Picasso: A Legacy has opened at Halcyon’s flagship gallery at 148 New Bond Street, London. The exhibition features over 130 artworks from the last four decades of the artist’s life, comprising works on paper and ceramics.
The legacy of Pablo Picasso will be explored across six major themes: Artist and Model; Artist’s Muses; Alter Egos; Finding Peace; Still Lifes and Ceramics and Creativity, Legacy and Death. The themes will guide visitors through the last four decades of Picasso’s life, where we will encounter the artist’s lovers and muses, mythological alter egos, playful zoomorphic ceramics, as well as feats of frantic artistic output in Picasso’s final decade.
The ceramics will include Chouette (1968) and Vase Deux Anses Hautes (1953). These whimsical experiments in three dimensions are part of a wider selection of ceramics on display which encompass the years 1948 to 1968 made while Picasso was living in the south of France.
The exhibition brings together a robust collection of Picasso’s works on paper, including lithographs, etchings and linocuts, demonstrating the artist’s intense engagement with the medium of print. Featured in the exhibition are individual editions, as well as complete portfolios and books such as La Tauromaquia (1957-59) and La Guerre et la Paix (1954). The creative process behind Picasso’s printmaking will be highlighted through the juxtaposition of multi-state works on paper together with rare and unique proofs.
Picasso’s approach to portraiture and how the women in his life played a decisive role in shaping the trajectory of his art is central to the exhibition. The presence of a new muse provided an imaginative and creative spark which propelled Picasso into new modes of experimentation. Femme au Fauteuil no. 4 (1949) and Jacqueline de Profil à Droite (1958) are among the portraits in the exhibition which feature Françoise Gilot and Jacqueline Roque. These women provided Picasso with the creative impetus that continually reshaped his ever-evolving approach to form and medium, while at the same time are interwoven with Picasso’s own self-image.
Myths
Throughout his career, Picasso repeatedly turned to a cast of mythical creatures, archetypes and characters as symbolic representations of himself. The exhibition will examine how minotaurs, fauns, bulls, matadors and owls populated his work, serving as alter egos through which he could express the powerful impulses of desire, passion, vitality and mortality.
Fauns, being half-man–half-goat creatures from Roman mythology, exemplify his interest in split personas. Appearing regularly throughout Picasso’s work, fauns carry playful, mischievous connotations as demonstrated in Faune Musicien no. 3 (1948), which depicts the creature immersed in a contrast of light and shadow, playing the aulos, a double-pipe instrument often associated with debauchery. Here, as in his recurring bacchanalian scenes, the faun is an alter ego through which to explore pleasure, revelry and spiritual freedom.
Picasso’s prolific output in his later years is often read as an act of creative defiance against his own mortality, an attempt to delay time and cement his place within the canon of art history. Picasso’s late decades were marked by extraordinary creative urgency, driven by the looming presence of mortality but also by an unrelenting desire to reinvent himself. He filled this prolific outpouring of work with humour, acerbic parody and moments of witty self-reflection. At the same time, his continual engagement with the great masters of the past underlined his determination to measure himself against art history and secure his own eminent position within it. The result is a body of work that is both playful and profound, in which creativity, legacy and death are bound together.
Landmark
Paul Green, Founder & President, Halcyon said, ‘Halcyon is delighted to present Picasso: A Legacy, a landmark exhibition that brings together an exceptional selection of works from one of the most pioneering artists of all time. Featuring over 130 original artworks, Picasso: A Legacy demonstrates Halcyon’s commitment to delivering exhibitions of international significance for its collectors and the wider public.’
Kate Brown, Vice President & Creative Director, Halcyon said, ‘With fury and unabashed imagination, Picasso changed the course of art history, placing him in the annals of history’s greatest artists. This exhibition offers a unique glimpse into Picasso’s astonishing and restless creativity during the final four decades of his career. Through works on paper and ceramics, we see how he continually reinvented himself, pushing mediums into bold new expressions that capture both the vitality of his later years and the timeless spirit of his art.’
Picasso: A Legacy, a new major exhibition at Halcyon, 148 New Bond Street, London is free to enter and open daily.
