Picasso: Guitars 1912–1914
February 13–June 6, 2011
MoMA, Floor 3
Sometime between October and December 1912, Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) made a guitar. Cobbled together from cardboard, paper, string, and wire, materials that he cut, folded, threaded, and glued, Picasso's silent instrument resembled no sculpture ever seen before. In 1914 the artist reiterated his fragile papery construction in a more fixed and durable sheet metal form. These two Guitars, both gifts from the artist to MoMA, bracket an incandescent period of material and structural experimentation in Picasso's work. Picasso: Guitars 1912–1914 explores this breakthrough moment in 20th-century art, and the Guitars' place within it. Bringing together some 70 closely connected collages, constructions, drawings, mixed-media paintings, and photographs assembled from over 30 public and private collections worldwide, this exhibition offers fresh insight into Picasso's cross-disciplinary process in the years immediately preceding World War I.
The exhibition is organized by Anne Umland, Curator, with Blair Hartzell, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art.
View an archived version of the exhibition site
Picasso: Guitars 1912-1914
The exhibition is sponsored by Hanjin Shipping.
Major support is provided by The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art and an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
Additional funding is provided by Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III and by Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte.
Picasso: Guitars 1912–1914 Anne Umland, 2011 Hardcover, 112 pages
Buy from the Design Store
Picasso: The Making of Cubism 1912–1914 Anne Umland and Blair Hartzell, with Scott Gerson, 2014 E-Book, 390 pages
Read a free sample
Spanish, 1881–1973314 exhibitions, 1,241 works online
4 works identified
1 work identified
All requests to license audio or video footage produced by MoMA should be addressed to Scala Archives at firenze@scalarchives.com. Motion picture film stills or motion picture footage from films in MoMA's Film Collection cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For licensing motion picture film footage it is advised to apply directly to the copyright holders. For access to motion picture film stills please contact the Film Study Center. More information is also available about the film collection and the Circulating Film and Video Library.