Picasso's African Period St. Petersburg). Picasso's African Period Picasso's African Period, which was three years long, lasted from 1906 to 1909, was the period when Pablo Picasso painted in a style which was strongly influenced by African sculpture and particularly traditional African masks. This proto-Cubist period following Picasso's Blue Period and Rose Period has also been called the Negro Period, or Black Period. In the early 20th century, African artworks were being brought back to Paris museums in consequence of the expansion of the French empire into Sub-Saharan Africa. The press was abuzz with exaggerated stories of cannibalism and exotic tales about the
Pietrafesa (painter) Pietrafesa (painter) Giovanni De Gregorio, known as il Pietrafesa (1579 or 1580 in Pietrafesa (now Satriano di Lucania) - 1656 in Pignola, active 1653) called thus after the ancient name of the place of origin, Satriano, the ancient Pietrafesa. Giovanni De Gregorio, or Pietrafesa, was a Lucan painter. Active in the Kingdom of Naples between 1608 and 1653, he was a representative of the Neapolitan school. He was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. He painted an altar-piece of the "Assumption of the Virgin Mary" for the chapel of the convent of Marsico Nuovo. De Gregorio was born in