Picasso: the Artist and His Models November 5, 2016–February 19, 2017

Picasso: The Artist and His Models November 5, 2016–February 19, 2017 Across the globe, the period between 1910 and 1945 witnessed considerable political, social, and economic shifts. While these years were ruptured by conflict in the form of two World Wars, the era also spawned some of the most influential artistic movements of the twentieth century, from avant-garde currents to the naissance of Abstract Expressionism. The publication of Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams in 1900 inspired a new generation of creators to develop a deeply personal iconography in order to delve into the depths of the unconscious. Others also challenged the concept that art should be modeled after reality and experimented with the limits of traditional artistic mediums and preexisting notions of form and space. Picasso: The Artist and His Models aims to harness the synergy between these trends and the work of Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973), whose prolific career spans this entire epoch and beyond. Throughout these galleries, numerous paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints highlight Picasso’s extraordinary ability to translate the world around him into radical two- and three- dimensional imaginings. Experimental energy and varied styles served as the catalyst for his creative engagements with friends and lovers as well as literature, music, history, and world events. Picasso’s many personal relationships not only influenced his compositions but also helped steer the ever-changing course of his career. Tales of collaboration, camaraderie, love affairs, and global circumstances bring into focus the work of this prolific artist and his many contemporaries. This is the second presentation in a series of exhibitions in which the museum’s collection and the borrowed works of a singular artist converge to visually narrate a chapter in the evolution of modern art. This exhibition is conceived by Peggy Pierce Elfvin Director Dr. Janne Sirén and organized by Sirén and Godin-Spaulding Curator & Curator for the Collection Holly E. Hughes. The Social Circle A creator is not in advance of his generation but he is the first of his contemporaries to be conscious of what is happening to his generation. —Gertrude Stein on Pablo Picasso, 1938 Throughout his lifetime, Picasso moved in and out of many social circles. His closest friends included some of the greatest creative minds of the early twentieth century. In 1904, Picasso moved from Barcelona to settle permanently in Paris. There he quickly gathered around him a group of people that included critics, collectors, and poets such as Guillaume Apollinaire (French, 1880–1918), Max Jacob (French, 1876–1944), and Gertrude Stein (American, 1874–1946), who held weekly salons in her Paris apartment in support of many emerging artists. Picasso’s closest collaboration was with Georges Braque. Together, they are credited with developing Cubism in two phases—Analytic (1909–12) and Synthetic (1912–14). As part of the movement, they abandoned perspective and, instead, depicted simultaneous views of a subject in a singular image. The pair was influenced by numerous sources—from Iberian sculpture and African masks to the work of the post-Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne. Braque later commented that during this period he and Picasso were “like two mountain climbers tied together,” and for a short time the works they created individually took on a remarkably similar appearance. Their partnership continued until 1914, when Braque enlisted in the French army. Following World War I (1914–18), they separately pursued their respective careers. Henri Matisse French, 1869–1954 La Musique, 1939 Oil on canvas Room of Contemporary Art Fund, 1940 When Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse met in 1906, each artist was already aware of the other’s work. Their art was as dissimilar as their temperaments. They became friends, as well as rivals. The two argued more than they agreed; yet each admired the other’s creative talents. Matisse once called Picasso “capricious and unpredictable.” Picasso referred to Matisse’s paintings as “beautiful and elegant.” Matisse viewed composition as “the art of arranging in a decorative manner the various elements at a painter’s disposal for the expression of his feelings.” One of his goals was to create paintings that appeared effortless; in reality, the unity and rhythm he achieved were far from easy. All the compositional elements had to be placed with great care. In La Musique, various shapes are repeated throughout. A balanced color palette as well as a network of horizontal and vertical lines anchor the diagonals and the curves. Georges Braque French, 1882–1963 Still Life on a Mantelpiece, ca. 1923 Oil and sand on canvas Room of Contemporary Art Fund, 1941 Through an unusual combination of color, line, and texture, Georges Braque pushed the boundaries of representing objects from various perspectives. While he is best known for his Cubist