(Pablo Picasso, “Women at Their Toilette,” Paris, winter 1937–38,
Collage of cut-out wallpapers with gouache on paper pasted on canvas, 299 x 448 cm
Musée national Picasso-Paris. Pablo Picasso gift in lieu, 1979. MP176
Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée national Picasso-Paris) / Adrien Didierjean
© Succession Picasso/DACS 2019)
The Royal Academy of Arts in London will soon present the most comprehensive exhibition devoted to Picasso’s use of paper ever held to date. Comprised predominantly of loans by the Musée National Picasso Paris, the blockbuster show is set to open January 25, 2020.
The exhibition will draw together over 300 works, spanning the entirety of the visionary Modernist’s 80-year career. It will showcase Picasso’s experiments both on and with paper, using the medium as a lens through which to gain a fresh perspective on the development of his techniques.
Picasso is renowned for his masterpieces in the traditionally prestigious media of painting and sculpture, and much celebrated too for his graphic art and ceramic works. However, as this exhibition will seek to demonstrate, he also invented a universe of artistic potential around that most humble of materials, paper. “His prolonged engagement with the medium grew from the artist’s deep appreciation of the physical world and his desire to manipulate diverse materials,” the RA informs. “He drew incessantly, using many different media, including watercolor, pastel, and gouache, on a broad range of papers.”
(Pablo Picasso, “Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe' after Manet I, Mougins,” 26 January – 13 March 1962,
Linocut on Arches wove paper, printed by Arnéra in six passes, in dark purple, then yellow, then red, then green, then light blue, then black, fifth state, 62 x 75.2 cm
Musée national Picasso-Paris. Pablo Picasso gift in lieu, 1979. MP3488
Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée national Picasso-Paris) / Marine Beck-Coppola
© Succession Picasso/DACS 2019)
Picasso stretched the creative potential of paper to its outer limits. He created collages of cut-and-pasted newspapers, sculptures from pieces of torn and burnt paper, and manipulated photographs on photographic paper. He also spent decades working on paper in the course of investigating a host of different printmaking techniques.
“Picasso and Paper” will be organized within a broad chronological framework, touching upon all stages of Picasso’s stylistic evolution. Its highlights will include a monumental collage over 4.5 meters in length, created from fragments of newspapers in the winter of 1937-1938, “Women at Their Toilette.” This spectacular work rarely departs the Musée National Picasso-Paris; the show constitutes its first showing in the UK in over 50 years. Examples of Picasso’s Cubist papiers-collés such as “Violin,” 1912 are also among the exhibition’s must-see pieces, as are his studies for the highly influential Cubist nude group, “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon,” 1907.
One section of the show will consider the breadth of printing techniques that Picasso explored, including etchings, drypoints, engravings, aquatints, lithographs, and linocuts. It will feature such bravura works as the Cubist linocut, “Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe after Manet I,” created 26 January – 13 March 1962.
(Pablo Picasso, “Bust of Woman or Sailor (Study for 'Les Demoiselles d’Avignon'),” Paris, spring 1907,
Oil on cardboard, 53.5 x 36.2 cm
Musée national Picasso-Paris. Pablo Picasso gift in lieu, 1979. MP15
Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée national Picasso-Paris) / Adrien Didierjean
© Succession Picasso/DACS 2019)
A screen will display a remarkable documentary recording Picasso drawing with felt-tip pens on blank newsprint: “Le Mystère Picasso”, from 1955. It constitutes a tangible insight into the artist’s drawing technique, and will be displayed alongside the original drawings made during the production.
Several paintings will be featured to contextualize the paper works. The great masterpiece of Picasso’s Blue Period, “La Vie,” 1903 will be displayed next to its preparatory drawings and other works on paper exploring corresponding themes of poverty, despair, and social alienation. A rare loan from the Cleveland Museum of Art, the painting will be seen in a new context.
A focused section within the show will take a closer look at the materials and techniques that Picasso used over the course of his career, affording visitors an imaginative glimpse into the artist’s studio. This room will feature an early woodcut, printed by hand using a salad bowl as the block; the collaborative photograms that Picasso made with his lover and fellow artist, Dora Maar; and experimental graphic works and illustrated books.
The closing section of “Picasso and Paper” sheds light on the artist’s last decade, which saw him flourish as a printmaker. Drawings and prints will be shown together with a series of copper plates, and Picasso’s printing press from the period.
“Picasso and Paper” opens on January 25, 2020, and remains on view through April 13, 2020, at the Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, Mayfair, London W1J 0BD, United Kingdom.
For details, visit: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/
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