Desert Jewels: Dazzling Discoveries On Display

Fashion and jewelry fans will want to take note of our new exhibition Deserts Jewels: North African Jewelry and Photography from the Xavier Guerrand-Hermès Collection. It pulls together more than 90 pieces of hand-crafted jewelry and dozens of photographs from Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Egypt, and Tunisia collected by Xavier Guerrand-Hermes, of the famed Paris-based fashion house.

Many of the ornate necklaces, bracelets, rings, and earrings in the exhibition have not been publicly displayed before, which makes them even more special to behold. It’s also fascinating to see how these object, crafted decades ago in a time and place far removed from our own, continue to inspire today’s contemporary jewelry designers. To illuminate that connection, we invited jewelry expert Kate Egan to tour Desert Jewels and discuss her favorite pieces. Egan is particularly well-known in Philadelphia for her sharp eye. She studied photography and earned her MFA at the University of Pennsylvania and later worked alongside famed jewelry designer Ted Muehling. In 2008, Egan opened her boutique, Egan Day, in Rittenhouse Square, where jewelry is elevated to true art.

What follows is a slideshow of Egan’s favorite pieces in the exhibition, along with her thoughts and comments on why each piece is especially note-worthy or just worth a second glance. Click here to launch the slideshow.

Image credits: All images from the exhibition catalog, Desert Jewels: North African Jewelry and Photography from the Xavier Guerrand-Hermès Collection by Kristyne Loughran and Cynthia Becker, © 2008.

Late Renoir: The Countdown Has Begun!

Opening June 17, 2010
Late Renoir follows the renowned painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir through the final—and most fertile and innovative—decades of his career. At the height of his creative powers and looking toward posterity, Renoir created art that was timeless, enticing, and worthy of comparison to the greatest of the old masters, such as Raphael, Titian, and Rubens.
 
Watch this space for a sneak peak of the exhibition!
 
Image credit: Girl in a Red Ruff, 1896; Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Bequest of Charlotte Dorrance Wright, 1978

Mom Blogger Tweetup

Thanks to all the mom bloggers who passed the kids off to dad, or the babysitter, and came out to celebrate the finale of Picasso and the Avant-Garde in Paris with us last Friday, April 30th. Here's the Flickr photo stream from the gathering. We lucked out with amazing weather, and some pretty tasty cocktails. Stay tuned for more blogger events at the PMA. Have a suggestion for one? Email it to us!

Picasso Playlist: Like Cubism To Your Ears

We asked Alan Lopez (left), a producer in NYC whose knowledge of music culture blows us away, to create a Picasso-inspired playlist. Check out his comments and curated picks, below, which you can download from iTunes and listen to while walking through our exhibition. Start with track #1 in the first gallery and work your way through the musical art journey...

1. To Be Continued...
Ben Frost, from "School Of Emotional Engineering"

A suitable intro. A hint of darkness, but also quite lovely.

2. Poems
Tricky, Terry Hall and Martina Topley Bird, from "Nearly God"

"You promised me poems..." At turns beautiful and sad. This song seems to be constructed atop layers of diethyl ether and absinthe. Pablo would have liked this one.

3. Godspeed
Modeselektor, from "Happy Birthday!"

A perpetual motion machine of a track, Modeselektor evoke the playfulness in the avant-garde that is sometimes overshadowed by the seriousness of the ideologies behind the movement.

Picasso Phillies Photo Contest!

We're celebrating the final week of Picasso and the Avant-Garde in Paris, which ends on May 2. In honor of Picasso, we're giving away tickets to another hometown favorite, the Phillies!

To enter our giveaway, simply snap a photo of yourself wearing your favorite Phillies gear (hat, jersey, etc) anywhere in the Museum where photography is permitted (so, not in the special exhibition galleries).

Post your photo to the Philadelphia Museum of Art Facebook page or share it via Twitter using the #PABLO hashtag by Sunday, May 2.

The best photo will be featured on the Picasso Posse Blog, and the winner will receive a $100 gift certificate for Philadelphia Phillies tickets, plus two tickets to our upcoming exhibition Late Renoir, opening June 17, 2010.

Additional details....

Where in the World is Picasso?

"Give me a museum and I’ll fill it,” Picasso once said. That’s exactly what several museums around the country are doing this spring—filling their galleries with some of the Spanish artists’s masterpieces. From New York City to Seattle, Picasso is appearing all over the arts scene. Here are a few exhibitions to explore, in addition to our own at the PMA.
By Picasso blogger Silvana Pop

“Picasso: Themes and Variations”
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Now through August 30, 2010
Exploring Picasso’s creative process through the medium of printmaking, this exhibition highlights over 100 of the popular artist’s prints, tracing his development from the early years of the 20th century to his discovery of Cubism.

Picasso Countdown!

