We rounded up questions from the blogosphere about the Picasso exhibition, then put them to curator Michael Taylor. Here's what we found out for you...
Q: In preparing the exhibition, did you come across anything that surprised you or that you didn’t know about Picasso? (Frank Luzi, Havertown)
MT: "The only major discovery for me was the existence of archival photographs of the PMA’s painting The Three Musicians, which show that the painting at one stage had two figures, but that Picasso added a third musician, the monk, and reconfigured the entire composition. That really blew my mind as I had always assumed that the artist figured out the entire composition beforehand."
Hear how the public first reacted to Cubism, as curator Michael Taylor discusses works from the exhibition, including one that was dubbed the Mona Lisa of Cubism...
Picasso and his contemporaries in Paris were the kind of risk-takers who weren't afraid to create a twisted sculpture out of an absinthe glass or drag a comb through wet paint to simulate a wood-grain effect on a canvas. It's adventurous. It also reminds us of all the daring art experiments we've tried over the years -- some of which were amazing (right?) but most of which didn't pan out as well as Picasso's. Got any highlights you remember? Post a comment telling us about your craziest art project (bonus if you've got the photos to prove it). The best post will win this awesome relief-construction artist's kit from our Museum shop. Pass and share the news with frustrated artists everywhere.
If you haven't had a chance to sit on Sigmund, the very cool and very comfy pouf in the Salon Cubism (almost visible in this shot), you're missing out. The circular seat was specially commissioned by the Museum for the Picasso exhibition and designed by local artist/explorer Virgil Marti. For more musings on Marti, check out this article by Matthew Singer, and if you didn't catch our video interview with Marti earlier, click below. It's worth a watch.
MT: "The only major discovery for me was the existence of archival photographs of the PMA’s painting The Three Musicians, which show that the painting at one stage had two figures, but that Picasso added a third musician, the monk, and reconfigured the entire composition. That really blew my mind as I had always assumed that the artist figured out the entire composition beforehand."
