Left: Pablo Picasso, 1920. © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Right: Hannah Gadsby, 2018. (Photo: Alan Moyle).
Left: Pablo Picasso, 1920. © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Right: Hannah Gadsby, 2018. (Photo: Alan Moyle).
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973). Woman in Gray, 1942. Oil on panel, 39 1/4 × 31 7/8 in. (99.7 × 81 cm). Brooklyn Museum; Gift of the Alex Hillman Family Foundation in memory and in honor of Rita K. Hillman, 2008.43. © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Dindga McCannon (American, born 1947). Revolutionary Sister, 1971. Mixed-media construction on wood, 62 × 27 in. (157.5 × 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum; Gift of R. M. Atwater, Anna Wolfrom Dove, Alice Fiebiger, Joseph Fiebiger, Belle Campbell Harriss, and Emma L. Hyde, by exchange, Designated Purchase Fund, Mary Smith Dorward Fund, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, and Carll H. de Silver Fund, 2012.80.32. © Dindga McCannon
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973). The Sculptor, December 1931. Oil on plywood, 112.2 × 37.7 in. (285 × 96 cm). Musée national Picasso/Paris/France; MP135. © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. (Photo: Adrien Didierjean, © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, New York)
Renee Cox (Jamaican, born 1960). Yo Mama, 1993. Gelatin silver photograph, frame: 94 × 54 in. (238.8 × 137.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum; Gift of the Carol and Arthur Goldberg Collection, 2009.82.3. © Renee Cox. (Photo: courtesy of the artist)
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973). Reclining Nude, April 1932. Oil on canvas, 51.2 × 63.6 in. (130 × 161.7 cm). Musée national Picasso/Paris/France; MP142. © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. (Photo: Adrien Didierjean, © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, New York)
Guerrilla Girls (established United States, 1985). Do Women Have to Be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum?, 1989. Offset lithograph, 11 × 28 in. (27.9 × 71.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum; Gift of Guerrilla Girls BroadBand, Inc., 2017.26.54. © Guerrilla Girls. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973). Faun Uncovering a Sleeping Woman, 1936; from the Vollard Suite, printed 1939. Aquatint on laid paper, 13 7/16 × 17 1/2 in. (34.1 × 44.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum; Gift of The Roebling Society in honor of Jo Miller and Designated Purchase Fund, 75.81. © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
May Stevens (American, 1924–2019). Big Daddy Paper Doll, 1970. Acrylic on canvas, 72 × 168 in. (182.9 × 426.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum; Gift of Mr. and Mrs. S. Zachary Swidler, 75.73. © May Stevens. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973). The Shadow, December 1953. Oil, charcoal on canvas, 50.9 × 37.9 in. (129.5 × 96.5 cm). Musée national Picasso/Paris/France; MP208. © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. (Photo: Mathieu Rabeau, © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, New York)
Betty Tompkins (American, born 1945). Apologia (Artemesia Gentileschi #4), 2018. Acrylic on paper, 11 × 8 1/2 in. (27.9 × 21.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum; Emily Winthrop Miles Fund and Robert A. Levinson Fund, 2018.21. © Betty Tompkins. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Kaleta Doolin (American, born 1950). Improved Janson: A Woman on Every Page #2, 2017. Paper, ink, textile, 11 3/4 × 9 1/4 × 2 in. (29.8 × 23.5 × 5.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum; Emily Winthrop Miles Fund, 2018.38. © Kaleta Doolin. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
It’s Pablo-matic: Picasso According to Hannah Gadsby
June 2–September 24, 2023
Now featured on Bloomberg Connects
Picasso said, “You can have all the perspectives at once!” What a hero. But tell me, are any of those perspectives a woman’s? Well, then I’m not interested. —Hannah Gadsby
Fifty years after his death, Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) remains an artistic and cultural icon. Not only is Picasso a household name, but his artwork sells for record prices, continually asserting his status as the preeminent modern artist. It’s Pablo-matic: Picasso According to Hannah Gadsby examines the artist’s complicated legacy through a critical, contemporary, and feminist lens, even as it acknowledges his work’s transformative power and lasting influence.
The Brooklyn Museum’s exhibition is organized with Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby, whose groundbreaking 2018 comedy special Nanette called out the inexcusable behavior of some of art history’s most towering figures, Picasso in particular. Through in-gallery juxtapositions, accompanied by an audio tour featuring Gadsby’s incisive humor and sharp critique, It’s Pablo-matic showcases over one hundred works, including pieces by Picasso and selections by twentieth- and twenty-first-century women artists such as Cecily Brown, Renee Cox, Käthe Kollwitz, Dindga McCannon, Ana Mendieta, Marilyn Minter, Joan Semmel, Kiki Smith, May Stevens, and Mickalene Thomas. Highlighting Gadsby’s voice alongside those of many of the included artists, the exhibition reckons with complex questions around misogyny, creativity, the art-historical canon, and “genius.”
Hear a sample from Gadsby’s audio tour of the exhibition, available on Bloomberg Connects and at the Brooklyn Museum.
It’s Pablo-matic: Picasso According to Hannah Gadsby is curated by Hannah Gadsby; Catherine Morris, Sackler Senior Curator, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art; and Lisa Small, Senior Curator, European Art; with Talia Shiroma, Curatorial Assistant, Arts of the Americas and Europe, Brooklyn Museum.
This exhibition is organized by the Brooklyn Museum in collaboration with the Musée national Picasso-Paris and is part of a global presentation of exhibitions and events marking the fiftieth anniversary of Pablo Picasso’s death:
Picasso Celebration 1973–2023:
50 exhibitions and events to celebrate Picasso
Generous support for this exhibition is provided by Tom Healy and Fred P. Hochberg. Additional support is provided by Sharon Fay and Maxine Schaeffer, and by Clara Bingham and Joseph G. Finnerty III.