Press Kit
Exhibition
27 April to 29 August 2016
“A Genius Without
a Pedestal”
Picasso and Popular Arts
and Traditions
Picasso
Mucem
1. Edward Quinn, Picasso in his studio Le Fournas, at Vallauris, 1953. copyright : Photo Edward Quinn, © edwardquinn.com
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Contents
Press release p. 4
Exhibition itinerary
p. 6
Commissionersp. 12
Interview with the exhibition commissioners: Joséphine Matamoros
and Bruno Gaudichon p. 13
Scenographyp. 15
Surrounding the exhibition
p. 16
Royalty-free images for the press p. 17
Sponsorshipp. 22
Practical information
p. 23
Press release
4
“A Genius Without a Pedestal”
Picasso and Popular Arts and Traditions
Exhibition
27 April to 29 August 2016
Mucem J4, level 2, 1 150 m2
With the generous
support of
the Musée National
Picasso-Paris
With support from the La Fondation
PwC France et Afrique Francophone
pour la Culture et la Solidarité,
founding sponsor of the Mucem
In partnership with :
Press release
5
General commissioners
Scenography Joséphine Matamoros
Chief Curator of Heritage, former Director of
the Musée d’Art Moderne de Céret,
Director of the Musée d’Art Moderne de Collioure
Jacques Sbriglio
Architect, Scenographer
Bruno Gaudichon
Chief Curator of Heritage,
Curator of La Piscine – Musée d’Art et d’Industrie
André Diligent in Roubaix
Émilie Girard
Curator of Heritage,
Director of the Centre for Conservation and
Resources of the Mucem
“Art obliges the artist not to keep himself apart;
it subjects him to the most humble and
the most universal truth. That is why true artists
scorn nothing…”
Albert Camus. From his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in Literature, delivered in Oslo, Sweden on 10 December 1957.
From 27 April to 29 August 2016, the Mucem presents a major
exhibition of 270 works demonstrating how Picasso, both established in his era and attached to his roots, nurtured his influences
stemming from the popular arts and traditions. The exhibition
itinerary, divided into four parts, mirrors the artist’s masterpieces
with reference-objects from the rich collections of the Mucem.
Benefiting from exceptional loans and support from public and
private collections, both French and international, including a rich
partnership with the Musée National Picasso-Paris, the exhibition
brings together essential and iconic works, placed in perspective
with surprising discoveries.
After evoking the sacred aspects of these primarily Spanish
sources, the exhibition highlights how the artist drew inspiration
from his memories. The themes and motifs, reoccurring memories in Picasso’s work, are thus illustrated by examples that represent his particular fascinations with the worlds of adornment
(Jacqueline with Mantilla), music, the circus (Blue Acrobat), bullfighting (Bull’s Head), and toys.
The exhibition is built around Picasso’s encounters with various
artisans, whose established expertise nourished his own experience and research. Thus the artist made successive incursions into the domains of woodworking (Paco Durrio), ceramics
(Suzanne and Georges Ramié at the studio Madoura), silversmithing (François Hugo), linocutting (Hidalgo Arnera), filmmaking
(Robert Picault), textiles (Marie Cuttoli), and sheet-metal (Lionel
Prejger). His utilisation of the everyday in its most prosaic (discarded items), but also most personal dimensions is expressed
by a very beautiful group of constructions or assembled sculptures (Baboon and Young) where the gleaned objects and recycled materials are easily recognised.
Twentieth century art often toyed with its origins to construct a
new relationship with the world. Picasso’s roots were multiple.
Among these foundations, the environment of his childhood was
very fertile ground. The everyday objects that Georges Henri
Rivière honoured in the Musée des Arts et Traditions Populaires,
which he founded in 1937, infinitely influenced the affective and
aesthetic background of the artist. The collections of the Mucem
that punctuate this exhibition itinerary were chosen from those
acquired by Georges Henri Rivière, like so many echoes of the
work of Picasso. With this knowledge at once intimate and universal, Picasso asserted himself as the true signal of a new popular
culture.
Exhibition itinerary
2. Pablo Picasso, Parodia de Exvoto La Virgen
Aparenciéndose a Miguel Utrillo, Accidentado,
1899-1900 © Succession Picasso 2016
6
6. [Collections du Mucem] Comb, Spain,
early 20th century. © Mucem
3. Pablo Picasso, Portrait de Paule
de Lazerme en Catalane, 19 August 1954.
© Succession Picasso 2016
“A genius without a pedestal”: Michel Leiris used this expression in 1988
in the penultimate of the many texts that he wrote about Picasso.
Four sections frame this exhibition:
– Picasso and everyday life: roots
– Cherished themes and objects
– Techniques and their appropriation
– The object-material: assembled sculptures
Picasso and everyday life: roots
In Picasso’s work, especially in compositions from his youth, daily
life imposed itself as an essential theme and environment. Yet
later, as the artist reflected upon his memories and integrated
them into his vocabulary with the hindsight of passing time, he
rendered sacred these marks of a past he knew was over, but
to which he attributed an essential part of his own construction. Thus reclaimed as roots, along with learning and academic
knowledge, these subjects and techniques obviously took on
an entirely new dimension than mere evidence of a restorative
nostalgia. For example, even in the world of painting, knowledge
of popular ex-votos was expressed very early, like the small
ex-voto from the Museu Picasso Barcelona (exceptionally on loan
for this exhibition). These overt references to popular arts and
traditions, still very much alive at the dawn of the 20th century,
impose the force of their ambition opening an exhibition itinerary
that in turn outlines the thematic fields and the technical applications of this inspiration. (fig. 2)
Exhibition itinerary
4. Pablo Picasso, Portrait de Lee Miller
en arlésienne, 20 September 1937.
