Get Your Pablo Button!

Coming to check out Picasso this weekend? Don't forget to say the name "Pablo" when buying your ticket at the Museum admission desk to get a free pin. Wearing it will make you feel as happy as the 80 degree weather we're predicted to get. Enjoy.  

Mademoiselle Pogany: A Masterpiece 23 Years in the Making

By Picasso Posse blogger Silvana Pop

Romanian born artist Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) met Margit Pogany, a Hungarian art student, in Paris in 1910. She was his inspiration for what has become one the most acclaimed masterpieces of the 20th century: Mademoiselle Pogany (1931), on display in the “Eastern Europeans in Paris” gallery of the Picasso and the Avant-Garde exhibition.


Since the sculpture is part of the museum’s permanent collections, I have often stopped by the PMA’s Modern and Contemporary Gallery to see the delicate egg-like bust of Mademoiselle Pogany and the other beautiful sculptures by Brancusi, whose talent for reducing natural forms to their most basic, geometric shapes, and in turn creating timeless masterpieces have intrigued audiences for decades.


While many of the “émigré artists” in Paris during the first half of the 20th century, including Lipchitz and Zadkine—inspired by Picasso’s work—experimented with the interlocking planes and sharp angles of Cubism, Brancusi aimed to incorporate these ideas with the traditional folk art of his native Romania. An avid wood carver, Brancusi dramatically juxtaposed the smooth marble portrait of Margit Pogany with a rustic oak base. Over the course of 23 years, Brancusi constructed numerous versions of the sculpture, perfecting and simplifying Mademoiselle Pogany’s elegantly refined image to its most pure form. The marvelous end result is what you’ll see in the Picasso exhibition…

For more on Mademoiselle Pogany, watch this video with curator Michael Taylor, in which he discusses how the sculpture creates a visual electric spark and relates to Margit Pogany's own self-portrait.




Image: Mademoiselle Pogany [III], c. 1931, by Constantin Brancusi (Philadelphia Museum of Art: Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950) © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Audience Reactions: What Did You Think of Picasso?

The countdown to the video contest has begun. As you think about your top 10 reasons to see Picasso, we figured we'd share a little video short from our intrepid blogger Danya Henninger. She set up her camera outside the Picasso gallery and filmed visitors' reactions to the exhibition. Take a look at which work of art people liked the most -- and what else they had to say. 

Video Contest Alert!

Time to get creative, Picasso vloggers. We want to know your "top 10" reasons for coming to check out the Picasso and the Avant-Garde in Paris exhibition. Make it the topic of a video, short film, or animation spot, and post it to our Facebook page or send it to kari.molvar@philamuseum.org by Fri, April 9th.

We'll choose the best video and air it on this site. What else is up for grabs? The winner will be treated to lunch with the curator of Modern Art, Michael Taylor, and a private tour of the Picasso and the Avant-Garde in Paris exhibition.

So. Start rolling.

Image credits: Philadelphia Museum of Art; photo by David DiRentis

The Picasso Pouf

A work of art that you can touch? Yes, the Museum specially commissioned this "pouf" for the Salon Cubism gallery in the Picasso exhibition, which visitors can lounge on. Find out how the artist, Virgil Marti, dreamed it up.

VH1 Counts Down with Picasso

The galleries got a pop-culture facelift this week when a VH1 video crew stopped by to broadcast its Top 20 Countdown with Jim Shearer from the Picasso and the Avant-Garde in Paris exhibition. Press Officer Lindsay Warner (that's her, pictured) tagged along to guide the cameras through the Museum and block any eager school groups from jumping in the shot (hey mom!). Here, she gives us a behind-the-scenes recap.
   


"The host, Jim Shearer, has a mind like a steel trap and had some interesting takes on a few objects in our collection (his interpretation of the regal 13th-century Saint-Genis-des-Fontaines cloisters? “Really old.”) -- and it was kinda fun to hear how much Rihanna spends on her fitness trainer and diet regime while standing in front of 16th-century Constantine tapestries.

But the crew really honed in on the last few galleries of Picasso, especially Orloff’s The Dancers, Dali’s wild Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (left) and Picasso’s Man with a Lamb (above), which served as a backdrop for the battle between the ladies – that would be Lady Gaga and Lady Antebellum."

Want to see who got the No.1 spot? You can catch the re-broadcast on Tuesday March 30, 9am on VH1.

Photo (top) courtesy of Lindsay Warner; all other photos courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art