works of Igor Fedorovich Stravinsky

Igor Fedorovich Stravinsky is one of the most widely-known composers. His works are still being played to this day.

Igor Fedorovich Stravinsky was born and raised at Oranienbaum on the Gulf of Finland on 5 June 1882 (O.S.) or 17 June (N.S.). His father wanted him to pursue law so he enrolled in the course. The strong attraction to music though took him back to his roots. He composed piano pieces. His musical abilities were further honed through the able guidance of Rimsky-Korsakov, one of the famed Russian Five.

Stravinsky befriended Rimsky-Korsakov's son. He spent a lot of his time composing on his own. At that time he was taking private lessons in harmony and planned to enroll in the Russian Conservatory. Fate decided to step in when he met Rimsky-Korsakov, the head of the Conservatory.

Never the one to withhold help to a true artist and seeing the promise the young man showed, Rimsky-Korsakov volunteered to teach Stravinsky himself. Stravinsky, of course, jumped at the rare opportunity.

At the conservatory, Rimsky-Korsakov required his students to perform their works. Stravinsky chose his composition called Fireworks. His music caught the attention and impressed Sergei Diaghilev. He believed Stravinsky would be the ideal person to compose ballet music for his Russian Ballet. Diaghilev commissioned his three famous works The Firebird, Petrushka, The Rite of Spring.

When war broke out, Igor Stravinsky and his family left for Switzerland. When the war ended, he realized he was too far from the important music centers in Europe. In 1920, he moved to France.

The French Composer in France

Diaghilev passed away on 19 August 1929 leading to the disbandment of the Russian Ballet. Stravinsky felt disassociated to his native land due to this. He had not step foot in Russia for the past fifteen years since he left in 1914. He managed to become one of the leading musical figures in France though. Besides, Diaghilev's troupe was based in Paris, and most of Stravinsky's works had their premières in Paris.

Despite his popularity in France, he felt unappreciated. He was commissioned to compose only one work called Persephone which was to be presented in France under Ida Rubinstein and her company. The Americans and the Germans showed more interest in his works than French. He received positive reviews on his compositions from the former countries compared to France.

Success in Europe

Stravinsky played the solo part of his composition Capriccio on its first performance at the Salle Pleyel, Paris, on 6 December 1929. It received much acclaim. The demand for his services grew quickly. The next five years saw Stravinsky performing in a number of Europe's key cities.

It was during this time of his where his works met much success and acclaim that he was commissioned by his dear friend Koussevitzky, who became the permanent conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, to compose a symphonic work to mark their fiftieth concert season in 1930. He composed the Symphony of Psalms.

Little Rock Arkansas Travel

Little Rock is the capital city of the state of Arkansas.  It is situated in the banks of Arkansas River.  It has a thriving population of around 200,000.  Little Rock Arkansas is the commercial, tourist and government center of the state.

Tourist Attractions

These are the attractions in Little Rock which you should not miss:

1. William J. Clinton Presidential Library – this library was opened to the public in 2004.  It is used for research and policy. It also commemorates the eight years President Clinton served in the While House.

2. The Arkansas Repertory Theatre- performances by famous actors and actresses are provided in the theatre.
Le Petite Roche – this French words literally mean "Little Rock." It is situated in the Riverfront Park.

3. River Market District – the market opens from May through October at 7am.  Some restaurants and specialty shops are open for breakfast.  You can have a breakfast to go as you sit near the Arkansas River.

The River Market District was used to be an old warehouse district. It now provides several shops, restaurants, bars and others.

5. The Governor's Mansion – this is a colonial mansion at 1800 Center Street.

6. The Capitol Buildings – check out the two capitol buildings – Old Statehouse which is converted to a museum and the new Capitol Building.  Tours are permitted here.

7. The Quapaw Quarter – you can see a number of interesting residences in this 9 square mile area.  It has the Governor’s Mansion, MacArthur Park and the oldest parts of the city.  Some homes date as far back as the Civil War (from 1880 to 1920).

8. The Museums – Quapaw Quarter has some amazing museums such as the Arkansas Arts Center and Decorative Arts Museum, Arkansas Museum of Science and History in the U.S. Arsenal Building in the Quapaw Quarter and the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History.

9. Heifer International Center Green Building – this structure makes use of eco-friendly practices.

10. Little Rock Zoo – the zoo houses all kinds of animals. It has a café where you can take your lunch.

11. IMAX Theater - The theater has a screen that is six story high complete with six-channel, 16,500 watt sound system.

12. Murry's Dinner Theater - Murry's provides a buffet and dinner theater. The shows are usually funny comedies.

13. The Old Mill – it is a replica of the mill used in "Gone With the Wind." You can watch sunrise or sunset here. Free admission for all.

Cultural venues found in the place include: Education Center, the Arkansas Arboretum, the Arkansas Arts Center, the Robinson Center Music Hall, The Riverfront Park and River Market District are important destinations in Little Rock Arkansas. The park is a recreational facility that provides a number of activities for all.

There are so many things to discover in Little Rock Arkansas.  Being a major commercial district, a number of nationally known businesses have headquarters in the city. It also serves as a regional hub for health care and research in medicine.