© Succession Picasso 2016
7
7. Pablo Picasso, Mandolin and Clarinet,
Autumn 1913. © Succession Picasso 2016
8. Pablo Picasso, Blue Acrobat, November 1929.
© Succession Picasso 2016
Cherished themes and objects
Popular hairstyles and costumes
Even late in Picasso’s career, many portraits contained elements
of traditional costumes. Surrounding the emblematic mantilla, the
motif of women’s headdresses abounds in his painted, drawn, and
engraved works. The woman thus adorned, claims the status of
icon of Hispanidad. And while taking advantage of the wonderfully graphic opportunities afforded by lace and netting, Picasso
also knowingly entered into this material game with a perfect
understanding of the social codes that these accessories signal, evoking in turn the modesty of virgins in white veils and the
seduction of the gazes piercing through the black arabesques
of the curving patterns (fig. 5).
On a different and now masculine note, early on Picasso appropriated the barretina, the traditional hat indelibly inscribed in the
virile image of popular Catalan mythology, to construct remarkable cubist portraits that are thus enlisted in the primitivist quest
and drawn, moreover, to the stimulating energy of African art
(fig. 3, 4).
Musical instruments
The guitar is of course a motif of Hispanic identity and the icon
of popular music that accompanied the childhood, and later
the bohemian youth of Picasso in Barcelona. It is the source of
essential works such as the cubist collages and was certainly
among the emblems that inspired the artist, and which he evoked
throughout his career.
A three dimensional object, a painted motif, the favourite possession of the acrobats who populate Picasso’s work, the guitar
is not alone in this silent orchestra. The mandolin, for example,
appears frequently as in the superb construction that the Musée
Picasso Paris agreed to lend to the exhibition (fig. 7).
The circus
The importance of the circus in Picasso’s work is a given that
was established very early and which perennially inspired the
painter. A veritable event and popular gathering, this spectacle
aroused in Picasso an enthusiasm that was never extinguished
and appears in very technically diverse creations. The figures
of acrobats in the rose and blue periods would mark all circus
iconography of the 20th century by emphasising this plebeian
aristocracy, a strong and new image. The motif of the ring and
the rituals of the traveling show clearly echo the world and space
of bullfighting ring (fig. 8).
With Picasso, tied to the circus there is a whole host of masks and
popular parades that span the artist’s work. And while the theme
of the circus tent and its implicit bohemia haunt all of modern
painting in the wake particularly of impressionism, in Picasso’s
work it takes on an exceptional magnitude (fig. 9, next page).
Exhibition itinerary
9. Pablo Picasso, Mask, Paris 1919.
© Succession Picasso 2016
8
11. Pablo Picasso, Portrait de toréador,
3 October 1947. © Succession Picasso 2016
Bullfighting
A truly representative and iconic motif of eternal Spain, of Spain
the martyr and Spain forsaken, bullfighting takes on, especially
from the 1930s and after World War II, an essential role in inspiring Picasso. This true rite of Hispanidad – and thus of the artist’s
identity– is at the heart of this itinerary, with all the richness of
the techniques (painting, sculpture, drawing, engraving, ceramics,
posters…) that Picasso used to evoke and invoke it (fig. 11).
There are obviously many works evoking the bullfighting scene
as a ritual and creative space, but others address this or that
detail of the tradition, taurine movements or construct a veritable gallery of portraits of the toreros. This ensemble constitutes
almost an exhibition within the exhibition by focussing on Picasso’s attachment to these dramaturgical rendezvous for which he
even created a tradition in Vallauris, with its posters, its media
gatherings and its guests, until the final sequence and its illicit
killing (fig. 10).
In this presentation, the lovely film by the ceramicist Robert
Picault (1919-2000), designed with Picasso and nourished by
his cut-outs, creates a very effective animation of poetry and
invention.
The toys
For each of his children, Picasso made toys in a variety of materials. The toy is also a signifying material element that appears in
portraits, often by employing very simple objects, like the traditional pull toy, a horse in wood and paper mache. Family collections preserve often moving evidence of this interest in the playful
and the world of childhood. Some cut-outs, for example, with their
feigned naivety, seem almost like the drawings of children with
the active use of coloured pencils.
10. Pablo Picasso, Le matador, Mougins,
4 October 1970. © Succession Picasso 2016
Moreover, these games and toys can be the echoes or resonances of other works by the artist, especially in the world of
sculpture. Thus Lionel Prejger, evokes in his memoirs that the
first sculpture in metal that he made with Picasso was a horse
on wheels, from pipes, that the artist intended for Bernard, his
grandson. And for one of his most famous, constructions, Baboon
and Young, Picasso used his son Claude’s small cars to construct
the animal’s head. Such works bring forth this formal question of
the utilisation of objects or technical gestures from daily life in the
statuary creation that concludes the exhibition itinerary (fig. 16).
Pigeon keeping
The appearance of the dove in the political imagery of the Cold
War is certainly linked to Picasso’s involvement in the French
Communist Party. And the success of this icon contributed lastingly to creating his image as a popular artist. But this motif can
also be tied to the widespread tradition of pigeon keeping in
Spain. A work by Picasso’s father, depicting in a very naturalistic
style the interior of a dovecote, anchors this subject in the Spanish childhood of the painter and, at La Californie, in the hills of
Cannes the artist built his own dovecote, the source of a remarkable series of canvases now held in Barcelona. During the same
period, cutting soft slab like sheets of paper, Picasso constructed
pigeons in folds, a sort of Japanese origami. Other birds were
born from deforming, both rapidly and accurately, soft bottles
that Jules Agard had just turned in the Atelier Madoura (fig. 15).
