PICASSO'S BEASTS: SELECTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA
Central Gallery
January 17 to March 22, 2014
In conjunction with the National Gallery’s touring exhibition,Beautiful Monsters: Beasts and Fantastic Creatures in Early European Prints, the Kamloops Art Gallery presents a key selection of Pablo Picasso’s (1881-1973) most celebrated series of etchings from The Vollard Suite, drawn from the National Gallery of Canada’s permanent collection.
The Vollard Suite takes its name from Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939), an important Parisian avant-garde art dealer and publisher who gave Picasso his first Paris exhibition in 1901. Picasso produced a group of one hundred etchings for Vollard between 1930 and 1937. These etchings represent scenes of brutal passion enacted by the Minotaur. The part man and part bull of Greek mythology not only played a central role in Picasso’s personal mythology, but was also emblematic for the Surrealists, who saw the Minotaur as the personification of forbidden desires.
This series of etchings foregrounds Picasso’s integration of the Minotaur throughout much of his later work, culminating in his famous symbolic painting, Guernica (1937). Depicting graphic and passionate scenes of woman and beast, this selection of prints also features a satyr, a sea monster, and children appearing in a dream-like tableaux, suggesting an imaginary underworld.
Presented concurrently with the Beautiful Monsters exhibition, the inclusion of this grouping of Picasso works offers an expanded view into printmaking techniques from the past and delineates the enduring interest in beasts and fantastical creatures throughout the history of art production. Organized by the Kamloops Art Gallery with the generous support of the National Gallery of Canada.
Generously sponsored by Funk Signs Inc., Desert City Security.
Installation view of Picasso’s Beasts: Selections from the National Gallery of Canada
Photo: Kamloops Art Gallery
