Sculpture and the Master Fendi Reveals Another Side of Picasso
Until February 3, 2019, Galleria Borghese in Rome is hosting the first exhibition in Italy of Pablo Picasso sculptures, curated by Anna Coliva and Diana Widmaier Picasso and supported by Fendi. The survey brings together 56 masterpieces from 1902 to 1961, some of them rarely or never shown before.
At a time when private funds are an essential or even decisive parameter for the organization of large-scale exhibitions and the restoration of cultural heritage, it is interesting to observe the consistent efforts of certain companies in this area. One of them is Fendi: epitomizing a certain style, the brand founded in Rome in 1925 has always had affinities with the world of artistic creation. Since 2013, this orientation has been expressed through important financial backing, above all for the restoration of the Trevi Fountain – the first of five Roman fountains renovated thanks to the firm’s support. Installing its offices in the completely renovated Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana (2015), Fendi has chosen to outfit the ground floor as a space for freely accessible exhibitions, before continuing its approach by granting a three-year sponsorship to Galleria Borghese (2017-2019). In this context, until next February visitors can see a major exhibition of Picasso’s sculptures, conceived by Anna Coliva, director of the museum, and jointly curated by Diana Widmaier Picasso. L’Officiel Art met with the granddaughter of the great master.
L’OFFICIEL ART: The exhibition organized by the Galleria Borghese is the first in Italy on Picasso’s sculpture: what personal and artistic links did the artist maintain with this country that he visited for the first time in 1917, as part of a trip to Rome with Cocteau and Stravinsky?
DIANA WIDMAIER PICASSO: On that occasion, Picasso discovered some works of antiquity that he had seen only in reproductions or illustrations, such as the Laocoon group, held by the Vatican Museums. During the trip he also visited Naples, Pompeii, Herculaneum. Today we know how decisive this was for his work: the study of classical artists, especially Raphael and Michelangelo, generated new energy for his practice. On a personal level, we should remember that Picasso’s mother, whose name he used, was of Italian origin: the study of the family genealogy also reveals the existence of a Matteo Picasso, an active painter in Genoa in the 19th century. In this respect, we know that Pablo Picasso felt that Italian art had decorative leanings, and was not as close to his sensibilities as German or Nordic production. However, he still saw Raphael as the finest example of mastery of drawing, and he had immense admiration for Michelangelo. Moreover, it should be noted that Picasso traveled sparingly: indeed, he moved around only for major projects. Cocteau’s invitation in 1917 reflects this, because this was the first time Picasso took part in a theatrical work, making the costumes and sets; and we know that he actually
intervened on other levels as well, notably the theatrical concept itself. This first trip to Italy was thus a real initiation, also because of the omnipresent sight of the ruins of antiquity: Picasso himself was a quasi-god of antiquity! He was perfectly in his element inside this disruptive juxtaposition of epochs in the city. He stayed at the Hotel de Russie, and set up his studio near Via Margutta.
The exhibition brings together 56 masterpieces from 1902 to 1961. What layout and setting have been selected, and what are the highlights?
We wanted to establish a dialogue between the works of the museum and those of Picasso, given the fact that they are exhibited for the first time among other works, being present in almost all of the rooms. This allows visitors to discover the works of Picasso and those of the museum at the same time, in an original way. We have created some comparisons while ensuring fluidity of movement, avoiding overtly obvious parallels. Thus, in the hall housing Bernini’s marble sculpture Apollo and Daphne (1622-25), we have installed a work in metal representing a woman and a child. The contrast of materials is all the more striking, since Picasso never used marble. The two sculptures are both in movement and create a kind of tension: the characters each carry another being, and embody an astonishing technical feat. In another room, we placed The Goat in front of Domenichino’s painting Diana and Her Nymphs (161617), a canvas with a clear erotic charge. Much more than a goat, the animal appears here as a goddess of fertility. We also selected a wonderful piece of cut sheet metal from a private collection, which has seldom been exhibited, and appears here in relation to a remarkable painting by Annibale Carracci, The Laughing Youth (1583). In the Rossi Room, one of the most majestic of Galleria
Borghese, containing an important group of statues, we chose to place Picasso’s monumental sculptures. As for the room set aside for Caravaggio, it features a bull’s head and a rarely exhibited still life. The idea is to present extremely well-known works – like Head of a Woman (Fernande) (1909), sculptures from the 1930s, assemblages from the 1950s – with unknown works, very rarely exhibited or never shown before, belonging to private collections.
