Art Of The Day Weekly

Picasso and folk art

MARSEILLE - Picasso a movie director? That is one talent we did not know of. And yet it is proven in a surprising animation movie, shot by ceramist Robert Picault (1919-2000). It is actually a ‘tour de force’ of Picasso’s who recreated the characters of a corrida, staged in a 6-minute sequence. It is one of the jewels of this exhibition that proves the unfathomable reservoir the artist found in folk arts and traditions. Bullfights, music or clothing (the Catalan barretina, a cap that became the symbol of the resistance to fascism), the circus, children’s toys: everything filters into his creation. Picasso’s creations –paintings, sculptures, ceramics, cut sheet metal - are put into perspective by the objects of the MuCEM’s collection. Some of the former are rare, like the Petit Picador from 1889, his first known painting (he was then 8 years old!), his four ceramic squares signed together with Derain in 1914, the projects for earrings with François Hugo. We feel this superstar of modern art had a familiarity with daily objects and poor materials that justifies the remark by Michel Leiris, used as the title for this exhibition.
• Picasso, un génie sans piédestal (Picasso, a genius without a pedestal) at the MuCEM, from 27 April to 29 August 2016.

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