New Remai Modern Picasso exhibition explores role of collaboration in linocut process
For immediate release — October 7, 2020
SASKATOON, CANADA — Remai Modern’s latest exhibition of works from its collection of Pablo Picasso linocuts shows the artist’s mind at work. Picasso Linocuts: Drawing in Colour offers an exploration of the artist’s collaboration with young printer Hidalgo Arnéra.
Picasso’s appetite for technical challenges was matched by Arnéra. The two men were driven by similar values: imagination, mutual respect and love of a job well done. This chronological exhibition demonstrates Picasso’s innovation and ingenuity in mastering printing in colour, which he achieved through both the one-block-per-colour method and the reductive technique.
The exhibition is guest curated by Saskatchewan-born art dealer Frederick Mulder and his collaborator, art historian Anne-Françoise Gavanon.
“Remai Modern is very fortunate to hold such a comprehensive collection of linocuts by Picasso in its collection, offering insight into the creative process of one of the best-known artists of all time,” said Aileen Burns and Johan Lundh, Remai Modern’s Co-Executive Director & CEOs. “We are delighted to have this opportunity to work with Frederick Mulder, who was instrumental in bringing these works to Saskatoon, and his collaborator Anne-Françoise Gavanon, and to share their expertise with visitors.”
Spanning the years 1955 to 1968, Drawing in Colour follows the various stages of Picasso’s process with linocut prints, which are presented alongside several ceramics that he created in the same period, highlighting the role of collaboration in his oeuvre.
“The placing of the most extensive collection of Picasso linocuts in the world at Remai Modern has been the highlight of my long life as an art dealer,” said Mulder. “Growing up in Eston, Saskatchewan, the idea that I would one day be in a position to help bring such an amazing group of Picassos to Saskatoon would have been unthinkable, but it happened, and this exhibition only begins to show the collection’s scope and richness. I am delighted to be the co-curator of the show, and I hope its presentation will give folk some sense of the great treasure that now belongs to this city.”
“Such a comprehensive collection allows for a deep understanding of Picasso’s artistic mind and what he was trying to achieve with linocuts, and also for how this medium contributed to his practice,” said Gavanon. “While curating this exhibition, it was a privilege to benefit from such a wealth of material at Remai Modern and thereby conclude five years of my own research in Picasso linocuts. I hope Remai Modern visitors will learn a lot and enjoy themselves while looking at all of these wonderful Picassos.”
Picasso Linocuts: Drawing in Colour runs until June 6, 2021 in Remai Modern’s Picasso Gallery.
About Remai Modern’s Picasso collection
Remai Modern houses the most comprehensive collection of linocuts by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), including editioned prints, working states and experimental proofs that provide insight into the artist’s process.
All of Picasso’s linocuts were produced in a 14-year period between 1954 and 1968, with his master printer, Hidalgo Arnéra (1922-2007).
Remai Modern’s collection consists of 194 out of 197 linocut subjects known to exist, in addition to 212 working proofs. This group of linocuts was assembled by Frederick Mulder, a UK art dealer and world expert in 19th- and 20th-century European prints, who is originally from Eston, Saskatchewan. In 2012, the Frank and Ellen Remai Foundation purchased 405 linocuts from Mulder, with the purpose of donating them to Remai Modern. In 2014, Mulder made a gift of 23 ceramics along with one of the remaining four linocut subjects bringing the linocut collection to a total of 406 works.
About Remai Modern
Remai Modern is situated on Treaty 6 Territory and the Traditional Homeland of the Métis. We pay our respects to First Nations and Métis ancestors and reaffirm our relationship with one another.
Remai Modern is a new museum of modern and contemporary art in Saskatoon. The museum is committed to affirming the powerful role that art and artists play in questioning, interpreting and defining the modern era. Open since October 2017, Remai Modern is the largest contemporary art museum in western Canada and houses a collection of more than 8,000 works, including the world’s foremost collection of Picasso linocut prints.
Remai Modern would like to acknowledge the contributions of the Frank & Ellen Remai Foundation, the Canada Council for the Arts, SaskCulture through the Sask Lotteries Fund and the City of Saskatoon.
For additional information contact:
Stephanie McKay, Communications Manager
306.975.2242
smckay@remaimodern.org