Picasso, referring to Rodin’s famous saying (“Sculpture is the art of space”), said that sculpture was the “art of intelligence”. In this case, the discipline of the material was what allowed the Malaga man best to keep in touch with the spontaneity and playful spirit of childhood that he never wanted to tear himself away from: Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, sometimes tennis balls would fall from some nearby fields while his grandfather was sculpting outdoors; The amused genius eventually incorporated them into his pieces. Museo Picasso Málaga opens today the ‘Picasso sculptor’. Matter and body’, The first major anthology dedicated to the sculptural face of Pablo Ruiz Picasso in our country and necessary to confirm the great importance of this artistic discipline in the almost endless artistic corpus of La Merced’s creator. It is also the first major exhibition on the Spanish-French agenda held in the birthplace of genius. The Year of Picasso commemorates the 50th anniversary of the artist’s death.
Until the next 10 September, Palacio de Buenavista has completely vacated its rooms for accommodation. 60 Picasso statues made between 1909 and 1964, in almost every imaginable material (iron, cement, wood, plaster, metal and bronze… also tennis balls). pieces like ‘The woman who proposes’, one of the biggest milestones of Picasso’s sculpture and what the artist himself wanted to present in the Spanish Pavilion at the 1937 Paris International Exhibition would become the great icon created by genius, although, of course, it was overshadowed by the enormous influence of the premiere there. World. , Guernica’.
The same thing happened with the rest of the sculptural work. almost always loaded in the anecdote section Among the critical considerations; It’s unfair when you show us how the Picasso sculptor allows us to see works like ‘Woman with Leaf’ or ‘Woman’s head (Fernande)’, for example the man from Malaga. was able to explore one of his greatest artistic concerns: the human body.
So rightfully so, Carmen Giménez, the curator of the ephemeral (and, let us recall, the first director of the Museo Picasso Málaga), A 100 percent sculptural exhibition with no preparatory drawings or canvases in dialogue diluting the volumetric discourse. For this reason, The viewer, the body as well as matter, will be able to relate to Picasso’s parts in an almost physical way, without intermediaries. with hands, eyes, female busts (as well as a dead man’s skull) and homage to friends and fans.
Relatives of the Malaga man say that the statues they made had other purposes: the statues accompanied him in his workshop; They say that members of his household were like his other relatives, and those to whom genius showed affection with a certain element of possession: for, with a few exceptions, Don Pablo hardly ever showed his sculptures to the public (far less to sell or lend for exhibitions)Until 1965, on the occasion of his 85th birthday and at the request of André Malrauxcollected some of his favorites at the French Petit Palais. Many visitors to the Grand Palais to peruse the paintings of the Malaga man later discovered his magnificent sculptures in the smaller, smaller space, which until then had been almost hidden. If on canvases a god could always be seen at full duty, then here, in three-dimensionality, the child can only be found playing as a child. This was the starting point for the validation of the artist’s sculptural face, an exercise in historical justice that the Museo Picasso Málaga now participates in with its new temporary face.
Farewells, reunions, tears: the Picassian twilight
An intense twilight tone dominated the sculptor Picasso’s presentation to the media. Matter and body. On the one hand, Carmen Giménez, the first director of the Museo Picasso Málaga, was sitting at the table, visibly impressed by the memories and love of her return to her long-time home; followed by José Lebrero, the current head of the art gallery, who recently announced he would be leaving at the end of the year. Former Minister of Culture José Guirao, who died in 2022, the main supporter of the Year of Picasso, as well as the bride of genius and the memory of Bernard’s mother (95 years old, retired) Christine Ruiz-Picasso Giménez spoke words of gratitude for the generosity of the boss, and the artist’s granddaughter shed tears could not hide.