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Picasso and the School of Paris: Paintings from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

by John McGee

Pablo Picasso, Harlequin, 1901, oil on canvas, 82.7x61.2cm 
(Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Loeb,
1960 (60. 87) ©Succession Picasso, Paris & BCF, Tokyo, 2002)

Modern painting from New York is spelled M-O-M-A for many people. But that show, “Masterworks from the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1900-1955),” was last year. “Picasso and the School of Paris” comes from the Met—the Metropolitan Museum of Art (which, despite the bushels of mail we receive addressed to “Metropolitan,” has no relation to this magazine; nor are we the “Metro Police”). 

The Met is one of the world's largest museums, a cultural catch-all containing over 2 million works of art from pre-history to the 20th century. The modern art collection started with the bequest of Picasso's portrait of Gertrude Stein in 1946 and grew such that a separate wing was added to the museum in 1970.

This is the first time that work from the Met's modern collection has traveled to Japan. The 72 paintings by 34 artists assembled here are a reworked version of the “School of Paris” show the Met held in 2000 (notably, “Picasso” was added to the title).

Many of the artists in last year's MoMA show at the Ueno Royal Museum are included here—Braque, Bonnard, de Chirico, Dubuffet, Leger, Matisse, Miro, Modigliani, Picasso, Rousseau (additions include Balthus, Dufy and Utrillo). Partly this selection reflects what Japanese audiences like. But it's also proof of the significant role the artists of the School of Paris played in the development of modern art before World War II. 

Amedeo Modigliani, Reclining Nude, 1917, oil on canvas, 60.6x92.7cm
(Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls
Collection, 1997 (1997. 149. 9))

It wasn't a real school or movement. The term refers to the artists who lived in the City of Light from roughly the turn of the century to the beginning of WWII (when New York became the new center of modern art). They came from France (Redon, Derain, Matisse), from across Europe (Picasso, Miro and Gris from Spain; Modigliani and de Chirico from Italy) and its eastern edges (Soutine from Lithuania, Chagall from Russia), and beyond. 

The paintings in this show span 1895-1940 and trace changes in individual artists, and in the scene as a whole, through movements like Symbolism, Fauvism and Cubism. 

As if to remind us that the early 20th century was full of great brutality and beauty, visitors are greeted at the entrance by a lion chomping the head off a leopard. The scene, which takes place in a strange forest of giant blue and pink lotuses, yellow banana-shaped flowers, and olive drab trees, comes courtesy of Henri Rousseau (The Lion's Repast, 1907). Deeper in the show, Modigliani's languorous nude twists to face you with empty eyes and a full figure (Reclining Nude, 1917).

It's not all carnage and lust. The Cubist section is tight and cerebral. Braque's tabletop still life painted on an oval canvas (1910) squares off against Picasso's similar composition on a rectangle (1911). Their controlled brown and gray daubs led the way for the other Cubist experiments nearby—looping black outlines by Villon (1912), bright contrasting patterns by Gris (1913) and rainbow dots by Diego Rivera (1915).

Henri Rousseau, The Repast of a Lion, 1907, oil on canvas, 113.7x160cm 
(Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Sam A. Lewisohn, 1951 (51. 112. 5))

As curator William S. Lieberman notes in the catalog, this show is extensive but not comprehensive. It lacks sculptors like Brancusi, Americans like Man Ray, and surrealists like Dali. But it shows again how generous donors and strong institutions have helped make New York one of the world's reigning art cities. It also reminds us why art from this period continues to be popular.

This exhibition was held Jan-Mar 2003 at Bunkamura Museum of Art in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan.

©2006 John McGee

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