FROM
AFRICA TO THE AMERICAS
FACE-TO-FACE
PICASSO, PAST AND PRESENT
May 12 – September 16, 2018
There are 3 elements to this exhibition: the works of Picasso, the art works that originated mainly on the African continent but also Oceania and the Americas and had influenced Picasso's artistic expression, and also Black Canadian contemporary art.
It is an
adaptation of an exhibition originally mounted by the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac in
partnership with Musée national Picasso-Paris. The
MMFA has adapted and expanded on that exhibition launched in 2017 by the Musée du
quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, a co-production with the Musée national
Picasso-Paris. The
initial exhibition, as conceived by Yves Le Fur, Director of the Department of Heritage and
Collections, Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, invited a dialogue between
“the
works of Picasso – not only the major works but also the experiments with
aesthetic concepts – with those, no less rich, by non-Western artists."
The
exhibition brings together some 300 works and
documents, mainly from the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques
Chirac and the Musée national Picasso-Paris. To this, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) has added works
from its own collection, as well as loans from the Art Gallery of Ontario and from
private collections and galleries in Belgium ,
Switzerland , France , Italy ,
England , the USA , South Africa
and Canada
The
exhibition features almost a hundred works
by Picasso – paintings, sculptures, ceramics and works on
paper – which attest to the important influence of Africa and Oceania art. Seventy of them come on loan from the Musée national
Picasso-Paris. Numerous others are being loaned to the MMFA by the Picasso
family and the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso. A huge collection of
documents, letters, objects and photographs, together with 27 works
from the artist’s personal collection, testifying how these arts accompanied Picasso throughout his life.
The
exhibition reveals aspects of the material and spiritual cultures of
traditional societies, African in particular, by presenting numerous
works, mostly from Africa and Oceania , dating
from the late-19th and early-20th century, together with a number of early
Iberian and pre-Columbian works.
There are some 70 artworks from the collection of the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, notably an anthropomorphic Dan mask from Côte d’Ivoire, a Songye mask from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a Bahinemo hook figure and a Baining mask from Papua New Guinea, a large grade figure from Vanuatu, an Inuit mask from Greenland and an incised Taino anthropomorphic axe blade from the Lesser Antilles that once belonged to André Breton. Other pieces came from the Picasso’s family and the Musée national Picasso-Paris, including a majestic Baga shoulder mask from
The MMFA addied several leading artists from the contemporary art scene – mainly African or of African descent: Omar Ba, Edson Chagas, Omar Victor Diop, Samuel Fosso, Romuald Hazoumè, Nicholas Hlobo, Masimba Hwati, Moridja Kitenge Banza, Zina Saro-Wiwa, Zanele Muholi, Pedro Pires, Yinka Shonibare MBE, Mickalene Thomas and Kehinde Wiley. Several of these works were acquired or are in course of acquisition by the MMFA.
At the beginning and end of the presentation, two video installations are being shown for the first time in North America: representing
Click on images to enlarge them.
All photos by Nadia Slejskova.
The exhibition is located at the The Montreal Museum
For an additional information about the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts exhibitions and activities, visit the museum's website.
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