Across this long time span of six decades, how did Picasso’s sculptural work evolve?
Through research, we have established that sculpture was really at the heart of his work; it was a nerve center, and the resonances in his entire oeuvre are many. The first modeled sculpture dates from 1902, but from the age of five Picasso was cutting paper, making small figurines, animating flat surfaces. Movement, the idea of several dimensions, was a constant throughout his life. He did not have a sculptor’s training, and this area thus remained for him a territory of freedom where he explored the techniques at will, rather in the manner of Degas, involving a gesture he might not have allowed himself elsewhere. He made many drawings after sculptures, however, and at the School of Fine Arts he studied castings of ancient sculptures, as he developed his own sculptural approach. It is quite fascinating to observe the way there seem to be several different artists existing simultaneously inside him. Picasso was able to constantly renew himself. After his early Cubist constructions, we find his “Guitars,” small in size but monumental in their impact, and very ingenious, almost the work of a miniaturist, while Monument to the Memory of Guillaume Apollinaire (1928) is a reflection in monumental format on emptiness and fullness, life and death. We have also included his last sculpture, made in 1967 for the city of Chicago. After that, Picasso worked exclusively on painting and drawing.
Picasso’s painted work is more widely known than his sculpture, though the latter is abundant – why is that? Picasso was very close to his sculptures, he wanted to live with them, often refusing to exhibit them, sell them, or even lend them to museums. He had the presence of mind to have them photographed, especially by Brassaï. The first major exhibition of Picasso’s sculptures took place during his lifetime, in 1967 at the Grand Palais, at the initiative of art historian Jean Leymarie. After the death of the artist, a large number of sculptures were discovered in his inventory: this was a revelation. For him, the territory of sculpture was a sort of laboratory for his thoughts. This is one of the reasons he did not wish to part with the works.
Previously unseen studio photos and videos tracing a new historical perspective complete the exhibition: what information do they reveal in order to better understand the artist?
These studio shots were conducted at Picasso’s initiative, and it is very instructive to place them next to the sculptures. They cause a kind of vibration, with Picasso himself becoming his own curator. This is the case with “Guitars,” for which we can see how Picasso exhibited them in his own space, and more generally how he placed his works around him. He was so prolific that it all seems like chaos, with works everywhere, but careful study shows that the pieces often had very precise positioning. The same is true of the photos of vitrines that display the pairings he made between small works and the objects he collected… They create an interesting parallel within the exhibition. As for the films, they reveal the creative process, how he chose such and such an object and managed to obtain a perfect balance.
Anna Coliva, the director of Galleria Borghese – behind the organization of this exhibition that is part of the PicassoMediterranean cycle initiated by Laurent Le Bon – has thus
brought together works of premium quality. Where do they come from: loans from museums, institutions, collectors? The core of the show was put together by the Picasso Museum, which has supported the project from the beginning; other pieces come from private collections around the world (Asia, France, Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, etc.). Given the fact that collectors and museums justifiably hesitate to loan out sculptures, because they are hard to move, to ship, and are often fragile, we are very satisfied with the positive response in this area. It seems to me that the interested parties felt this was an unprecedented opportunity to see these works in dialogue with each other and with the museum. This makes this exhibition even more exceptional.
“Picasso. The Sculpture,” Galleria Borghese, Rome, through February 3, 2019. An exhibition conceived by Anna Coliva as part of the international cultural project “Picasso-Mediterranean” initiated by Laurent Le Bon, director of Musée Picasso-Paris; curated by Anna Coliva and Diana Widmaier Picasso, with the support of Fendi. A catalogue edited by Anna Coliva and Diana Widmaier Picasso accompanies the exhibition.