Picasso show, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

The title of the current show at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is rather complicated:

From Africa to the Americas: Face-to-Face Picasso, Past and Present

but then so is the premise of the show.

I suspect many visitors will be drawn into the museum to see what they anticipate will be a show of Picasso's work. And there are indeed more than one hundred of his prints, paintings and sculptures on display. There are also African and Iberian sculptures from Picasso's personal collection.

Bust of a Man, (study for Les Demoiselles d'Avignon)
Picasso, 1907, oil on canvas

After a Fang artist
The original of this mask was gifted to Fauve painter Maurice de Vlaminck.
Soon afterward, short of money, he sold it to his friend André Derain:
Matisse and Picasso saw it for the first time in 1906.
This mask from Gabon came to symbolize the encounter of European artists
with African art, considered one of the determining factors
in the emergence of modern art in Europe.
Art dealer Ambroise Vollard had this cast made of bronze.

Also on view are many sculptures, some antique and others contemporary, from Africa and the Americas that share qualities of design with Picasso's work. These are exhibited side-by-side with Picasso's, encouraging the viewer to see how the artist was inspired by non-European art. They are carefully labelled with their country or tribe of origin, and their ceremonial use is described in detail. Altogether, more than 300 items are included in the show.

Weeping Woman, Picasso, 1937, oil on canvas

Dance Mask, Inuit artist, before 1935, wood,
collected by members of
the first French expedition to Greenland

On my first visit, I listened to the audioguide as I made my way through the exhibition. The narration went to great pains to create a "politically correct" lens for the viewer. What has been called "primitive" art in the past is now to be seen as evolving in parallel to European art, and as having its own worth independent of its influence on European artists.

The Kiss, Picasso, oil on canvas, 1969

Sinhalese exorcism mask, early 20th century,
wood, fur, vegetable fibre, porcelain,
shell, leather, wire

I enjoyed my second visit more, when I put the audioguide aside, and just appreciated the works from all the cultures on their own visual merits. I was especially delighted by the contemporary African sculpture. So often these works are created from salvaged scrap (metal, plastic, etc.), and the second-hand materials bring with them intimations of their value and use in trade with the West. The history of colonialism imbues the sculpture with an additional layer of meaning.

Head of a Bearded Man, Picasso, oil on canvas (1938?)

Mask, Otomi artists (Mexico)
before 1955, wood, fur, horns

A second show, Here We Are Here: Black Canadian Contemporary Art, shares space with the Picasso exhibit in a continuous layout.

The show continues until September 16, 2018.