We are in the final week of Picasso and the Avant-Garde in Paris at the PMA! If you haven't seen the exhibition, come check us out. And if you have, come back and show us more love. In the meantime, read this funny blog post about Picasso's penchant for stripped shirts. Maybe you'll be inspired to snap a photo in your hippest boating shirt and send to us on Facebook -- in the sartorial spirit of Picasso. Copycats welcome.

Cubist Makeup Catches On

Continuing yesterday's conversation on how Cubism influences fashion, it's interesting to see how makeup artists translate the trend, too. Using the face as a canvas, experts painted on bold shades, geometric outlines, and interlocking bands of color at recent runway shows. 

To find out if we were onto something major, we contacted Kate Lee, a Chanel makeup artist who takes an artistic approach to maquillage. Here's what she told us: 

Picasso Fashion Statement

Picasso is popping up everywhere these days, even on the runways. Designers like Phillip Lim and Giambattista Valli took inspiration from the artist's style of abstract cubism, combining different shapes, colors, and textures to create fantastic collage-like pieces for their spring collections.

But off the runway, how does one work the cubist trend? For that, we spoke to Cathy Rubin, Philadelphia Inquirer's Style & Soul editor. Some helpful hints:

Picasso Tweetup April 30th

All Philadelphia-area mom bloggers are invited to a special Mom’s Night Out at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 30th at 6pm. The first 25 bloggers to RSVP will get one free ticket to the Picasso exhibition, plus a free "Ice Cubism" cocktail and Picasso poster. Those who RSVP after the first 25 can purchase a discounted admission ticket for $18.

Click here to RSVP by Wednesday, April 28. Please include your name, blog URL, and contact info (phone and mailing address). See you on the 30th!

A Cubist Cocktail

Picasso blogger Jaime Bramble on the art of the cocktail...Happy weekend.


You don’t need me to tell you that the Picasso exhibition is a feast for the eyes. But what you may not realize is that beyond the galleries, a feast of a whole different kind awaits.
I’m talking about the specialty cocktail that was created in honor of Picasso's legacy: the Ice Cubism. I just sampled one (or two...) with Tia Triplett, General Manager of Restaurant Associates here at the Museum. Tia is in charge
of all food and beverage outlets and catering; she's also the creative force behind some truly masterful libations.

A blend of Absolut raspberry vodka and DeKuyper peach schnapps, the crystal clear Ice Cubism is at once refreshing and substantial, with just the right amount of sweetness. As Tia describes it, it’s a lot like a cherry lifesaver. The finishing touches are three “ice cubes” (they’re actually jello cubes); one blueberry, one strawberry, and one pineapple, representing the three primary colors - the blue and red also harkens to Picasso's blue and rose periods. The challenge in creating the Ice Cubism, Tia told me, came not only from experimenting with and finding the perfect blend of ingredients, but also in developing something that would stand up to sitting out. After all, real ice cubes melt. And as far as we know, Picasso didn’t have a muddied purplish period. After trying a variety of herbal infusions, fruits, and juices, she thought of jello shots. The result is visually arresting, palate-pleasing, and, I dare say, appropriately avant-garde.

Friday, April 16, 2010

"Pretty Much Picasso"

Grow your own Picasso? Yes, you can. Check out the "Supertunia Pretty Much Picasso" hybrid petunia created by plant supplier Proven Winners. This beauty took home the Innovation Award at the International Plant Fair in Germany recently. And it's racked up 14 awards to date at various planting trials around the world. Gardening buffs praise its unique combination of colors--the violet bloom piped in green, which has a cool tie-dye effect. Apparently, it attracts butterflies and hummingbirds, but deadheading is not necessary. Oh good! So who's up for some planting this weekend?
Image: Accuweather

My Room in the Picasso Exhibition

Picasso blogger, Erin Cameron, tells us why the Salon Cubism is her favorite room in the Picasso exhibition.


"By far, my favorite part of Picasso and the Avant-Garde was the room about cubism in the French Salon. In case you don't remember, this room was a bit larger than most and painted terra cotta red.

Picasso: Reordering of Reality

Curator Michael Taylor discusses Juan Gris' Still Life Before an Open Window, Place Ravignan. It's the first Cubist painting to blend the interior and the exterior worlds together. Sadly, a computer screen doesn't do the colors justice -- the palette is strange and mystical, and definitely worth seeing in person (find this work in the Synthetic Cubism gallery). What do you think of it?

Oooh! Picasso

Taking the kids to Picasso? Check out this post from mom blogger Melissa Agnert on her fun day at the Museum, and see how you can win a copy of this imaginative children's book written by Mil Nieplod and Jeannyves Verdu, which we love and highly recommend (for adults, too).

You Ask, We Ask

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."

The Mona Lisa of Cubism

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...

What's The Craziest Art You've Ever Created?

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.   

More About the Picasso Pouf

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.  

Picasso Comic-Strip Series

Listen as curator Michael Taylor discusses Pablo Picasso's comic-strip-like series of political prints in Dream and Lie of Franco.