Exhibition itinerary
16. Pablo Picasso, Girl with a Hoop, 1919.
© Succession Picasso 2016
9
18. Pablo Picasso, Woman Sitting,
Autumn 1930.© Succession Picasso 2016
15. Pablo Picasso, Bird (Pigeon),
7 January 1953. © Succession Picasso 2017
19. Pablo Picasso, Pitcher The Painter
and Two Models, 1954. © Succession Picasso 2016
Techniques and their appropriation
Particularly in the years following World War II, Picasso, on the
occasion of fortuitous or intentional encounters, became interested in techniques that nourished his artistic research. Interestingly, each of these shared adventures, with a craft or a very
specific profession, is linked to a person or workshop from which
Picasso knew how to both educate and liberate himself very
quickly.
Wood
Marked by his youthful encounter with Paco Durrio (1868-1940),
Picasso long remembered the work of Gauguin that was introduced to him by his Basque friend. Those in wood are undoubtedly the part of this heritage that most affected the young
Picasso. A few old pieces are still preserved and perfectly illustrate the roots of this dream of “art in everything”. In addition, at
the Musée Picasso in Paris, a little known ensemble of works in
wood carved with a knife invites disturbing perspectives with
so-called shepherds’ art (canes, small objects…) that Picasso certainly must have known, especially after his experiences in Gosol
and Horta that subsequently opened the way for cubism (fig. 18).
Ceramics
Utilitarian ceramics (pottery) were part of Picasso’s childhood
environment prior to the arrival of manufactured metal utensils
and containers. Very early on, the artist made painted plates and
tiles and even decorated his first pignate upon arriving in Paris.
In the 1920s, with Jean Van Dongen, the idea for a series of
decorated vases confirmed his true interest. In the late 1940s,
Picasso began working at the Atelier Madoura hosted by Jean
and Suzanne Ramié, in Vallauris on the Côte d’Azur, a small communist city with a pottery tradition dating back to antiquity. It was
there that he created his body of ceramic work, rich from the
thousands of references, which would definitively shake-up the
world of ceramic art (fig. 19).
To emphasis the anchoring of this work in clay in origins remerging from the ancillary forms of his childhood, Picasso rendered
certain sacred, using them repeatedly. Examples include the pignates that he covered with patterns from antiquity, the pans that
he transformed into theatre masks, the gazelles or kiln shelves on
which he painted portraits evoking those from Faiyum Egypt, the
gourdes or gus transformed into strange insects, and tomettes
- floor tiles as supports for ancient or bullfighting scenes. Elsewhere, true two-sided sculptures continued the major Picassoan
themes of the moment like the owl. In these sacralisations of popular references, the relationship to the earth is often particularly
strong and obvious (fig. 22, next page).
Another aspect of this work seemed to toy with the production
of ceramic-souvenirs which then animated the stalls of Vallauris
with their flashy enamels that Picasso appropriated for example in his constructions of fish on traditional Louis XV shaped
plates. A practically unknown set of bevelled plates, decorated
like quaint souvenirs of the potters’ city, also reflects these surprising resonances.
Exhibition itinerary
22. Visage IV, Vallauris, 12 August 1950.
© Succession Picasso 2016
10
26. Jacqueline at the Easel, 1958.
© Succession Picasso 2016
Silversmithing
The tradition of silversmithing, inherited from the Arab-Andalusian
past, holds an important place in Spanish crafts. An encounter
with silversmith François Hugo who had an atelier near Aix-enProvence associated with artists and fashion designers, enabled
Picasso to create a remarkable ensemble of large dishes and
fruit bowls or compotiers in silver decorated using the technique
of repoussé metal.
This sequence immediately followed the evocation of ceramics,
because the two experiences are related. Indeed, the large silver
dishes have their equivalents in white earthenware produced by
Madoura. But the change of material induces a real shift that
proves, in a spectacular manner, the porosity between these
forays into the world of crafts and the gestures of the artist,
engraver or even sculptor (fig. 26).
Linocutting
Already mentioned in the sequence devoted to bullfighting with
a few posters produced for Vallauris’s bullfighting season, this
technique was used by Picasso, particularly in the atelier of
Hidalgo Arnéra, whom he also met on the Côte d’Azur. An entire
set of posters for the annual ceramics exhibitions in Vallauris is
particularly striking, at the same time that they appear with their
regularity, to be enlisting Picasso into the artisanal community
of Vallaurian potters (fig. 29).
29. Pablo Picasso, Le Banderillero, 26 August 1959.
© Succession Picasso 2016
In fact this technique, through the effects of colour contrasts, is
built upon the legacy of xylography or woodcuts. Approaching
an ensemble of popular imagery, Picasso’s linocuts admittedly
express this debt, but they also demonstrate all the daring of an
artist who transforms without restraining his model.
Textiles
Closely related to engraving in the effects of colourful planes that
he arranges with very simple and often monochromatic designs,
Picasso’s work in the art of carpet weaving, which he tackled in
partnership with the atelier of Marie Cuttoli (1879-1973), constitutes a very bright and ambitious ensemble. The interesting
perspectives make it possible to tie this production to the world
of popular carpets – for example the Moroccan Boucherouite
rugs – with their simple dyes, colourful variations and material
effects (fig. 30).
