Last week I was lucky enough to attend the press preview for the Art Gallery of Ontario’s new blockbuster exhibition, Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris. Culled from the artist’s own collection, this is the largest Picasso retrospective ever mounted in Canada.
There were lots of amazing paintings and sculptures among the 150 works on display although I have to say I found the show just a tad disappointing; the rooms felt dark and there was precious little text accompanying the work. What’s more, only a couple of paintings in each room had audio descriptions and those were more perplexing than enlightening. I don’t want to dissuade you from attending; the show is worthwhile, just keep your expectations in check.
One of the works that delighted me was Picasso’s cunningly simple sculpture of a bull’s head made from a bicycle seat and handle bars: the piece speaks to the current craze for taxidermy trophies with a welcome measure of humour.
As usual, I took special interest in the post-show gift shop and I was flabbergasted by the inexplicable selection of faux Parisian tchotchkes and assorted kitchen clutter, most of which had nothing, and I mean NOTHING to do with Picasso.
Yes, there were glasses, mugs and snack plates adorned with the master’s whimsical line drawings but generic candles, soaps and pillows? It felt like a Homesense tribute to Paris. Very weird.
May 1st, 2012 at 9:03 am
Snort! I feel the same way about the gift shop. Perhaps the bicycle seat toro is an ironic nose thumbing of sorts by Picasso? I do love it tho’.
May 1st, 2012 at 12:55 pm
That gift shop sucks. They need to take a lesson from the Tate Modern’s shop. Could spend all day in there and it’s filled with lovely prints, hard to find but very relevant art/photography/cultural theory/philosophy etc books. Then National Gallery’s shop is decent too.
The AGO is just dark and blah anyway IMHO I guess the shop reflects that.
May 1st, 2012 at 1:10 pm
Agree — the AGO and ROM gift shops suck. Love the Gardiner gift shop though. (I sent you that e-mail about it this morning before I saw this post!)
May 2nd, 2012 at 5:37 am
Susan, Picasso revered bulls — I’m pretty sure it’s the way he saw himself — and they’re a consistent player throughout the exhibition.
May 2nd, 2012 at 6:57 am
Good morning. I think Picasso thought himself a bit of a *bull* no self image problem…Gayle of pass
May 2nd, 2012 at 2:39 pm
I’m very much opposed to artists’ work being exploited to push an endless array of commercial products. I vividly recall standing in the gift shop at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and being simultaneously revolted and enchanted by a children’s tin lunch box adorned with an image of Starry Night.
Full disclaimer and shameful confession: I bought the lunch box and have loved it dearly ever since.
May 3rd, 2012 at 5:37 pm
Sorry, “disclosure” not “disclaimer.”
May 4th, 2012 at 2:09 am
So this has nothing to do with the post – just wanted to publicly declare that Chris has the best blogroll sidebar, ever. Love it all, particularly the “Fuck Your Noguchi Coffee Table” blog. Such an economy with words the author has. Where on earth did you come across that one?