Picasso Exhibit at Visitor Information Center

This exhibit runs until August 11, 2013. Reduced admission for last week. 

Picassos genius and originality come alive with 39 of his famous and rare works depicting the motion and emotion of bullfighting.

THE COLLECTION

Showcasing thirty-nine art pieces from the Fundaci??n Picasso, Museo Casa Natal of M??laga, Spain, Picasso: Art & Arena is a didactic exhibit of graphic work and ceramics by the Spanish master. These engravings and ceramics show Picassos absolute originality inspired by one of his main obsessions.

Both famous and rare, these pieces were produced in different styles, techniques, and media, providing unique insights into one of Picassos main themes: bullfighting. In addition to engravings, Picasso expressed his fascination for bulls in a broad artistic vocabulary, through illustrated books.

THE EXHIBIT

The exhibit explores Picassos creative process through decades of experimental work in ceramics and printmaking (lithography, linocut, etching, engraving, wash-drawing, brush-scraping, crayon and dry point). The exhibit offers guided tours led by specially trained guides who interact with the audience. The exhibit is presented in a bilingual format in English and Spanish.

THE VENUE

The St. Augustine Exhibition Center (VIC), where every visit to St. Augustine begins, will host the Picasso: Art & Arena show and other signature exhibits and events during the 450th Commemoration. Admission for last week: Adults $5; Seniors $4; Kids 6 & Under - Free; Kids 7 - 12 - $3; Family of 4 - $15; Military in Uniform - Free; Flagler College Student with ID - Free.. The Picasso Exhibit is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.   The exhibit runs through August 11, 2013. For more information, call 904-825-1000.

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BIOGRAPHY

Pablo Picasso was born on October 25, 1881, in Malaga, Spain. Son of the painter and drawing teacher Jos?? Ruiz Blasco, he attended the Art Academy La Lonja in Barcelona in 1895, where his father also taught.

Picassos early work in France began with the melancholic images of the Blue Period. The cheerful Rose Period followed, and thereafter he met muse, Fernande Oliver. His circus paintings arose in 1905-1907. The canvas Les Demoiselles d'Avignon marked the beginning of Cubism in 1907; a revolutionary art style which Picasso developed together with Georges Braque.

Picassos women played a paramount role in his artistic oeuvre. They were his models, his muses, and his lovers. Picasso's works after 1918 cannot be clearly categorized in terms of style, since they contain realistic, classicist, symbolist, surreal and also abstract elements.

In 1937 Picasso executed the large-size painting Guernica for the Spanish pavilion at the First Worldwide Art Exhibition in Paris. Guernica is a haunting anti-war painting, which has been seen as the signature art piece of the Twentieth Century.

As of 1945 lithography became his predominant graphic technique. Picasso produced objects and pottery in the town of Vallauris, in Southern France where the couple lived. He purchased the Castle of Vauvenargues, Provence in 1958, which turned into a place of retreat for the aging genius. Picasso married Jacqueline Roque in 1961. He died in Mougins, France, on April 8, 1973.