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collages, papiers collés (pictures incorporating glued- down pieces of paper) and cardboard and sheet-metal constructions (fig. 1). Using a reductive but flexible “sign language” invented in partnership with Braque, he moved effortlessly between work in two and three dimensions, bridging the conventional gap between painting and sculpture by exploring different forms of relief (from very low to very high), rather than working in the round.

The construction technique permitted the invention of a radically new type of lightweight, planar sculpture – often enlivened by colour – in which empty space has equal status with solid form. Woman and the other free- standing, screen-like sculptures of the early 1960s are derived from ’s Cubist constructions and use a similar, abstracted language. But in comparison the Fig. 1 space evoked is more architectural in character, some Fig. 3 (like Woman and Head of a Woman. Profile) involving Pablo Picasso Head / Tête, Céret, Spring 1913 , Vallauris, 1954 Pasted paper, charcoal and pencil on cardboard, 43.5 x 33 cm angled façades pierced by apertures and a shady, semi- Cut and folded sheet-metal, painted on both sides Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Purchased with help enclosed area at the back designed to contrast with the 69.9 x 47 x 0.076 cm from the National Heritage Lottery Fund and The Art Fund, 1995 dominant, light-receiving front view. Private collection. Courtesy Fondation H. Looser, Zurich

Picasso continued to use Cubist constructive techniques after the First World War, initially as a spin-off from designing sets for the Ballets Russes (Guitar and Table Woman (cover), the centrepiece of this exhibition, is a Before a Window), and then during his collaboration in looking back to Picasso’s , herald his late cut and sheet-iron sculpture copied exactly from a paper 1928–32 with the Catalan metalworker Julio González. folded sculptures. During the 1940s and early 1950s, maquette cut out by Picasso in January 1961. It belongs The fruitful reciprocity of their relationship is reflected in Picasso occasionally used scrap metal in his assemblage to an extended family of similar works with which he three works by González himself (fig. 2), which, while sculptures (sculptures composed of miscellaneous brought to a climax and closed his profoundly innovative materials), incorporating a ring and nails in Glass, for and influential career as a sculptor. Picasso was not example. But he made no further planar iron sculptures responsible for making the sheet-iron versions himself. until his encounter with Tobias Jellinek and Sylvette They were produced by artisans in a small factory in David in 1954. Sylvette was the subject not only of Vallauris owned by his friend Lionel Prejger, who acted numerous paintings and drawings but also of cardboard as go-between. Often, more than one version was made maquettes which Jellinek copied in sheet-metal, leaving from the same prototype, with variations introduced by, Picasso to complete the sculpture by painting it in black for instance, leaving the iron unpainted so that it rusted, and white (fig. 3). This collaboration provided the model or painting it white all over, or modifying the angle of for Picasso’s longer association with Prejger and his the limbs. Sometimes Picasso treated the metal like workforce in the early 1960s. canvas and decorated it more elaborately, as with the two relatively life-like portraits of his wife in Françoise Gilot (Head of a Woman), who lived with the exhibition (Head of a Woman (Jacqueline)). Picasso between 1946 and 1953, has described how they watched spellbound while Matisse created his brilliantly In making the maquettes Picasso used a simplified form coloured papiers découpés (compositions made with cut- of the technique of the silhouette artist. He was drawing out paper). The two artists were united in their admiration on some seventy years of personal experience, for his of the spontaneity and simplification of child art and after own first paper silhouettes date back to his childhood. Matisse’s death a bereaved Picasso paid homage to his Relishing this playful activity and exploiting his old friend and rival by adapting themes and methods exceptional dexterity, Picasso continued to cut out Fig. 2 particularly associated with him. Matisse’s late cut-outs figures, animals, toy theatres, masks and so forth to Julio González (fig. 4), where space and form have absolute equality and entertain his family and friends for the rest of his life Sharp Head [Sharp Mask] / Tête aiguë [Masque aigu] abstraction and figuration are held in balance, left their (Mask and Large Head of a Clown). The technique came 1930 (cast by Valsuani, 1960) mark on Picasso’s late sculptures, especially those, like Bronze, 35 x 16.5 x 11 cm into its own as a ground-breaking artistic process during Gift of Roberta González, 1964. Centre Pompidou, Paris. Woman, where the apertures are organic in shape and the Cubist period (1912–14), when Picasso made his first Musée national d’art moderne / Centre de création industrielle form a bold decorative composition. 0362mpm_triptico#####.qxp:0068_trip_humano_ing 29/4/09 08:00 Página 2