Metal and concrete
Encounters with Lionel Prejger and Carl Nesjar brought forth
Picasso’s extraordinary production of sculptures in sheet metal
and engraved concrete. In their simplistic graphic design and
implementation, these sculptures toy with disturbing resemblances to the new media advertising which thus invades the
public space, and in which some of these works occasionally
find their culmination in proportions hence ambitious, even
monumental.
Exhibition itinerary
30. Pablo Picasso, Lock, circa 1955.
© Succession Picasso 2016
11
31. Pablo Picasso, Bull’s Head, 1942.
© Succession Picasso 2016
33. Pablo Picasso, Baboon and Young, 1951.
© Succession Picasso 2016
The object-material: the assembled sculptures
During his years in Vallauris, Picasso made a large number of
assembled sculptures, or constructions, according to principles
that he had already initiated before the war and that subsequently
revolutionised the world of three-dimensional art. Some of these
works appear in the thematic sections (for example Bull’s Head
for bullfighting, Baboon and Young for toys) but it seemed interesting to build, to conclude this itinerary, a true gallery of constructions, which are easily identifiable, the objects gleaned and
the materials recycled. (fig. 31 et 33)
In this Picassoan museum, these sources of prosaic inspiration
give the exhibition a spectacular and significant end with this
iconoclastic ennoblement of pipes, baskets, jars, toys… given a
new life. A fine echo of the views the Musée National des Arts et
Traditions Populaires, dedicated to collections until then ignored
and even scorned, offered visitors during the same period.
Exhibition commissioners
12
Joséphine Matamoros
Bruno Gaudichon
Chief Curator of Heritage, former Director of the Musée d’Art
Moderne de Céret, Director of the Musée d’Art Moderne de
Collioure.
Chief Curator of Heritage, Curator of La Piscine-Musée d’Art et
d’Industrie André Diligent in Roubaix.
Joséphine Matamoros directed the Musée d’Art Moderne de
Céret from 1986 to 2012, the Musée d’Art Moderne de Collioure
since 1987 and guided the renovation and expansion of the Musée
de Céret. She spearheaded an international and trans-frontier
cultural policy, thus giving great clarity to the history of the plastic
arts focusing on Céret, Collioure and Cadaquès, three cities that
hosted the greatest artists of the twentieth century: Picasso,
Braque, Juan Gris, Soutine, Chagall, Matisse, Derain, Camoin,
Marquet, Survage, Dali and Duchamp. She continues to explore
this subject of study and research through publications and cultural activities. She has organised and curated numerous exhibitions of modern and contemporary art, including: A. Herbin,
Antoni Tàpies, Raoul Haussman, Bernard Pages, Ben, Claude
Viallat, Joan Brossa, Richard Serra, Joan Mirò, Simon Hantai,
Shirley Jaffe, Chaïm Soutine, Sarkis, Raoul Duffy, E. Pignon, Vincent Bioulès, Riera i Aragò, Léopold Survage, Marc Chagall and
in particular on Matisse and fauvism, and Picasso and cubism.
Joséphine Matamoros and Bruno Gaudichon were co-commissioners of the exhibitions Picasso. Objets de Peintre / Peintre
d’Objets in Céret and Roubaix in 2004, and Picasso Céramiste
et la Méditerranée in Aubagne, Sèvres and Washington in 2013,
2014 and 2015.
Émilie Girard
Curator of Heritage, Director of the Centre for Conservation and
Resources of the Mucem.
During her studies in art history and ethnology, Emilie Girard
specialised in late antiquity and began research on the Egyptian
Bible and its different Coptic versions. Curator of Heritage, she
joined the team of the Mucem in 2006, upon graduation from the
Institut National du Patrimoine. In 2008, she became the director
of the collections department of the museum where she was in
charge of the transfer from Paris to Marseille of all the collections
and holdings, as well as developing the Centre for Conservation
and Resources (CCR), which she currently directs and for which
she coordinates the program of temporary exhibitions. She has
participated in the curation of several Mucem exhibitions (Gallery of the Mediterranean, Food…) and is also in charge of the
“Beliefs and Religions” section of the museum. As such she has
published several articles devoted to the religious objects in the
museum’s collections.
Interview with the commissioners
of the exhibition Joséphine Matamoros
and Bruno Gaudichon
13
What popular arts and traditions are echoed in the work of Picasso?
B. G. and J.M.— Picasso was very marked by his roots. The perennial nature of these popular sources intervenes in two ways: through the reoccurring themes in his work, related to popular and cultural practices (the
mantilla worn by Spanish women, musical instruments, the circus, bullfighting, pigeon keeping, etc.), but also
by this preoccupation that animated him at the end of the war, of developing his work through forays into
new domains like arts and crafts (ceramics, silversmithing, linocutting, etc.). Lastly, it seemed important to
us to demonstrate his approach to sculpture, particularly after the war, in a period for ripe for research: thus
he created constructions using found objects, simple popular objects. One of the most famous is the Bull’s
Head (1942), created with a handlebar and a bicycle seat. What is interesting is that he does not set out to
make the work; it is the found object that becomes the stimulus. The point is not for him to make something,
but to translate the evocative power of the object.
“The point is not for him to make something,
but to translate the evocative power of the object.”
In the exhibition, how will the mirroring of works by Picasso with objects
from the collections of the Mucem operate?
