On 1st November GalleryOne launches an exhibition of original signed etchings and linocuts by Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, two of the leading giants of 20th century art. This unique collection has been specifically curated for GalleryOne from collections in Europe and explores the contrasts and complexities of the relationship between these two artists. Picasso and Matisse have between them originated many of the most significant innovations of twentieth-century painting and sculpture; their vibrant creativity making Paris the centre of modern art and culture from the late 19th century to the outbreak of the Second World War. In spite of their initial rivalry, they each came to acknowledge the other as his only true equal; in old age becoming increasingly close personally, and increasingly important to each other artistically.
The artists' relationship began in Paris in 1906, when they first started to meet regularly in the studio of Gertrude and Leo Stein. From 1906 to 1917 there was open rivalry between the artists. This was a time of intense innovation, when between them they produced some of greatest art of the twentieth century. After Matisse's death in 1954 Picasso paid tribute to him in his work, both directly and indirectly. Of his series of variations after Delacroix's Women of Algiers, painted in 1955, he said 'when Matisse died he left his odalisques to me as a legacy'.
Both Picasso and Matisse explored the print medium to great effect and this exhibition focuses partly on the acrobatic dancers and nudes that both produced throughout their careers, revealing the remarkable cross-over between Picasso's more surrealist creations and Matisse's decorative interpretations. Several prints in this collection date from the period after the war when Picasso moved to the South of France and his relationship with Matisse entered its final and closest phase.
Some of Picasso's figurative etchings on display, such as 'Sculptures Representrant Marie Therese et la Tete du Sculpteur avec le vase aux trois fleurs' , 1933, are taken from the Vollard Suite. Ambroise Vollard, one of the greatest art dealers and publishers of his time, printed a hundred etchings created by Picasso between 1930 and 1937, one of his most impressive undertakings. Much of the female imagery depicts Picasso's current muse and lover Marie Therese, sometimes in surrealist style with a distinctive hooked nose and heavily jowled face which is the rather unflattering method of portraiture used by Picasso at this period. |
PICASSO MATISSE
Etchings and linocuts
1 - 17 November 2007
Pablo Picasso's 'Sculptures Representrant Marie Therese et la Tete du Sculpteur avec le vase aux trois fleurs'
Henri Matisse's 'Vierge er Enfant sur fond de fleurs et d'etoiles'
|
