LEE MILLER, PICASSO IN PRIVATE From 1st June to 16th September 2007 PRESS CONFERENCE 31st May 2007, at 11.00 a.m. INAUGURATION 31st May 2007, at 19.30 p.m. Press contact: Manel Baena Phone: + 34 93 256 30 21 Fax: + 34 93 315 01 02 [email protected] CONTENTS 1. PRESENTATION 2. KEY ASPECTS OF THE EXHIBITION 3. EXHIBITION TOUR 4. EXHIBITION AREAS 5. «The Boy that bit Picasso» Antony Penrose, son of Lee Miller and Roland Penrose, director of Lee Miller Archives and The Penrose Collection 6. TEXT OF THE EXHIBITION CURATOR Katherine Slusher, «The Muse, the Minotaur and the Art Lover. Lee Miller, Picasso and Penrose» 1. PRESENTATION Lee Miller, (USA 1907 - UK 1977) was a woman of many facets: a commercial photographer, news reporter, war correspondent, beautiful model and a Surrealist artist. During her Paris years she collaborated with Man Ray. Miller was also a photographer who took over a thousand photographs of Picasso in the course of their thirty-six year friendship. Miller and Picasso might well have met in Paris in 1929, where she lived with Man Ray or in 1930 when she had the lead role in Jean Cocteau’s movie, Le sang d’un poète. As chance would have it, it wasn’t until August 1937 that the audacious American photographer and Pablo Picasso finally met. Their enduring friendship began when Miller came to Mougins on the French Riviera with her lover Roland Penrose. During her stay in Mougins, Picasso painted six portraits of Miller dressed as an Arlésienne. Five of those paintings are on display in this exhibition. This exhibition contains Miller’s exceptional and intimate work relating to Picasso. This group of photographs generally falls into two distinct categories, the first being her more artistic work, showing Picasso in his home or his studio. Some of these images have become so well-known as to be etched onto the popular imagination, even if few people are actually aware that it was Miller who took them. The second group are pictures she took specifically to accompany the work of her husband, Roland Penrose, on his visits to Picasso, as documentation of the many working sessions and meetings they had while he was writing his biography, Picasso: His Life and Work. This book, first published in 1958, is still considered essential reading. Miller’s photographs and Penrose’s texts comprise one of the most extraordinary portraits ever produced of an artist of the calibre and importance of Picasso. Miller was a multi-talented artist, or to put it in the words of her son and biographer Antony Penrose, ‘Lee Miller had many lives and many roles, and in all her roles she was her own bold self’. For this reason, we have decided to include a representative selection of her photographs including her involvement with the Surrealist movement and her fashion and commercial work and finally her work as a war correspondent and combat photographer. 2. KEY ASPECTS OF THE EXHIBITION The Museu Picasso is participating in the celebration of the centenary of the birth of Lee Miller (USA, 1907 – United Kingdom, 1977) with this exhibition, focusing on her professional relationship and friendship with Picasso The exhibition offers an outstanding selection of the photographs she took of Picasso and of his artistic and private surroundings and, for the first time ever, will include five of the portraits that Picasso painted of Lee Miller dressed as an Arlesienne woman A special section, dedicated to the close links dating from 1936 between Roland Penrose – Surrealist artist, Miller’s husband, and one of Picasso’s most important biographers – and Catalonia, completes the exhibition There is also a full programme of activities planned: - Seminar (13th June 2007), with the participation of Spanish and foreign experts around the life and work of Lee Miller, such as: Elisabeth Cowling, Mark Haworth-Booth, Estrella de Diego, Katherine Slusher and Antony Penrose - Lee Miller as seen by... (from June to September 2007), four different approaches to the life and works of Lee Miller during the exhibition, with the collaboration of Antony Penrose, Colita, Marc Recha and Pilar Bonet - Free guided tours to the exhibition (included in the price of the entrance ticket, prior booking required) for both individual visitors and groups - Private workshops for students, in cooperation with the Design and Image Department of the Fine Arts Faculty of Barcelona University and with the photography school of the Catalonia Institute of Photographic Studies (IEFC) The Museu Picasso has been involved in the edition in Catalan of the documentary Lee Miller, a l'altra banda del mirall (or Lee Miller, on the other side of the mirror) directed by Sylvain Roumette The exhibition occupies the first floor of the Finestres palace and the Room 0 (ground floor) and is organised into 8 rooms: - Room A: Lee Miller portrays Picasso - Room B: Picasso and the Penroses - Room C: Visiting Picasso - Room D: Picasso’s spaces - Room E: Legendary lives of Lee Miller (1907-1977) - Room F: Vintage prints - Room G: Picasso portrays Lee Miller - Room H: Roland