Some scathing reviews dismissed an exhibition on Picasso and feminism, co-curated with Australian cartoonist Hannah Gadsby, as weak academically, lacking in significant artwork and politically unjust.
“Don’t go” I cried out loud headline Website “Hellgate”, by The Guardian Asked“Is Hannah Gadsby’s Picasso exhibition that bad?” Even Gadsby’s Home Turf Paper Declared“Hannah Gadsby’s new Picasso exhibition is a joke.”
But despite, or perhaps because of, the strong reaction, people lined up at the Brooklyn Museum for the opening of the exhibition on June 2, with general admissions up 51 from the previous weekend. percent increased.
And the Brooklyn Museum stands by the exhibition.It’s Pablomatic: Picasso by Hannah GadsbyHe argued that he expected the opposition when he cast Gadsby in the 2018 Netflix special Nanette, which gutted the cubist painter’s misogynist attitude towards women. Organizers said the exhibition was intended to encourage heated debate.
“Discussions are welcome,” Ann Pasternak, director of the museum, said in an interview. “We knew the show was going to be controversial, but frankly if more people got involved with the art as a result, that would be great.
“If you want to see hundreds of Picasso exhibitions, go to Paris,” she added. “If you want interesting conversation, come to Brooklyn.”
The exhibition, curated by Lisa Small and Catherine Morris, also senior curators at the museum, explores the troubling legacy of the Spanish artist by examining works by women artists in the museum’s collection. Alongside Picasso’s paintings, drawings and sculptures.
Picasso abused He makes use of his female muse in his work. The two killed themselves. “Every time I change my wife, I have to burn the last one so I can get rid of them,” he once said. “They will not complicate my existence. Then my youth may return. You kill a woman and erase the past that she symbolizes.”
Several visitors to the museum on a recent morning said they were blown away by the exhibits. “The violence in his work hits me and makes me cry,” said Lori Handelman, 64, a retired New Yorker. “It’s very sharp through the lens of anger, and I think that’s appropriate.”
Some struggled with the show’s negative perception of Picasso. “It’s nice to make a statement like this, but I still love Picasso,” said Garon Jacobs, an artist from Berlin.
Critical reactions to Gadsby’s exhibition questioned the seriousness of the exhibition’s aims, arguing that Gadsby’s wall jokes and sarcasm were a substitute for more substantial efforts to address the artwork. bottom. Jason Farago of The New York Times called the exhibition “essentially light entertainment” and disparaged the female artists participating in it. He added, “We are moving away from looking for positive solace in pop culture with social justice themes nearby.”
Alex Greenberger of Art News criticized “This show ignores art history.”
However, some reviews praised the exhibition’s alternative approach to the typical acclaim of “genius” artists. “There’s something refreshing about a show that doesn’t let Picasso groom itself.” wrote in The Economist. “Many of his works here feature the artist in the studio with beautiful nude models, and the tableau feels as vampire as it is charged. The contrast between the breasts and curvaceous hips and the female body created by female artists is powerful.”
The Brooklyn Museum is no stranger to controversy. In 1999, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani threatened to cut the city’s finances after Chris Ofili’s painting of the Virgin Mary adorned with elephant dung was displayed in the museum’s “Sensation” show. . In 2002, the museum hosted a “Star Wars” exhibition, which critics criticized as vulgar. In addition, the 2008 Takashi Murakami exhibition featured a Louis Vuitton shop and was criticized for displaying handbags. More recently, it has featured works by street artists and commercial designers. cows collected some harsh reviewbut drew a large crowd.
The Gadsby exhibition was curated in response to an invitation to several facilities from the Picasso Museum to reflect on the 50th anniversary of Picasso’s death and what it means today. “It seemed to me that we needed to look at the issue in terms of the cultural changes that feminism brought about in the 50 years after his death,” Small said.
“We wanted to foster a dialogue about the myths and tropes of the male-dominant modernist norms that Picasso embodies,” the curator added. “It was also an opportunity to present and interpret our own collection of feminist works.”
Other artists included Michaelen Thomas, Judy Chicago and Marilyn Minter, all of whom were informed that their work would appear on the show. Thomas and Minter declined to be interviewed.
Ms. Chicago said she identified the misogyny Gadsby confronted in museum exhibitions and “Nanette” in derisive reviews.
“There’s a certain level of hysteria and hostility in some of the writing, which reminds me of the hysteria surrounding The Dinner Party,” Chicago said of a famous 1970s feminist installation in the Brooklyn Museum. . .
“There is little room to criticize the great heroes of art history as if they were beyond analysis. It’s this very strange idea that it doesn’t, and of course it does,” Chicago said. “I congratulate and congratulate the Brooklyn Museum on starting such a dialogue.”
Similarly, the feminist collective Guerrilla Girls, who also appeared on the show, wrote: Instagram post: “So many angry and hysterical criticisms by male art critics are pablomatic @ Brooklyn Museum Saying something really important. “
The museum invited Mr. Gadsby, who studied art history at university, to cooperate with the program. The reason is because Gadsby, a cartoonist and actor who identifies as genderqueer and uses them/their pronouns, is the “Nanette” who connects Picasso with Donald J. Trump and Harvey. . Weinstein called the artist “rotten with a hollow face” and declared, “I hate Picasso!” i hate him! “
“Hannah’s voice felt like a great addition to broaden the conversation about Picasso’s legacy and the rise of feminist revisionism and criticism of modernity,” Morris said.
The curators helped conceptualize and select the works for the show, and Gadsby was an integral part of the process.
The exhibition incorporates a clip of “Nanette” as well as wall text with Gadsby’s sarcasm: ‘ Next to a paper etching, ‘Sculptor and Model Looking at Himself, 1933,’ the cartoon reads: look at my penis “
Responding to criticism that the exhibition was downplayed by Picasso’s masterpiece with only eight paintings, Pasternak said the Brooklyn Museum was late to participate in the 50th anniversary celebrations and had trouble getting large loans. Stated.
Brooklyn Museum officials said in an interview that dignity and lightness are not mutually exclusive. “No one doubts that Picasso is either a prodigy or a genius,” said Morris, senior curator at the museum’s Elizabeth A. Sackler Feminist Art Center. “Humor and seriousness are not opposites,” she said.
Small, the museum’s senior curator of European art, said the strong reaction “would not discourage visitors from coming to the exhibition to see it for themselves, nor would other institutions willing to take risks.” We hope that it will not weaken the impact of
Scholars in the art world, many of whom have yet to see the Gadsby exhibition, are excited about the topic. Some believe this stacking up is unfair. Arnold L. Lehman, former director of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, who held the “Sensation” exhibition, said: It is also important for museums to research and discuss their history. “
However, some consider it a gimmick that the show should have avoided. “Museums should do more than beat up Picasso and advocate for the rights of women artists.” Art historian Robert Stowe said: “It’s so easy to be anti-Picasso, and it doesn’t address the underlying structural issues. What is needed is a critique of institutional sexism, not making art anymore, It’s not about targeting an artist who died a long time ago.”
