TEXAS: HOUSTON MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, PART I, CALDER-PICASSO SPECIAL EXHIBIT

 November 24, 2022

After several days in the wilds of the Gulf Coast (It's a whole different country down there, but then, Texas has about eight different countries within its borders), it was time for the wilds of Houston.

We spent a brief amount of time in Houston in 2012, and for some reason I didn't have a very favorable impression. I did a 180 on this visit.  I loved Houston. I suppose that's why it is a good idea to visit a place more than once.

It helps that our first destination was the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, one of the largest art museums in the United States, and with 300,000 square feet, it is the 12th largest in the world by gallery space. The permanent collection includes roughly 70,000 works from six continents. 

We were very fortunate to catch the "Calder-Picasso Special Exhibit" while we were there. A touring exhibit created by the artists' grandsons, it highlights Calder's and Picasso's artistic affinities as well as their actual physical encounters with each other. 

Portrait of sculptor Alexander Calder January 3, 1957 by Arnold Newman
Portrait of artist Pablo Picasso on June 2, 1954 by Arnold Newman

If you are interested in the details of the two artists' works, click on the photo below and read. 

I will share some photos of Calder's and Picasso's work and let you discover the genius of each artist and the intersection of their work for yourself.

Dancer (1927) and Ball Player (c. 1927) by Alexander Calder

Acrobat (1929) and Acrobats (c. 1927) by Calder:

Acrobats (1929) by Calder

Calder with the Acrobats wire sculpture in the preceding photo

Acrobat (1930) by Pablo Picasso

Aztec Josephine Baker [an African American dancer and cabaret performer] (1930) and Hercules and Lion (1928) by Calder:

Medusa (c. 1930) by Calder

Reclining Nude (1932) by Picasso

Alexander Calder and Pablo Picasso met face-to-face five times. 

1. The first time was when Calder presented his first exhibition of non-objective sculptures in Paris in 1931. 

2. They met for the second time when they were both commissioned to create art for the Spanish Pavilion at the 1937 World's Fair in Paris. (Picasso's contribution was his monumental Spanish Civil War painting Guernica, and Calder's was Mercury Fountain, a sculpture highlighting Spanish mines under siege during the war.)

3. Their third meeting occurred fifteen years later in  May1952 when they were both lunch guests at the home of a mutual friend in Antibes.

4. As a result of meeting #3, Calder invited Picasso to a performance of Nucléa at a theater in Paris later that month. Calder had designed the sets of the play, which denounced the use of the atomic bomb.

5. In 1953, Calder and his wife, Louisa, visited Picasso in the South of France and saw some of his ceramics.

Picasso died on April 8, 1973, and Calder died on November 11, 1976.

Postcard from Calder to Picasso, August 1939

When I think of Calder, I think of his mobiles and stabiles. The stabile on the left, Object with Red Discs (1939) is one of his earliest "moving sculptures."  The suspended mobile on the right, Vertical Foliage (1941), is supposed to be one of his masterpieces. 

Constellation (1943) by Calder

When I think of Picasso, I think of these outlandish faces with their misplaced parts and bizarre colors. Ironically, this "portrait" of Marie-Thérése Walter is named for her hat.

The Straw Hat with Blue Foliage (1936) by Picasso

I didn't know Calder was also a painter.

My Shop (1955) by Calder

Compare it to this Picasso piece:

The Studio (1955) by Picasso

Calder created many nature-centric works, including Four Leaves and Three Petals (1939) and Red Lily Pads (1956):

I love this series where Picasso progressively reduced the bull from fully three-dimensional to its barest essence of a few Calder-esque lines. It is entitled The Bull (1945-1946).

Who would you guess created these two bronze sculptures? 

Dancer (1944)

Vase with Flower (1951)

Well?

The Dancer is by Calder and Vase with Flower is by Picasso.

These two should be easier, so I'll just tell you. On the left is Tightrope Worker (1944) by Calder and on the right is Reclining Nude (1967) by Picasso.

Negative space is important to both artists. On the left is Louisa's Valentine (1955), created by Calder for his wife. On the right is Head of a Woman (1962) by Picasso.

In 2006, a few years before I started keeping track of our travels in this blog, we visited the Picasso Museum in Barcelona. It was the first museum we went to dedicated solely to the work of a single artist, and it was so interesting to see the evolution of Picasso's work. It has always been one of our favorite museums.  

Seeing a large exhibit dedicated to showing the relationships between TWO artists was equally fascinating.