Pablo Picasso's Phallic Symbol: the Ace of Clubs

In his long and varied career, Pablo Picasso experimented with numerous symbols and motifs, some of which spanned his entire art career, others which appeared for only a short few years. One motif, which is limited to the second decade of the twentieth century, is the ace of clubs. It first appeared in Picasso's work in 1911, and last appeared in 1920. The greatest number of works containing the ace of clubs was produced in the years 1913 and 1914. Although other artists such as Georges Braque and Juan Gris also painted the ace of clubs in their still life paintings, Picasso's stands out much more because it rarely appears with other playing cards, and Picasso only once included cards without the ace of clubs being present as well. Given Picasso's liking for creating paintings with deep meaning, we should not be surprised to find that even something so harmless as a particular playing card may have special importance. In the article, “The Phallic Club: The Iconography and Symbology of Pablo Picasso's Ace”, the author examines the symbolic elements of the works that include the ace of clubs and Picasso's personal relationships at the time shows that this card, for Picasso, was phallic, an image of the male reproductive organ, symbolizing the male generative power in nature, and how it differs from other artists’ use of the ace of clubs.

Several scholars have recognized that Picasso's still-lifes are metaphors for sexuality. One scholar, for example, wrote that the paintings from the 1920s "bear out Picasso's characterization of his work as a diary, an ongoing record of his life, fantasies, and loves." As the article explains, Picasso’s ace of clubs idea of the 1910s reflects his own love life. Francoise Gilot. one of Picasso's later lovers, connected the still-lifes with objects of desire, she said, "..things that are the means by which we obtain temporary relief, intoxication, or ecstasy; food, alcohol, tobacco, or musical instruments." The presence of cards, she explained, was probably a reference to the Cardplayers (1890) by the great precursor of Cubism, a style of painting and sculpture developed in the early 20thcentury, characterized chiefly by an emphasis on formal structure,the reduction of natural forms to their geometrical equivalents,and the organization of the planes of a represented object independently of representational requirements, Paul Cézanne. However, this does not explain why the ace of clubs appears in all but one of Picasso's works that contain playing cards or why none of Cezanne's versions includes the ace. Out of the fifty-seven paintings, collages, and constructions in which the ace of clubs appears, only eleven include other cards, and in only five of those they face up. The only exception is Picasso's Still life "QUI" (1912) which includes only a four of clubs.

Although the ace of clubs was Picasso's card of choice, its coinciding presence in the work of other artists suggests that the symbolic representation he assigned to it was coincidental. Also, in Picasso's first three works in which it appears, all of which are paintings, it is present with other cards: the ace of hearts, a six and four of diamonds, and an ace of spades. According to the article, many of the objects Picasso added to his paintings, like musical instruments, cards, dice, wine, cigarettes, pipes, wine glasses, and fragmented words, call for scenes of play and light hearted enjoyment. The incorporation of these other cards suggests that at first Picasso wanted to refer to the notion of play. While other artists continued using playing cards in their works, Picasso's focus on the ace of clubs indicates that he moved beyond the simple association of play.

The evidence suggests that Picasso, consciously or otherwise, used the ace of clubs as a symbol of his own sexual dominance. The actual club, as depicted in the Spanish deck, is a weapon. Spears, knives, guns, clubs, and other weapons have been historically and artistically associated with men and male sexuality. For example, the attribute of Hercules is a large club. Italian noblemen of the Renaissance ensured that their sword hilts were prominently displayed in their portraits to express their political and sexual potency. Throughout mythology and literature, weapons have symbolized the virile strength of men and the might of rulers and gods. They represent a man's ability to protect his family and his ability to produce one. This is especially relevant during this period of war; Picasso took a symbol of militaristic dominance and infused it with sexual associations. As a playing card, the weapon-club is different; described as phallus, it is sexualized. In Picasso's late work there is a prevalence of swords, muskets, pipes, and paint brushes, which are all consciously phallic. Thus, painting, love making, and creation become one. As a phallic symbol, Picasso's ace of clubs vaguely resembles a penis and testicles and it frequently points either up as if erect, or toward traditional female or maternal symbols. Of the fifty-seven works that include the ace of dubs, only seven exclude traditionally female or maternal symbols, like vessels (glasses, bottles, and vases).

Picasso sometimes paired the ace of clubs with the guitar, his "favored metaphor for a woman... with its sound hole or 'trou' as her conspicuously available genitals," in Ma Jolie (1914), the ace of clubs is quite close to and pointing at the opening of the guitar, under the banner, "Ma Jolie." The words "Ma Jolie" included in the work were Picasso's reference to Eva, his new lover. Others say that it also refer to Fernande Olivier, who was still with Picasso when the work was executed. Therefore, the work was a first song to Eva and a final one to Fernande, since he was seeing both at the time.

The use of Picasso’s ace of clubs is different than the use of it by any other artist. His use of the motif shows a correlation to the sexual dominance in how own life. Picasso's introduction of the ace of clubs into his art is significant in its correlation with his own biography, with his relationships with Fernande Oliver, Eva Gouel, Olga Keklova, and Marie-Thérèse Walter, along with other events of the period. This correlation fits perfectly the statement that Gilot made about him: "Picasso thought about his canvases as being the different pages of an autobiography. The artist himself is always present within his creation." The ace, creates allusions to Picasso himself.