collaborations with Pablo Picasso, Braque continued to create art long after his creative relationship with Picasso ended. Unlike his former partner, however, Braque preferred the quiet of his studio to burning bright in the world of art. The subject of the still life on a mantelpiece repeatedly piqued his interest, and from 1919 to 1926, Braque made at least six studies of this theme. He was drawn to its spatial tension and the way in which it naturally compresses objects on a small surface. Braque further played with space by grouping all of the components asymmetrically on the far right of the ledge; however, they appear disproportionately large in scale, as if they are about to fall off. Georges Braque French, 1882–1963 Glass, Grapes and Pear, 1929 Oil on canvas Room of Contemporary Art Fund, 1941 Juan Gris Spanish, 1887–1927 Le Canigou, 1921 Oil on canvas Room of Contemporary Art Fund, 1947 Juan Gris had great admiration for Pablo Picasso and built on the foundational elements of Cubism. This painting depicts the view from Gris’s hotel window in the small town of Céret, in the Pyrenees; Le Canigou is one of the range’s highest peaks. He painted numerous still life images that include open windows in order to integrate near and far space within a composition. For Gris, interior scenes represented the human psyche while exterior ones embodied the more corporeal aspects of living. Paintings like Le Canigou symbolize the union of these two worlds. American collector and poet Gertrude Stein (1874–1946), who suspected that Picasso might have been threatened by the artist’s talent, once stated, “Juan Gris was the only person whom Picasso wished away.” Julio González Spanish, 1876–1942 Harlequin, ca. 1930 Bronze George B. and Jenny R. Mathews Fund, 1972 When Julio González moved from Barcelona to Paris in 1900, he developed a close friendship with Pablo Picasso. However, after his brother passed away in 1908, González withdrew from the social circle and abandoned art-making altogether. Around 1926 the artist began creating again, and from 1928 to 1931 he helped Picasso execute a series of welded iron sculptures. All the while, his own work was becoming increasingly abstract. Harlequin is González’s interpretation of drawing in space. Given his close working relationship with Picasso, he was no doubt influenced by the artist’s late Cubist style and particularly his Three Musicians, 1921, which is also on view in this exhibition. Man Ray American, 1890–1976 Symphony Orchestra, 1916 Oil on canvas George B. and Jenny R. Mathews Fund, 1970 Man Ray and Pablo Picasso met in 1921 after Ray moved from the United Stated to Paris, settling in the artist-centric neighborhood of Montparnasse. Picasso was inspired by Ray’s recent invention of the “rayograph,” a photograph made without a camera by placing objects directly on photosensitized paper and exposing it to light. Ray’s desire for experimentation is also present in earlier works, such as Symphony Orchestra. This composition is made up of simple adjoining shapes and lively colors, yet it retains significant representational elements; a grand piano, musical staff, and stringed instruments are all discernable. During World War II (1939–45), Ray was forced to return to the United States, and he soon lost touch with Picasso. In the early 1950s, he moved back to Paris and immediately sought to reestablish his friendship with the artist. Jacques Lipchitz French, born Lithuania, 1891–1973 Sailor with Guitar, 1914 (cast probably executed 1915) Bronze, edition 3/7 Room of Contemporary Art Fund, 1944 When Jacques Lipchitz first moved to Paris in 1909, he settled into the artist-centric neighborhood of Montparnasse. In 1913 the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera (1886–1957) introduced Lipchitz to Pablo Picasso, and he almost immediately began to translate aspects of Cubism into his sculptural practice. Sailor with Guitar was inspired by the artist’s first- hand observation of a Spanish sailor’s attempt to woo a young lady by dancing and playing a guitar. Primarily made up of cubes and cylinders, the work emphasizes an underlying geometry yet still retains a degree of realism. Amedeo Modigliani Italian, 1884–1920 La Jeune bonne (The Servant Girl), ca. 1918 Oil on canvas Room of Contemporary Art Fund, 1939 When Amedeo Modigliani arrived in Paris in 1906 he almost immediately crossed paths with Pablo Picasso. The two shared an interest in African art and came to know each well, often trading works. Yet, they eventually drifted apart, riven by a romantic rivalry and Picasso’s disapproval of Modigliani’s drug use and habitual taste for absinthe. Between 1915 and 1920, Modigliani executed many portraits, including Picasso’s, in a style characterized by sparse settings and figures rendered with elongated bodies, oval heads, and seemingly blank eyes. The subject of this painting is said to be Marie Feret, a country girl from the south of France, and everything about the composition underscores a servant’s role—from her clothing to diminutive stance.

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