B. G. and J.M.— Showing the objects that directly inspired Picasso is obviously impossible because they were
swallowed into the works themselves. But we have been able to find in the collections of the Mucem objects
that can fully illustrate his preoccupations. So, in each exhibition hall, a few objects will be presented first,
echoing the theme to be addressed. Finally, recall that Picasso has ties to the Mucem: he knew Georges
Henri Rivière, the founder of the Musée des Arts et Traditions Populaires (whose collections are now at the
Mucem), at a time when the popular object was rightly being reconsidered: “museum-ified” by Rivière and
rendered sacred by Picasso through its integration into his work.
This exhibition proposes a new way of interpreting the work of Picasso…
B. G. and J.M. — Clearly, retrospective for artists like Picasso, no longer really makes sense. Thus we propose
a new way of interpreting his work that has never been explored. This question of the importance of popular
arts and traditions in the artist’s work allows us to create a new approach to the exploration of Picasso.
The exhibition blends masterpieces with pieces that have never been seen.
A few examples?
B. G. and J.M.— We indeed have important and famous works, particularly in the hall of assembled sculptures,
constructions like Baboon and Young, whose head is made from two small cars that Picasso pilfered from
his son: it is an icon. Not to mention the painting The Acrobat, a magnificent work, deeply anchored in his
passion for the circus. As for the previously unseen or little known pieces, they are numerous: for example the
set of tiles created by Picasso with Derain, presented in France for the first time; or the three silver dishes,
compotiers, made with François Hugo, which should surprise many. Without forgetting the series of linocut
posters created for the annual exhibition of Vallauris ceramics. We have them all, and this is a first. And then
these large bullfighting paintings, absolutely extraordinary, and very rarely seen… We have benefited from a
large number of loans from private collections, allowing us to feature very rare pieces.
Interview with the commissioners of the exhibition
14
What has struck you the most during your research for this exhibition?
B. G. and J.M. — The fact that this new manner of interpretation became a reality. We have confirmed that
this question of the impact of popular arts and traditions on Picasso’s work bears weight. Throughout our
research, while gradually unwinding the thread, certain things took on new meaning. We reread Sabartès’ texts
in which he evokes a particular painting by Picasso’s father, Le Pigeonnier (The Dovecote), as a key element
for the artist; and his passion for pigeon keeping would be reflected later in a magnificent set of works. The
matrix of his childhood had a huge and clear impact on his themes and his techniques. Picasso never saw
the Pigeonnier again after childhood (he vowed never to return to Spain while Franco was in power). But we
have found it, and it is presented in the exhibition.
Between the circus, music and bullfighting, and from arts and crafts to sculpture,
this exhibition explores the work of Picasso in all its richness. And has its
share of surprises!
B. G. and J.M.— This ability to bounce all over; to make, from everything, the pieces of a puzzle full of surprises,
that’s the genius of Picasso. We hope to offer a dynamic and jubilatory exhibition…while remaining serious
in our approach! The scenography proposed by Jacques Sbriglio and his team should further this sense of
wonder that we are seeking. Because this part of the game was very important in the construction of Picasso’s
work, he knew how to combine distance and depth with disconcerting ease.
Scenography15
Jacques Sbriglio
Jacques Sbriglio is an architect and urban planner. He directs
the Sbriglio agency, architects established in the heart of the
Aix Marseille metropolis.
Among its different sectors of activity, like urban planning and
architecture, this agency has numerous references in France and
abroad in the field of exhibition design. These include: Arteplage
de Neuchâtel in Switzerland (2002), as well as a series of exhibitions on the work of Le Corbusier, whether in Austria (1998),
Taiwan (2002), India (2007), Brazil (2009) and most recently in
Marseille (2013) as part of the Capital of Culture year.
A professor in architectural schools, Jacques Sbriglio is the
author of numerous books, articles, and lectures on modern and
contemporary architecture.
www.sbriglio-architecte.fr
“Picasso led viewers to examine the internal coherence of his
art. Instead of organising his work to trace the evolution from
one distinct period to another, he blurred the trajectory, first by
contradicting any simple progression, and by drawing attention
both to the remarkable consistency of the subjects and the variety of his interpretations… We can say that the hanging was in
itself a work of art”.
Michael Fitzgerald, regarding the Picasso retrospective he organised himself at
the Galerie Gorges Petit in Paris in 1932. Quoted by Pierre Daix in Pablo Picasso,
Editions Taillandier 2007.
Presenting Picasso in Marseille and moreover, at the Musée
des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée, has several
significations. The first concerns the biography of this painter
who, from Malaga via Barcelona and the Côte d’Azur, selected
this chosen land, the Mediterranean and its light, to develop a
significant part of his work. Secondly, as Pierre Daix indicates, a
particular link ties Picasso to Marseille where accompanied by
Braque in 1912, he visited the city’s numerous colonial boutiques
in order to purchase African masks and other objects of “negro
art”, whose influences are found in the paintings that he produced
in the years that followed.
But beyond this preamble, imagining a scenography around the
work of Pablo Picasso is a daunting task, as this work, so celebrated for years and years, requires a frame in which no formal
extravagance is allowed, nor any effect of materials or colours.
Indeed, the power of expression of these works is such that they
speak for themselves, thus forcing the container to disappear
behind the content. To do this, the scenography proposed here
for the theme “Picasso and Popular Arts and Traditions” takes
its meaning from three key ideas. The first is to construct an itinerary that resonates with the architecture of the Mucem, which
is designed on the principal of a ziggurat linking the port to the
city. The second sequence takes place throughout the exhibition
with the implementation of a series of spatial icons defining the
framework of each section. The third offers a sort of intersecting
portrait, crossing between the works of Pablo Picasso and the
reference objects from the collections of the Mucem, without the
visitor ever confusing them.
