Picasso, the eternal Spaniard? On stereotypes of French criticism
This proposal picks up the issue of Picasso’s Spanish identity based on certain authors of the 1940s and 1950s (Gieure, Huyghe and Dorival, among others). The aim of this project is to show how these French authors confine Picasso to a Spanish and even ultra-Spanish definition, and how such confinement goes hand in hand with a more or less explicit comparison to the “French” Braque and Matisse. A consequence of this reception of Picasso’s work and figure is, on the surface, the endurance of Picassian mythologies that have yet to disappear from many publications; it comprehensively reveals a history of artistic creation that is at least national or even racialist.
Philippe Dagen
Philippe Dagen is a lecturer in the History of Contemporary Art at Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, an art critic for the daily newspaper Le Monde and a novelist. His main works are: Bacon (1996), Le peintre, le poète, le sauvage (1998, 2010), Le silence des peintres (1996, 2012), L’art impossible (2002), Picasso (2008, 2010, 2011), L’art dans le monde de 1960 à nos jours (2012), Ateliers et portraits (2016). He has curated various exhibitions, including “Vénus et Caïn. Figures de la préhistoire, 1830-1930” (Bordeaux, Altamira and Québec, 2003), “1917” (Centre Pompidou Metz, 2012), “Charles Ratton et l’invention des arts ‘primitifs’” (Musée du Quai Branly, 2013), “Hodler/Monet/Munch: peindre l’impossible” (Musée Marmottan-Monet and Fondation Pierre Gianadda, 2016-2017).
Organized by:
Fundació Palau. Centre d’Art
Carrer la Riera 54. 08393
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