From July 8 to September 28, 2008, the Museum of Modern Art in Dubrovnik will be showing graphics by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), emblematic author of modern art and one of the greatest artists of the 20th century.
Three representative series of Picasso graphics: Suite Vollard, La Tauromaquia and Suite 156 will be borrowed from Germany (Kunstmuseum Mülheim an der Ruhr in der Alten Post) and Switzerland (private collections) with coordination from the initiator of the exhibition, Miloš Glavurtić. The exhibition will take place under the patronage of the City of Dubrovnik.
Suite Vollard, highly valued by art critics as the most important series of prints in the twentieth century, was created between 1930 and 1937 and has 100 prints, 89 of which will be shown at the Museum of Modern Art in Dubrovnik. It was named after the initiator of the project, Ambroise Vollard, distinguished art dealer and gallerist, who collaborated closely with Pablo Picasso.
Graphics of the Suite Vollard (etchings, aquatint, drypoint) have five major themes: the Battle of Love, the Sculptor's Studio, the Minotaur, the Blind Minotaur, and they include three portraits of Ambroise Vollard.
Inspired by classical antiquity and stylistically ranging from neoclassical purity and serenity to fierce dynamic lines, these graphics are marked by superb technique.
La Tauromaquia (1957) has 26 prints (aquatint) and shows scenes from the bull fight, characteristic of Spanish culture. For its excellence of execution, La Tauromaquia is often compared with graphics that treat the same subject, by Picasso's compatriot, painter Francisco de Goya (1746-1828).
Graphics from the series Suite 156 (etchings, aquatint, drypoint) from which 20 prints will be shown at the Museum of Modern Art in Dubrovnik were executed during the last years of the artist's life (1970-1972) and might be labelled a kind of "graphic testament". What is fascinating is the fact that the artist at the age of ninety and more, works at such a frenetic rhythm, creating a great number of excellent graphics that summarize his various thematic preoccupations and visual experiments, with a marked erotic component.
In its presentation of these crucial series of prints, the exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art in Dubrovnik offers a chronological (1930-1972) and thematic view of the printmaking work of Pablo Picasso, who achieved unsurpassed results in one more field of artistic expression.