Chances are the work of acclaimed artist Pablo Picasso has influenced all Jackson Academy students. Any person who has created a collage has worked with an art technique he co-invented.
JA art students studied the work of Pablo Picasso and Romare Bearden at the Mississippi Museum of Art on November 16. Art teacher Susan Ingram gave each student an assortment of images to locate and identify by recording the title and artist. Students emailed four images to Ingram: three selfies with a great work of art and one selfie with a work of art that did not appeal to them.
Art Museum ‘the best field trip ever’
Senior Raygaen Hall said she learned a lot about Picasso’s work, particularly the abstract art he did later in life. “We learned that Picasso started out with realism and later turned to abstract because it was more interesting,” she said. “I found his work more interesting than actual realism paintings in the museum. The Bearden paintings were also interesting because of their contrast from Picasso’s. His paintings were more colorful and focused on more people of color. I personally loved their work, and I’m glad I went.”
A prolific and influential 20th-century painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and theater designer, Picasso co-founded the Cubist movement and invented constructed sculpture. He is credited with creating more than 16,000 paintings and drawings.
“Senior Tack Mahaffey said that the Picasso field trip was ‘the best field trip ever,'” Ingram said. “After receiving their ‘museum manners’ of ‘walk slowly, talk softly, and don’t touch anything’….students really enjoyed touring the exhibit on their own.”
Celebration of Picasso’s artistic legacy
MMA is honoring the Spanish artist’s legacy with Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds, the first solo exhibition of his work in Mississippi. The museum’s website describes the landscapes exhibit in the following way: “From his earliest days in art school until the year before his death, Picasso used landscapes to process his perception of the world and jumpstart his creative evolution. MMA’s presentation of Picasso Landscapes features 27 paintings and sculptures spanning the entirety of Picasso’s 75-year career, along with historical film clips and photographs to contextualize the depth and breadth of Picasso’s work with landscape.” The year 2023 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Picasso’s death, inspiring an international celebration of his work and legacy.
Shown concurrently with Picasso’s landscapes is the work of Romare Bearden, whom Picasso influenced. That exhibition portion is entitled Bearden/Picasso: Rhythms and Reverberations. The exhibitions will run until March 3, 2024.
“As the first exhibition of Pablo Picasso’s work in Mississippi, students have a rare opportunity to see these works from all over the world, here in their backyard,” said MMA’s James and Madeleine McMullan Director of School and Teen Programs Merry Barnes. “Seeing Picasso’s work paired with Romare Bearden’s is a beautiful experience that expands young minds and broadens their connections to history and culture. We encourage every student to come explore these beautiful, one-of-a-kind exhibitions.”
To read more about the exhibitions, visit msmuseumart.org/exhibition/out-of-bounds/.