Penrose & Catalonia The exhibit houses 244 works: - 164 photographs by Lee Miller - 18 photographs by Roland Penrose - 5 photographs by David Douglas Duncan - 5 oils by Picasso - 3 engravings by Picasso - 1 work by Antoni Tàpies - 47 documents - 1 Rolleiflex camera that belonged to Lee Miller On loan from: the Lee Miller Archives, The Penrose Collection, the Musée Réattu (Arles) and from various private collections The Room 0, situated on the ground floor of the Museu, has been converted into the projection room where, free of charge, the following films and documentaries can be seen, while the exhibition lasts: Space A - The Surrealist & the Photographer, The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 2001, 17 min. V.O. subtitled in Catalan and Spanish, showed alternately - Le sang du poète, Jean Cocteau, 1930, 50 min. V.O. in French subtitled in Catalan and Spanish, showed alternately Space B - Lee Miller through the Mirror, Sylvain Roumette, 1995, 55 min. Dubbed version alternately projected in Catalan and Spanish - The lives of Lee Miller, Robin Lough, 1983, 59 min. V.O. subtitled in Catalan and Spanish, showed alternately Title: Lee Miller: Picasso in private Dates: From 1st June to 16th September 2007 Press conference: 31st May 2007, at 11.00 a.m. Inauguration: 31st May 2007, at 19.30 p.m. Place: Museu Picasso de Barcelona Montcada, 15 - 23 08003 Barcelona Phone (+34) 932 563 000 Fax (+34) 933 150 102 [email protected] Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday (including public holidays): 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Closed Mondays unless Bank Holidays. Last admittance to rooms 30 minutes before closing time Prices: Temporary exhibition: 5€ Package ticket (museum + temporary exhibition): 8,50 € Groups temporary exhibition: 4 € (booking required, groups of a minimum of 10 people) Grups Package ticket: 6,50 € Reduced Fee: exhibition 2’50€; package ticket: 5’50€: students up to 25, “carnet jove” holders, unemployed, retired, large family card holders (visitors must give proof of the alleged condition). Free Entrance: youngsters up to 16, aged people holders of “Targeta Rosa gratuïta”, ICOM members, teachers. (visitors must give proof of the alleged condition). Multiticket ARTICKETBCN: 20 € Organisation: Museu Picasso de Barcelona, with the contribution of The Lee Miller Archives and The Penrose Collection Area: The exhibition occupies the first floor of the Palau Finestres and Zero room on ground floor. Its 1,000 m2 are divided into eight areas: - Room A: Lee Miller portrays Picasso - Room B: Picasso and the Penroses - Room C: Visiting Picasso - Room D: Picasso’s spaces - Room E: The legendary lives of Lee Miller - Room F: Vintage prints - Room G: Picasso portrays Lee Miller - Room H: Roland Penrose & Catalonia Catalogue: Edited in catalan-english and spanish-english. Authors: Antony Penrose, Katherine Slusher, Elizabeth Cowling, Sònia Villegas. 200 pages with coloured illustrations. Editor: Museu Picasso (ICUB). Works: 164 photographs by Lee Miller, 18 photographs by Roland Penrose, 5 photographs by David Douglas Duncan, 5 oils of Picasso and 47 documents proceeding of The Lee Miller Archives & The Penrose Collection www.museupicasso.bcn.cat/leemiller Credits: DIRECTOR: PEPE SERRA VILLALBA CHIEF CURATOR: ACTIVITIES: SÒNIA VILLEGAS MARTA IGLÉSIAS EXHIBITION CURATOR: CATALOGUE: KATHERINE SLUSHER MARTA JOVÉ EXHIBITON COORDINATOR: WEBSITE: MONTSE TORRAS with the support of CONXA RODÀ ISABEL CENDOYA WEBSITE DESIGN: CONSERVATION: FERRAN VERDAGUER REYES JIMÉNEZ with the support of ANNA VÉLEZ SECURITY: JESÚS ALCANTARILLA COLLECTION CURATOR: MALÉN GUAL REGISTER: EXHIBITION PRODUCTION: ANNA FÀBREGAS EXHIBITION DESIGN: ADMINISTRATION: LLUÍS PERA LLUÍS BAGUNYÀ and MERCÈ GABRIEL GRAPHIC DESIGN: IMAGE ARCHIVE: LALI ALMONACID MARGARITA FERRER GRAPHIC DESIGN OF THE COMUNICATION LIBRARY AND DOCUMENTATION: CAMPAIGN: MARGARIDA CORTADELLA OTTO & OLAF PRESS AND COMMUNICATION: TRANSLATES: MANEL BAENA TARGET and XAVIER PÀMIES * With the collaboration of: THE LEE MILLER ARCHIVES and THE PENROSE COLLECTION 3. EXHIBITION TOUR Ground Floor Room 0: projections of films and documentaries First Floor Room A: Lee Miller portrays Picasso Room B: Picasso and the Penroses Room C: Visiting Picasso Room D: Picasso’s spaces Room E: The legendary lives of Lee Miller (1907-1977) Room F: Vintage prints Room G: Picasso portrays Lee Miller Room H: Roland Penrose and Catalonia 4. EXHIBITION AREAS A. Lee Miller portrays Picasso Lee Miller photographed over a thousand images of Picasso during their long friendship. It is her longest running body of work and the photographs of Picasso have a more spontaneous air to them than much of her other oeuvre. Over the years, Miller continued to photograph Picasso in a wide range of circumstances and places. Miller’s keen eye captured the ever-evolving Picasso in his many faceted existence as he changed from a contemplative artist at rest to a creator totally immersed in his work or again, to a social being surrounded by friends and family.