PICASSO IN L.A.; ARTIST'S CAREER SURVEYED IN EXTRAORDINARY EXHIBIT.Byline: Reed Johnson Reed Cameron Johnson (born December 8, 1976 in Riverside, California) is an outfielder for the Toronto Blue Jays of the American League East division of Major League Baseball. He weighs 180 lb (82 kg) and is 5'10" tall. Daily News Staff Writer When is a ``blockbuster'' art show not a blockbuster art show? Possibly when it's ``Picasso: Masterworks from The Museum of Modern Art,'' the large career retrospective of the modernist icon that opens today at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, also known as LACMA, is the official and world-renowned art museum of the County of Los Angeles, California, located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. . LACMA LACMA Los Angeles County Museum of Art LACMA Los Angeles County Medical Association LACMA Latin American and Caribbean Movers Association officials anticipate capacity crowds for the exhibition of 115 paintings, drawings, sculptures, collages and prints, which runs through Jan. 4. Only about 15 of the works are regularly on view at MOMA Moma (mō`mä), town, E central Mozambique. It is important mainly as a harbor for the export of tropical produce. in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. (sometimes called ``the House Picasso Built''), which owns one of the world's three premier Picasso collections. The others are at the Centre Pompidou and the Musee Picasso, both in Paris. Because so many of these works are rarely seen and because of Picasso's immense popularity, the exhibition superficially shapes up as the kind of splashy splash·y adj. splash·i·er, splash·i·est 1. Making or likely to make splashes. 2. Covered with splashes of color. 3. Showy; ostentatious. See Synonyms at showy. , revenue-raising cultural event that gained favor in the commercially overheated o·ver·heat v. o·ver·heat·ed, o·ver·heat·ing, o·ver·heats v.tr. 1. To heat too much. 2. To cause to become excited, agitated, or overstimulated. v.intr. art world of the 1980s. But organizers say this exhibition invites a serious consideration of Picasso's ability to put his finger on the pulse of changing artistic, historical and psycho-sexual currents, while switching constantly between traditional and avant-garde styles. ``If a blockbuster means that there's a kind of thoughtlessness in the way that it's put together, and you're just putting together a lot of high-priced items for the sake of drawing crowds, this is certainly not that,'' said LACMA curator Lynn Zelevansky. ``I think that initially the impression was that this was a show that could've been like that, (but) I think everybody who has spent a lot of time at the Museum of Modern Art will be really surprised to see how many works they don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. in this collection, and also what a credible survey of the artist's career it makes.'' LACMA director Graham W.J. Beal said that Picasso's personal life exerts as powerful a hold on our imaginations as his prolific output and endless stylistic reincarnations. ``He is a sort of complete package: the Bohemian, the rebel, the endless inventor, the fascinating personal life,'' Beal said. ``The fact is that you can't deny he will always be, like him or not, one of the great, great figures of the 20th century.'' The exhibition begins with 1904 etchings the Spanish-born Picasso inked when he was 23 at his dilapidated Paris studio. The last work in the exhibit, ``At Work'' (1971), was an abstract, self-mocking self-portrait Picasso completed two years before he died. In one gallery, viewers see the wall-size painting ``Three Musicians Three Musicians is the title of two similar oil paintings by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. They were both completed in 1921 in the Synthetic Cubist style. One version is currently displayed in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City; the other is found in the ,'' one of his largest modern works done in the abstract shapes of the Synthetic Cubist style. In the same gallery is a very small oil-on-wood painting, ``Nude Seated on a Rock,'' in a neo-classical style. Both paintings were done in the summer of 1921. One of the artist's most striking late works is ``The Charnel char·nel n. A repository for the bones or bodies of the dead; a charnel house. adj. Resembling, suggesting, or suitable for receiving the dead. House'' (1945), an oil and charcoal on canvas that memorializes the millions of Nazi concentration camp dead. The violent and poignant piece is next to the more hopeful bronze sculpture, ``Pregnant Woman'' (1950). The exhibition also shows Picasso's imaginative world of harpies, fauns and minotaurs. There is a 1934 etching of ``The Big Bullfight with Female Torero,'' as well as the 1937 satirical comic-strip panels ``Dream and Lie of Franco, I'' and ``Dream and Lie of Franco, II,'' which mock the military strongman who ruled Spain for the better part of five decades. Picasso's humor comes across vividly in the sculptures ``Head'' (1958), a wooden box with nails and buttons; and ``Baboon baboon, any of the large, powerful, ground-living monkeys of the genus Papio, also called dog-faced monkeys. Five subspecies live in Africa, with one species extending into the Arabian peninsula. and Young'' (1951), a bronze sculpture in which the mother baboon's face is ingeniously constructed from the body of a toy automobile. Los Angeles is the third and final stop of the show that began at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, then moved to the National Gallery of Canada National Gallery of Canada National art museum founded in Ottawa in 1880. Its holdings include extensive collections of Canadian art as well as important European works. Its nucleus was formed with the donation of diploma works by members of the Royal Canadian Academy. in Ottawa. If you go What: ``Picasso: Masterworks from The Museum of Modern Art'' Where: Through Jan. 4 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. Hours: Museum hours are noon to 8 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday; noon to 9 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Closed Wednesday. Tickets: Adults, $12 weekdays, $15 weekends; seniors $8 weekdays, $12 weekends; children $5; children 5 and under are free. Call Ticketmaster at (323) 462-ARTS. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos, Box PHOTO (1--Color) Girl Before a Mirror, 1932 (2--Color) Three Musicians, 1921 BOX: If you go (See text) |
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