BARCELONA.- The exhibition titled 'Post-Picasso: Contemporary Reactions', presented and produced by the Museu Picasso, Barcelona, is open from 6th March to 29th June. Curated by Michael FitzGerald, acclaimed connoisseur, this is the first exhibition to reveal the significant trace left by Picasso on contemporary art worldwide, and to examine the relevance his work continues to have on the art produced in our times.

Post-Picasso: Contemporary Reactions
This exhibition examines the responses of contemporary artists to the life and work of Pablo Picasso during the forty years since his death in 1973.

During his lifetime, Picasso’s influence on art was undisputed; however, during the last four decades his significance for contemporary artists has proven controversial. Other historical artists, particularly Marcel Duchamp, are widely considered to have had a greater impact on recent art. This exhibition addresses the question of whether Picasso continues to be important for contemporary art and considers the variety of ways in which artists are engaging his art.

As the 58 works in the galleries reveal, contemporary artists have created some of the most significant art of recent decades in response to Picasso’s achievements.

They have reinterpreted the meanings of Picasso’s oeuvre and liberated his legacy from the constraints of past ideologies. These artists freely explore and contest Picasso’s status. They do not perceive Picasso as merely a paradigm of the twentieth-century European avant-garde as, for many of these artists, Picasso is a polyvalent model for artists worldwide to address the global expansion and diversification of contemporary art in the twenty-first century.

This exhibition presents the work of 41 artists from around the world: Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and Latin America. This diversity reflects the remarkable geographical range of Picasso’s impact on contemporary art. Besides confirming the global nature of artists’ responses to Picasso, the diversity of works in this exhibition also proves the current importance of this engagement, since many of the works were created after 2000.

The exhibition is divided into five sections that reflect the choices of contemporary artists to address particular aspects of Picasso’s oeuvre: his two greatest masterpieces, Guernica and Les Demoiselles d’Avignon; and three phases of his art: the Late Work, Surrealism, and the Blue and Rose Periods. These five divisions define distinct, interlocking sections that structure the exhibition. The groups represent constellations of art in which artists engage Picasso as well as the work of other contemporary and historical artists. The installation presents a series of multi-directional exchanges – focused on both individual artists’ responses to Picasso and relationships among the contemporary works on view.

DETAILS OF THE EXHIBITION

• This is the first ever exhibition to globally examine at a global level the responses of contemporary artists to the life and work of Pablo Picasso, since his death in 1973 to the present.

• The curator of the show, Dr. Michael FitzGerald, Professor of Fine Arts at Trinity College, Hartfort (USA), devised 'Post-Picasso' during the years of research that led to his previous exhibition, 'Picasso and American Art', presented at the Whitney Museum of American Art (2006-2007).

• One of the most interesting results of the exhibition is to see how Picasso's art and reputation continue to generate a fruitful dialogue with contemporary artists around the world.

• The show explores the impact of Picasso on artists working in a wide range of media, including video and photography, as well as painting, sculpture and prints. It comprises 58 works.

However, it does not comprise any Picasso’s own works, as the museum's collection is on view in the permanent galleries and will therefore stimulate the dialogue between Picasso and contemporary works on view in the exhibition.

• Post-Picasso displays the work of a select group of 41 artists from over twelve countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America who have made very significant contributions to contemporary art through their engagement with Picasso.

This selection includes Chéri Samba from the Democratic Republic of Congo, M. F. Husain and Atul Dodiya from India, Folkert de Jong and Rineke Dijkstra from the Netherlands, Guillermo Kuitca and Constanza Piaggio & RES from Argentina, Vik Muniz from Brazil, and Jasper Johns, Faith Ringgold and Fred Wilson from the United States, Dia al-Azzawi from Iraq, Bedri Baykam from Turkey, Gavin Jantjes from South Africa, Daniel Boyd from Australia and Ibrahim el-Salahi from Sudan, among others.