Barcelona’s Carrer d’Avinyó is a street famous for its brothel and prostitutes...
In Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, Picasso juxtaposes the jagged shards of the prostitutes’ bodies with ridged, brightly coloured masks inspired by African art, which was growing in renown at the time. This admiring and violent appropriation, which was central to his later work, led to the painting’s iconic status and attracted the interest of the appropriationists (Mike Bidlo, Richard Pettibone and André Raffray). The sexual and exotic nature of Les Demoiselles has been underlined by Sigmar Polke, Richard Prince and Jeff Koons.
For African and African American artists, Picasso is an ambivalent figure. While he helped raise awareness of African art, he also made it part of Western art history, which only considered it from the perspective of Western artists. Women artists also highlighted the fact that his models and prostitutes were artistic objects rather than subjects.
Artists working in the post-colonial era and its relationships of dominance, such as Faith Ringgold, Robert Colescott, Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou, Wangechi Mutu and Romuald Hazoumé, have called attention to the “Africanness” of Les Demoiselles. Women artists have given these figures a more subjective viewpoint.
On the accessible and original theme of street art, through an immersive trail, with a rhythmic soundtrack and interactive activities: Loading is the exhibition you've been looking for to delight the whole family over the holidays! Follow the guide.
From 13 March, the Musée du Luxembourg will be bringing two worlds together: sport and design. Explore the role that design plays in sports performance, through a selection of installations, projections and objects at the cutting edge of design!
It was via the performing arts that the writer Gertrude Stein first found success, and it is in the performing arts that her influence endures. We have only to look at the creations of the dancer and choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, who developed in the 1980s a minimalist style in response to Stein’s work!
A monument of stone, glass and metal, the Grand Palais blends into the urban landscape. However, on closer inspection, it is in fact bursting with colour, and one of the challenges of the restoration work currently underway is to restore all its chromatic ranges.