COMPASSION

Affirmation of life is the spiritual act by which man ceases to live thoughtlessly and begins to devote himself to his life
with reverence in order to give it true value.
— Albert Schweitzer

4/11/2013

AIC Opens 'Picasso and Chicago'













Pablo Picasso in his villa La Californie in Cannes, 1957.























AIC Opens 'Picasso and Chicago'

by thomas connors



Chicago  know their Picasso—or at least the 162 tons of steel standing tall in Richard J. Daley Plaza. But when that still-enigmatic sculpture was unveiled in 1967, its appearance was just the latest manifestation of the city’s long relationship with the wildly inventive and mind-bogglingly productive artist. 

That relationship began in 1913, when, as host of the historic International Exhibition of Modern Art, the Art Institute became the first museum in the country to display Pablo Picasso’s work. 

And it did so again and again, playing a key role in the artist’s reputation and the American public’s understanding of modern art.

Today, the Art Institute possesses more than 400 works by the artist, and with “Picasso and Chicago,” it celebrates those riches and the city’s link to a man who reshaped the way we see art.

The Armory Show did have its champions, including collector Arthur Jerome Eddy, who in 1914 published Cubists and Post-Impressionism, one of the first books in the country to tackle the subject.
 “One has to but look at a series of Picasso’s work,” Eddy observed, “to see how often and radically he has changed his style... from drawing with great facility in Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist manner to the most abstract Cubism; what he will be doing two years hence, no one can predict.” 

The Arts Club of Chicago proved particularly receptive to Picasso’s work. 
In March of 1923, it presented two exhibits at the Art Institute: a collection of drawings (the artist’s first solo show in the city), followed by a display of paintings. The Renaissance Society took to Picasso, too, including his work in group shows in 1928, 1930, and 1931.

The Art Institute’s Picasso holdings began in the 1920s with two drawings: Seated Male Nude and Sketches of a Young Woman and a Man. In 1926, painter and collector Frederic Clay Bartlett donated a selection of modern art including The Old Guitarist, one of the most significant efforts of Picasso’s Blue Period.

 “The Bartlett gift was an important anchor for the continuing interest here and in the city for what was new and fresh,” says Art Institute curator Stephanie D’Alessandro. “With that gift, we became the first museum to have a Picasso on permanent display. That was pretty radical in 1926.”

Over time, through gifts and purchases, the museum became home to an impressive roster of pieces representing the full range of Picasso’s creativity—from the cubist sculpture Head of a Woman (Fernande) to the classically inspired Mother and Child—and a collection of works on paper that reveal every “ism” the artist explored in his long career. 

Featuring 250 works (including loans from Susan and Lewis Manilow, Nancy and Steve Crown, and Sylvia Neil and Daniel Fischel), “Picasso and Chicago” is a rich review of the artist’s methods, concerns, and subject matter. 

Arguably, The Old Guitarist is the Picasso most Art Institute visitors remember.

“Picasso and Chicago” is showing February 20 through May 12 at the Art Institute of Chicago...







photography by frilet patrick/getty images (sculpture); courtesy of the art institute of chicago (painting, sketches); imagno/getty images (Picasso); courtesy of the art institute of chicago (Nude under a Pine Tree, Head of a Woman, Mother and Child, The Old Guitarist)



Read more at http://michiganavemag.com/living/articles/aic-opens-picasso-and-chicago#QoOP03TBs1PMK42K.99



Source:

AIC Opens 'Picasso and Chicago' :: Articles :: Michigan Avenue Magazine

http://michiganavemag.com/living/articles/aic-opens-picasso-and-chicago




 

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