Regarding the lighting environment for this scenography, it extols
white in contrast to the twilight ambiances of the Mucem’s spaces
but also in reference to the work of Picasso which has wandered
through every stage and even beyond, that which we today call:
Modern Art.
Four sections organise the tour of the exhibition.
The first, which corresponds to the opening sequence, entitled:
“Roots Rendered Sacred”, recalls the links between Picasso’s
work and popular rites and traditions. It is symbolised here by a
space conceived as a small oratory.
The second, “Cherished Themes and Objects” in reference to the
themes of music, the circus and bullfighting… so present in the
painter’s work… is dominated by the circular shape of the arena
and / or the ring that represents the centre of gravity of the overall
composition of this scenography.
The third, called “Techniques and their Appropriation”, is a suite
of spaces ordered around the ceramics that constitute, by the
sheer number of objects presented, one of the major sections
of this exhibition.
Finally the fourth and last section, “The object-material” is presented in the form of a large sculpture gallery, opening onto the
Mediterranean, visible through the lacework of the Mucem’s
facade, like a final nod to the mantilla, so dear to Hispanic culture.
Jacques Sbriglio — Architect scenographer
Surrounding the exhibition
The exhibition catalogue
Picasso and Popular Arts
and Traditions
Co-edition Mucem / Gallimard
A collective work, under the direction of Bruno Gaudichon,
Chief Curator of Heritage, and Joséphine Matamoros,
Chief Curator of Heritage.
21 × 28 cm, 288 pages
Blunt binding
300 illustrations
With contributions from: Jacques Durand, Clare Finn,
Philippe Forest, Émilie Girard, Cécile Godefroy, Salvador Haro
González, Brigitte Léal, Teresa Ocaña, Virginie Perdrisot,
Eduard Vallès, and Sylvie Vautier.
The catalogue of the exhibition Picasso and Popular Arts and
Traditions offers a new reading of Picasso’s work by examining in
detail the way that Picasso appropriated artisanal know-how and
the traditional themes of Spanish popular culture. Specialists of
the different worlds he explored, from the circus to bullfighting,
via flamenco, explain how he used, revived or even participated
in their development. Two previously unpublished interviews, with
Claude Picasso and Lionel Prejger, complete the narratives of
Picasso’s collaborations with the best artisans of his era. They
reveal encore the genius of the artist, who was able to venerate
the crafts and erase, in his own work, the persistent border, separating them from the fine arts.
35 € Tax included ISBN: 978-2-07-017868-1
Publication: 22 April 2016
The bookstore – boutique in the J4
is open everyday (except Tuesday)
during opening hours of the Mucem.
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Royalty-free images for the press
These photographs are to be used exclusively for promoting the
exhibition “A Genius without a Pedestal” – Picasso and Popular
Arts and Traditions, presented from 27 April to 29 August 2016
at the Mucem in Marseille.
Reproduction of the works of Pablo Picasso by the press is
not copyright free. Thank you for adhering to the following use
restrictions: A waiver of copyright is granted from January 2016 until 3 months
after the exhibition in the context of articles reporting on said
exhibition, and with a limit of four images per article.
The size of the reproduced image cannot exceed 1 / 4 of the page,
with exceptions for use on or in a special issue on the exhibition. The images may in no way be copied, shared, or redirected. The
use of images of Pablo Picasso’s works on social networks is
not permitted.
For any other utilisation, please contact directly:
Picasso Administration, 8 rue Volney – 75002 Paris
T +33 (0) 1 47 03 69 70
Contact: Christine Pinault / [email protected]
Each photograph must be accompanied by an appropriate caption and photo credit.
The images must be reproduced absolutely in full (no cropping),
and no elements may be superimposed, for use online they must
be posted in low definition. 1. Edward Quinn, Picasso in his studio Le Fournas, at Vallauris, 1953. copyright : Photo Edward Quinn, © edwardquinn.com
1
Picasso and everyday life: roots
2. Pablo Picasso, Parodia de Exvoto La Virgen Aparenciéndose a Miguel Utrillo, Accidentado, Barcelona, 1899-1900, Oil on canvas, 56.6 × 40.80 cm,
Museu Picasso Barcelona / © Succession Picasso 2016
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The headdresses
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3. Pablo Picasso, Portrait de Paule de Lazerme en Catalane, Perpignan, 19 August 1954, Gouache on paper, 63 × 46 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts Hyacinthe Rigaud / Coll. Musée Hyacinthe Rigaud / City of Perpignan © Pascale Marchesan / photo service City of Perpignan © Succession Picasso 2016
4. Pablo Picasso, Portrait de Lee Miller en Arlésienne, Mougins, 20 September 1937, Oil on canvas, 81 × 65 cm / MP 1990-18, Musée Réatu, Arles,
deposit from the Musée Picasso-Paris / Photo © RMN-Grand Palais / Gérard Blot © Succession Picasso 2016
5. Pablo Picasso, Tête d’Homme, 1912, Charcoal on paper, 64 × 49 cm, LaM, Lille Métropole Musée d’Art Moderne d’Art Contemporain et d’Art Brut,
Villeneuve d’Ascq / photo Philip Bernard © Succession Picasso 2016
6. [Collections of the Mucem] Comb, Spain, early 20th century, Horn, 30.2 × 32.7 cm, Mucem, Marseille / © Mucem / Yves Inchierman
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Music
7. Pablo Picasso, Mandolin and Clarinet, Autumn 1913, Wood elements (fir) with paint and pencil lines, 58 × 36 × 23 cm / MP247, Musée Picasso-Paris / Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée Picasso de Paris) / Béatrice Hatala, © Succession Picasso 2016
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The circus
8. Pablo Picasso, Blue Acrobat, November 1929, Charcoal and oil on canvas, 162 × 130 cm / AM 1990-15, Centre Pompidou MNAM-CCI, Paris, deposit of
the Musée Picasso Paris / Photo © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Philippe Migeat, © Succession Picasso 2016
