No two art museums are the same. But despite showcasing countless collections around the world, they tend to share at least one thing in common: They all feature completed art. One of Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s latest exhibits, Picasso and the Progressive Proof, goes against that grain.
Curated by Richard P. Townsend, the exhibit doesn’t just examine three linocut prints Pablo Picasso made late in his life, but his process, too. Portrait of a Young Woman after Cranach the Younger II, Pique II and Bacchanal with Kid Goat and Onlooker make up the three prints on display. However, the real substance of Progressive Proof doesn’t come from these final versions. Instead, it comes from the works in progress, the proofs that incrementally contribute to Picasso’s final vision.
“A proof is the interstitial stage between the idea and the finished product,” Townsend said. “All of these different samples and various states aren’t even recorded in the catalogue raisonné. That’s what makes these progressive proofs so fascinating and special.”
Townsend explained that in 1948, Picasso relocated from Spain to Southern France. A mounting wave of Spanish fascism was the primary motivation behind his move. Fortunately, where he settled — a village near Cannes — closely resembled his motherland. In some ways, it represents where he would find new life. Beyond mastering printmaking, Picasso would also meet his second wife, Jacqueline Roque, during this period.
Given the artist would pass away in 1973, the exhibit is a snapshot of his final decade and half. Yet despite how late in life Picasso produced this work, it wasn’t as if he ever lost his creative zeal.
“It really shows what a curious and wide-ranging mind he had,” Townsend said. “You can feel it in this work. You can see how happy he is in this last burst of creativity.”
Assistant Arnéra
Progressive Proof presents Picasso’s work, of course. But in showing his incremental process, it also examines the contributions of his assistant, Hidalgo Arnéra. An expert printer in his own right, Arnéra guided Picasso through his journey into a new craft. Throughout the exhibit, you’ll notice several of the proofs are printed on old posters Arnéra designed. Taking evidence of their collaboration a step further, two of the proofs making up Pique II feature Arnéra’s annotations and even his fingerprints, revealing how he would test and compare colors with Picasso.
“He was working with ceramics in the area and met a young, local businessman, Arnéra,” Townsend said. “The two formed a relationship built on their shared desire to take this lowly material, linoleum, and elevate it.”
Despite mastering virtually every artform he interacted with and Arnéra’s assistance, it’s not as if it was easy for Picasso to dive into linocuts. The process often took days — and potentially weeks — just to progress to the next stage of the print. Portrait of a Young Woman required five independently carved blocks to yield the completed print.
“It’s like a flip book. Each stage has different colors, but you see the same image develop into the final stage,” said Townsend. “Through stages upon stages, you start with tissue paper until you eventually reach the final printed on Arches paper, a great French paper that a lot of artists use.”
In Portrait of a Young Woman, each block represents its own color, or its own “state,” as Townsend describes. However, Picasso completed 200 linoleum prints from 1959 into the sixties. In other words, he basically worked nonstop.
His process would usually involve two prints at a time. This means if one was at the printer, he could alternate to more readily available work, then switch when the next iteration came back. Townsend explains Arnéra would take Picasso’s notes, run a few proofs, then return by the early afternoon to hear Picasso’s thoughts. The two operated like this over the course of their collaboration.
Even so, after Portrait of a Young Woman, Picasso attempted to “simplify” his printmaking by making it exponentially riskier. Rather than using five or more blocks, Picasso decided he would rely on just one — kind of.
“He took advantage of the ‘lost block method,’” said Townsend. “It’s the idea that a genius of artist could create a masterpiece by carving out of just one block. But Picasso didn’t always use one. He would have never told anyone that, but we know he used two or three blocks.”
New master
Though whether or not he truly created masterpieces out of a single block is beside the point. Pique II and Bacchanal both reveal not just Picasso’s technical prowess, but his inspiration, too. Through his research, Townsend found both paintings, as well as Portrait of a Young Woman, parallel other works of art. In Pique II, Townsend found striking similarities to one of Francisco Goya’s famous bullfighting paintings.
“Look what he’s done. In the finished print, you have the arena, the people, the lance and the picador above,” Townsend said. “It’s Goya. The question is whether or not it’s deliberate. Does Goya inform his every move with this piece, or does it just come out?”
Bacchanal, on the other hand, takes a more classical approach. It’s a pastoral frolic with several characters, including a reclining woman playing a flute, a satyr and an onlooker atop a gentle hill. Like Pique II’s connection to Goya, Bacchanal draws direct inspiration from the Italian master Titian (or more likely the painter’s student, Townsend clarified).
“On one level, Bacchanal’s very personal given the technique, but it also shows Picasso’s love for the old masters and how he’s becoming one himself,” Townsend said. “It’s called received artistic tradition. It’s how all of the world’s greatest artists saw the world through the lens of what came before.”
And it’s that notion that speaks strongest to what Progressive Proof ultimately conveys. Yes, the exhibit is autobiographical and technically awe-inspiring, but it’s also emblematic of the legacy Picasso sought for himself.
“I would hope anyone that comes through this takes away the excitement of climbing inside the mind of one the greatest artists,” Townsend said. “This work and the photography featured here shows how Picasso saw himself in perpetuity. This is about how he chose to assume his place among the old masters.”
Picasso and the Progressive Proof runs through Jan. 5, 2025, at Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Tickets are free-$12.95. Visit okcmoa.com.
This article appears in Bigger than basketball.