MemyselfandI
dal 22/9/2011 al 14/1/2012
Segnalato da
22/9/2011
MemyselfandI
Museum Ludwig, Koln
Photographic Portraits of Picasso. The exhibition inquires for the first time into Picasso's own role in the conception of his images: How effective were the strategies used by an artist who made a public display his women and his work, his charades and political viewpoints, and who selectively exploited his private life to create a cult of personality? The show also holds in store some surprising and never-before-published photographs of the artist.
curated by Kerstin Stremmel
Photographs played a major role in conjuring the legend of Picasso’s dazzling and enigmatic personality. The face of the monumental artist is almost more familiar than his oeuvre. Yet despite the profusion of published photographs, the tension between Picasso’s desire to control his self-representation and the ideas and ambitions of the photographers themselves—many of whom were famous—has not heretofore been explored. This exhibition thus inquires for the first time into Picasso’s own role in the conception of these images: How effective were the strategies used by an artist who made a public display his women and his work, his charades and political viewpoints, and who selectively exploited his private life to create a cult of personality? Did the photographers manage to assert their own pictorial language and style against the dominating presence of their subject, and to what extent?
Alongside famous iconic images, the show also holds in store some surprising and never-before-published photographs of the artist. Any claim to completeness would however be both tedious and impossible; what is important instead is to address the various types of photographers and themes. These range from classic portraits of the artist in his studio to intriguing views of rooms and works from which, for example in the series by Brassaï, a precise overall picture can be formed; from snapshots on the beach to the staging of the artist’s political engagement. Who was able to maintain their independence in the face of Picasso’s need for self-fictionalization, and are some of the photographs interesting even apart from the identity of their subject?
Alongside famous iconic images, the show also holds in store some surprising and never-before-published photographs of the artist. Any claim to completeness would however be both tedious and impossible; what is important instead is to address the various types of photographers and themes. These range from classic portraits of the artist in his studio to intriguing views of rooms and works from which, for example in the series by Brassaï, a precise overall picture can be formed; from snapshots on the beach to the staging of the artist’s political engagement. Who was able to maintain their independence in the face of Picasso’s need for self-fictionalization, and are some of the photographs interesting even apart from the identity of their subject?
Katalog
Edited by Kerstin Stremmel on behalf of Museum Ludwig, Texts by Pierre Daix, Friederike Mayröcker, Katherine Slusher, Kerstin Stremmel. Designed by: Kühle und Mozer. Published by: Hatje/Cantz. 272 Pages, ca. 300 Illustrations.
Image: Michel Sima, Pablo Picasso and the owl, 1946 © Courtesy Dr. Kuno Fischer Galerie, Luzern
Valeska Schneider
Press and Public Relations
Museum Ludwig
Heinrich-Böll-Platz, 50667 Köln
Telefon +49-221-221-23491
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E-Mail schneider@museum-ludwig.de
Opening: 23rd September, 19.00
Museum Ludwig
Bischofsgartenstrasse 1 - Koln
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Every first Thursday of the month 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Closed on Monday
Admission: Adults: € 10, concessions: € 7 (Children under 14, school students, college students, trainees (Azubis), military/alternative service conscripts on production of a valid ID, owners of the "Köln-Pass")
Families: € 20,00
Groups (20 people and over): € 7.50 per person
School classes incl. teacher: free entrance to the collection
€ 4 per pupil/teacher for the special exhibition