9. Pablo Picasso, Mask, Paris 1919, Cardboard cut-out, paint and string, 22.5 × 17.5 × 0.6 cm: MP 256, Musée Picasso-Paris / Photo © RMN-Grand Palais
(Musée Picasso de Paris) / Béatrice Hatala © Succession Picasso 2016
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Bullfighting
10. Pablo Picasso, Le Matador, Mougins, 4 October 1970, Oil on canvas 145.5 × 114 cm / MP 223, 13690, Musée Picasso-Paris / Photo © RMN-Grand Palais
(Musée Picasso de Paris) / Jean-Gilles Berizzi © Succession Picasso 2016
11. Pablo Picasso, Portrait de Toréador, 3 October 1947, Rectangular dish of white earthenware. Engraved decoration, modelled, studded and painted in brown,
yellow, green and blue oxide under-glaze, 38 × 32 × 4 cm, Private collection / Photo © Maurice Aeschimann © Succession Picasso 2016
12. Pablo Picasso, El Picador (The Little Picador), Malaga, 1889, Oil on wood panel, 24 × 19 cm, Private collection / Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
© Succession Picasso 2016
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Pigeon keeping
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13. Pablo Picasso, Dove of Peace, 16 August 1950, Ink on paper, 21 × 27 cm, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Saint Denis © Succession Picasso 2016
14. Pablo Picasso, The Perch, 13 February 1960, Oil on canvas, 19 × 27 cm, Private collection / Photo © Maurice Aeschimann © Succession Picasso 2016
15. Pablo Picasso, Bird (Pigeon), 7 January 1953, Soft slab in white terracotta, modelled, painted with slip, 18 × 11 × 14 cm, Private collection / Photo © Maurice Aeschimann © Succession Picasso 2016
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15
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Toys
16. Pablo Picasso, Girl with a Hoop, 1919, Oil and sand on canvas 142.5 × 79 cm / AM 4312P, Centre Pompidou MNAM-CCI, Paris / Photo © Centre Pompidou,
MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Philippe Migeat © Succession Picasso 2016
17. Pablo Picasso, Bird, undated, Painted sheet-metal, 24 × 12 cm, Private collection / Photo © Maurice Aeschimann © Succession Picasso 2016
16
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Wood
18. Pablo Picasso, Woman Sitting, Boisgeloup, autumn 1930, Carved wood (fir), 17.2 × 4.5 × 3.5 cm / MP 281, Musée Picasso-Paris / Photo © RMN-Grand Palais
(Musée Picasso de Paris) / Mathieu Rabeau © Succession Picasso 2016
18
Ceramics
19. Pablo Picasso, Pitcher The Painter and Two Models, France, Vallauris, 1954, Earthenware, 26.5 × 23.5 × 18 cm, Mucem, Marseille / Mucem / Yves Inchierman
© Succession Picasso 2016
20. Pablo Picasso, Pignate decorated with a goat and a bust of a man holding a cup, 5 August 1950, Red earthenware, decorated with black slip, 19.7 × 27 × 24.5 cm / MP 3698, Musée Picasso-Paris / Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée Picasso de Paris) / Gérard Blot © Succession Picasso 2016
21. (Collections of the Mucem) Pignate, France, Vallauris, late 19th century, Earthenware, 22 × 29 × 32 cm, Mucem, Marseille / Mucem / Yves Inchierman
22. Face IV, Vallauris, 12 August 1950, Chestnut pan in red charmotte earthenware, turned, painted with black, white and grey slips, 11.5 × 31 cm, Private collection / Photo © Maurice Aeschimann © Succession Picasso 2016
23. Pablo Picasso, Insect [1951], Gus (form Madoura), white earthenware, turned (modelled elements), incised and painted with slips. 42.5 × 37 cm, Private collection / Photo © Maurice Aeschimann © Succession Picasso 2016
24. (Collections of the Mucem) Gus or gourde, Gard, Meynes, 1938, Glazed earthenware, 27 × 32.5 × 27.5 cm, Mucem, Marseille / Mucem / Yves Inchierman
25. Pablo Picasso, Woman, 1949, Turned white earthenware, modelled, and painted with slips, 43 × 18 × 10 cm, Private collection. Courtesy Fundación Almine y Bernard
Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte. / © FABA Photo: Marc Domage © Succession Picasso 2016
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Silversmithing
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26. Jacqueline at the Easel, 1958, Round silver platter made from a ceramic by Picasso. Diameter 42.5 cm, Domaine de Seneffe – Musée de l’Orfèvrerie
de la Communauté Française de Belgique / Photo © asbl Domaine de Seneffe – Musée de l’Orfèvrerie de la Communauté Française de Belgique / Alain Leprince
© Succession Picasso 2016
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Metal
27. Pablo Picasso, Woman and Child, 1961, Sheet metal cut-out, folded, assembled and painted, 43.2 × 17.60 × 21 cm, Private collection / Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
© Succession Picasso 2016
27
Linocut
28. Pablo Picasso, Exposition Vallauris 1952, 1952, Linocut in colours, 65 × 50 cm, Frederick Mulder Ltd / Frederick Mulder Ltd, © Succession Picasso 2016
29. Pablo Picasso, Le Banderillero, printing from the fourth state of four – Baer, IV. a. de (IV.B.d), 26 August 1959. Linocut in colours, 53.5 × 66.3 cm,
Frederick Mulder Ltd / Frederick Mulder Ltd © Succession Picasso 2016
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Textiles
30. Pablo Picasso, Lock, circa 1955, Knotted wool rug produced from a carton by Pablo Picasso. 193 × 142 cm, Collection Albertini-Cohen / Photo David Giancatarina
© Succession Picasso 2016
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Assembled sculptures
31. Pablo Picasso, Bull’s Head, 1942, Bronze, 42 × 41 × 15 cm, Private collection / Photo © Maurice Aeschimann © Succession Picasso 2016
32. Pablo Picasso, Woman Carrying a Child, 1953, Piece of palm leaf and wood, painted in green, blue, black and white, 173 × 54 × 35 cm, Private collection / Photo © Maurice Aeschimann © Succession Picasso 2016
33. Pablo Picasso, Baboon and Young, 1951, Bronze, 53.2 × 33.2 × 61 cm, Private collection / Photo © Maurice Aeschimann © Succession Picasso 2016
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Sponsorship22
Fondation d’entreprise PwC France
and Afrique francophone
The Fondation PwC France et Afrique Francophone pour la Culture et la Solidarité was created in June 2007.
