Black and White Picasso Exhibition Opens at the Guggenheim in October

Picasso Black and White, the first major exhibition to focus on the artist's lifelong exploration of a black-and-white palette throughout his career, will be presented at the Guggenheim Museum from October 5, 2012, to January 23, 2013. The exhibition features 118 paintings, sculptures, and works on paper from 1904 to 1971, and will offer new and striking insights into Picasso's vision and working methods. This chronological presentation includes significant loans-many of which have not been exhibited or published before-drawn from museum, private, and public collections across Europe and the United States, including numerous works from the Picasso family. Following its New York presentation, a major part of the exhibition will travel to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, where it will be on view from February 24 to May 27, 2013.

Picasso Black and White is organized by Carmen Giménez, Stephen and Nan Swid Curator of Twentieth-Century Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, with assistance from Karole Vail, Associate Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with an essay by Giménez as well as essays by Dore Ashton, Olivier Berggruen, and Richard Shiff.

This exhibition is sponsored by Bank of America.

Major support is provided by the Picasso Black and White Leadership Committee: Christina and Robert C. Baker, Chairs; Acquavella Galleries; J. Ira and Nicki Harris Foundation; The Lauder Foundation-Leonard and Evelyn Lauder Fund; Phyllis and William Mack; Stephen and Nan Swid; Patricia and George Weiss; and Aaron I. Fleischman and Lin Lougheed.

Additional support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Blanche and Irving
Laurie Foundation, and the Juliet Lea Hillman Simonds Foundation.

This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and
the Humanities.

Few artists have exerted as considerable an influence over subsequent generations as Pablo Picasso (1881–1973). While his work is often seen through the lens of his diverse style and subjects, the recurrent motif of black, white, and gray is frequently overlooked. Picasso Black and White will demonstrate how the artist was continuously investigating, inventing, and drawing in somber and austere monochromatic tones throughout his career.