OPENING HOURS Tuesday to Thursday, 10 am to 8 pm Fridays to Saturdays, 10 am to 9 pm Sundays and public holidays, 10 am to 8 pm 24 and 31 December, 10 am to 3 pm Closed on Mondays, 25 December and 1 January ADMISSION FEES Permanent collection: 6.00 euros Temporary exhibition: 4.50 euros Combined ticket: 8.00 euros Ticket sales cease 30 minutes before closing time REDUCED FEES (50%) Visitors over 65 Students under 26 with valid identification Groups of 20 people (by appointment) FREE ADMISSION Fig. 4 Youths aged 18 and younger (children 12 and younger Henri Matisse accompanied by an adult) Venus, 1952 Gouache on cut and pasted paper mounted on canvas Holders of EURO< 101.2 x 76.5 cm Students of the Universidad de Málaga with valid identification Woman National Gallery of Art, Washington, Alisa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1973 ICOM members Last Sunday of every month

Picasso’s sculpture was never made in isolation from his ADVANCE TICKET SALES Tickets may be bought in advance by calling (34) 902 360 295 work in other media. Sometimes his paintings project so or online at www.unicaja.es strong an illusion of three-dimensionality that they may Advance tickets are retrieved on the day of visit at the Museum’s fairly be described as virtual sculptures (Still Life with ticket desk, upon compulsory presentation of a credit card and a Guitar). Sometimes they represent his fantasies for valid identity card or passport. The Museum and Unicaja decline gravity-defying monuments on an enormous scale any liability in the event of loss or theft of tickets. Tickets once (Monument: Head of a Woman) – fantasies partially bought may not be cancelled, replaced or refunded realized towards the end of his life when the Norwegian Lecture Series, Picasso’s Late Sculpture, every Thursday sculptor made giant enlargements in from 14 May until 11 June at 8.00 pm. MPM Auditorium concrete of sheet-iron sculptures dating from the “Sylvette period” onwards. Sometimes – notably in the The guided visits to the exhibition, Charlas en el Museo, early 1960s – the symbiotic relationship between given in Spanish, every Thursday at 6.00 pm. Late Sculpture: Picasso’s The Collection in Context 11/05/09 - 30/08/09 Picasso’s painting and sculpture was such that drawing a For other guided visits, please contact: distinction between the two seems pointless (fig. 5). [email protected] Picasso made his own position clear in a radio interview broadcast just after his eightieth birthday (25 October Catalogue of the exhibition (in Spanish and English) available at the MPM Bookstore. Orders: [email protected] 1961). Asked what he was making at that moment, he described his sheet-iron sculptures. Asked whether he Palacio de Buenavista was also painting, he replied: “Of course, and in any C/ San Agustín, 8 case it’s the same thing, exactly the same thing.” 29015 Málaga General information: (34) 902 44 33 77 Switchboard: (34) 952 12 76 00 [email protected] Gallery 12. Working with Picasso. Photographs by Carl Nesjar www.museopicassomalaga.org comprises a series of images taken by the Norwegian sculptor of his monumental pieces based on works by Pablo Picasso. © Of the text: Elizabeth Cowling | © VEGAP, 2009, Succession Picasso, Paris © Succession H. Matisse / VEGAP / 2009 | © Julio González, VEGAP, Málaga 2009 This selection is intended to complement the exhibition Picasso’s Late Sculpture: Woman. The Collection in Context. Cover: © Museo Picasso Málaga. Fotografía: Luis Asín | Fig. 1: © Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art | Fig. 2: © Photo CNAC / MNAM, Dist. RMN / Philippe Migeat Fig. 3: © Foundation H. Looser | Fig. 4: © Alisa Mellon Bruce Fund, Image courtesy of the Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington

Cover: Pablo Picasso. Woman / Femme, Cannes, 1961 Cut, folded and painted sheet metal (base not painted), 31 x 19.6 x 11.7 cm Museo Picasso Málaga. Gift of Christine Ruiz-Picasso