Through this creation, its founding members wanted to express
the commitment of PwC’s entire French audit and consulting
network to supporting major national cultural events.
They also wanted to affirm, for their 4 000 collaborators and the
12 000 companies that they serve, PwC France’s deep roots in
the social and cultural life of our country. In parallel to supporting
this cultural initiative, the Fondation PwC also supports important social projects, by directly funding the associative projects
of its collaborators, and through partnerships with associations
and NGOs.
This year, the Fondation PwC France et Afrique Francophone,
founding sponsor of the Mucem, is the principal sponsor of the
exhibition “A Genius without a Pedestal” – Picasso and Popular
Arts and Traditions, produced by the Musée des Civilisations de
l’Europe et de la Méditerranée.
By assisting financially with the realisation of this new exhibition,
the Fondation’s members, and particularly its president Bernard
Gainnier, are proud to contribute, as permitted by the law of 1
August 2003 on sponsorship, to the engagement of French companies in promoting artistic and cultural activity in our country.
In France and francophone Africa, PwC develops audit, accounting and consulting services, creating value for its clients by
favouring a sectoral approach.
More than 208,000 persons in 157 countries throughout the PwC
network share ideas, expertise and innovative perspectives to
offer solutions and tailored consulting.
In France and in francophone Africa, PwC brings together more
than 5000 persons in 23 countries.
In the South & Monaco, 300 PwC collaborators from the offices
in Marseille, Nice, Montpellier and Monaco offer large groups and
medium-sized companies a range of options, multi-competences,
from financial audits to more specialized services (assistance
with initial public offerings, financial communication, IFRS, internal oversight, consolidation, mergers / acquisitions, consulting on
organisation and information systems. . . ), in connection with the
legal firm PwC Société d’Avocats, member of the international
PwC network.
Practical information
Reservations
& informations
T 04 84 35 13 13—From 9:00 to 18:00 daily
[email protected] / mucem.org
Prices
Mucem ticket
Permanent and temporary exhibitions
9,5 € / 5 € (valid for one day)
Family ticket
Permanent and temporary exhibitions
14 €
23
Group visits
Group visits (minimum 7 persons), in the exhibition halls
and outdoor areas, are by reservation only, at least 15 days
in advance for guided tours and one week in advance
for self-guided tours.
Hours reserved for groups 9:00 – 11:00 (except in July-August)
Reservations required.
Access
Fort Saint-Jean lower entrance
201, quai du Port
Guided tours
12 € / 9 € / 5 € (under 18 years of age)
Panier entrance
Square of Église Saint-Laurent
Audioguide
2 €
J4 entrance
1, esplanade du J4
Access to the outdoor spaces and gardens of
the Mucem is free during opening hours.
Access to the exhibitions is free for all the first
Sunday of each month.
Metro
Vieux-Port or Joliette
Exhibitions are free for children under 18,
job seekers, recipients of government assistance,
persons with disabilities and their companion
and professionals.
The Gallery of the Mediterranean is free
only for teachers holding a Pass Éducation and
visitors 18 – 25 years of age.
Avoid the lines
Purchase tickets online at mucem.org, fnac.com,
ticketnet.fr, digitick.com
Opening hours
Open everyday except Tuesday and May 1st
From 11:00 to 18:00 November – April
From 11:00 to 19:00 May – June
From 10:00 to 20:00 July – August
Tram T2
République / Dames or Joliette
Bus 82, 82s, 60
Stop Fort Saint-Jean / Nightline 582
Bus 49
Église Saint-Laurent
Paid parking
Esplanade du J4 / Vieux-Port / fort Saint-Jean and Hôtel de Ville
Social networks
www.facebook.com / lemucem
twitter.com / mucem_officiel
http: / / instagram.com / mucem_officiel / https: / / vine.co / mucem_officiel
Friday nights until 22:00
May-October
Last admission 45 minutes before museum closing.
Exhibition halls close 15 minutes before closing.
Design graphique and photographs :
Spassky Fischer, Paris.
Pablo Picasso, Torero, 12 April 1971, oil on canvas. Private collection. Courtesy Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte.
© FABA. Photo: Éric Baudouin © Succession Picasso 2016
Mucem, 1 esplanade du J4,
13002 Marseille
Founding sponsors of the Mucem