Posted on 03/12/2006 10:02:22 AM PST by wagglebee
He was one of the greatest artists of the 20th century and also one of the most controversial. And now, 33 years after his death, the first significant exhibition of Pablo Picasso's work in South Africa has provoked a furious row after a senior government official accused him of stealing the work of African artists to boost his "flagging talent".
The Picasso and Africa exhibition, which has been drawing capacity crowds at Johannesburg's Standard Bank Gallery, contains 84 original works by Picasso along with 29 African sculptures similar to those in the artist's own collection, and is described as an "innovative dialogue between Picasso's work and his African inspiration".
In an extraordinary intervention, however, a spokesman for the South African Department of Arts and Culture has accused the organisers of deliberately downplaying the debt Picasso owed to African artists.
In a letter to a local newspaper, Sandile Memela, the department's head of communications, wrote: "Today the truth is on display that Picasso would not have been the renowned creative genius he was if he did not steal and re-adapt the work of 'anonymous [African] artists'."
He continued: "There seems to be some clandestine agenda… that projects Picasso as someone… who loved African art so much that he went out of his way to reveal it the world… But all this is a whitewash… he is but one of the many products of African inspiration and creativity who lacked the courage to admit its influence on his consciousness and creativity."
His letter has prompted a furious response, with one correspondent comparing his attitude to the "black fascists who were critical of Paul Simon when he collaborated with Ladysmith Black Mambazo".
Simon worked with the group on his Gracelands album in 1986 and was accused of exploiting them for commercial ends.
Picasso and Simon are not the only artists to have been accused of appropriating African art without giving full credit. Amedeo Modigliani, the Italian sculptor, was also said to have drawn inspiration from African masks.
Although Mr Memela made it clear he was writing in a personal capacity, opposition politicians said they believed he must have had clearance from the minister, Pallo Jordan. Dianne Kohler Barnard, of the Democratic Alliance, described the comments as "facile, party-line sentiments", adding: "I do not believe a spokesman for a ministry would say a thing like that without the tacit approval of the minister."
John Richardson, Picasso's friend and biographer, said the artist would have been upset by the remarks "because he honoured the sculptures and took them very seriously".
He added: "There were four artists - Picasso, Braque, Matisse and Derain - who put tribal art on the map. It was regarded as of no cultural importance but then they started buying it at junk shops and they elevated it to the same importance as Renaissance art."
Although Picasso never visited Africa, his interest in its art is well documented, from his discovery of African masks at the Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro in Paris in June 1907. Thereafter he became an avid collector of "art nègre", as it was known.
However, Picasso himself remained ambiguous on the subject, once famously declaring "L'art nègre? Connais pas" - "African art? Never heard of it".
Marilyn Martin, co-curator of the exhibition, said: "Picasso never copied anything, he never stole anything. You can see the influence but there are a combination of influences."
Mr Memela said it was crucial that the debt owed to Africa should be "splashed across the sky" in this "age of African Renaissance" - a reference to President Thabo Mbeki's call for the "rediscovery of Africa's creative past" and the rejection of colonial notions of African culture as inferior to that of the West.
Huh? Paul Simon certainly *did* give full credit to Ladysmith Black Mambazo for the Graceland work. He also featured them on his tour. They got wide and heavy publicity, and they became stars overnight. Who's exploiting who?
This will inhibit other pretigious exhibits from being brought to SA. Then Memela will whine that Africans are now being slighted and discriminated against.
Perhaps he can be mollified by sending an art exhibition that vividly depicts events in African history.
Suggested themes might include, "Africans selling their people to Dutch slavers," "Sudanese slavery today," "Screaming girl being clitorectomized," "Rape and massacre of the Christians," "Raped infant with AIDS," "Burning tire man in agony," "Murder and robbery of the white farmers" and "Night of the Hutu machete."
Of course. Everyone knows Africans invented painting. And music. And mathematics. And modern chemistry and physics. And astronomy. And the Space Shuttle. And the iPod. And they all were stolen by European and Jewish thieves. I am the walrus! Koo-Koo Kachoo!
That's the irony of this whole discussion. Had it not been for Picasso, Braque, Matisse and Derain - that primitive art would still be of no cultural importance in civilized countries.
As it remains for me, as does Picasso's most famous works.
I would love to have some of Picasso's earlier works, before he became famous and rich, and African.
Lest we forget, blacks also built the pyramids, and black people could fly until the cruel white devils pulled their wings off. So sez calypso louie.
Certainly.
I don't see the controversy here...African art is terrific. Picasso is great. If he incorporated some of the stylistic aspects of African art into his works, then he did so because they moved him. What's the big deal?
I thought it was a black person that invented white people, or was it "ice" people?
The African styles in some of Picasso's work have been known since they first appeared. Picasso was capable of highly realistic portrait drawings, as well as having the idea of incorporating time into static pieces. The various styles used to express his aesthetics are mere instruments.
The big deal is that the inferiority complex of some people really messes up reality.
Did you know that Picasso's "Dove of Peace" was really a pigeon (pigeons, I guess are "rock doves" nesting on
buildings instead of cliff walls...)
And I believe he was shaken down for a contribution to some communist protest, and offered up the pigeon painting.
I'm a big fan of African art (and yes, I've put a great deal of money where my mouth is). The thing that is one of the most fascinating is there is a very clear stylistic line between pre-colonial and post-colonial objects.
I'd suggest that the guys who are actually making the stuff -- whether they're Picasso or some unknown shaman from the 1800s -- could care less about influences and controversy. They were doing what they did for their own reasons.
...on the other hand, a story like this and controversy increases my "investment." So I say, let'er rip!
Look at Guernica
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One legend is, if a random artist approached Picasso with art and asked if the piece was really by Picasso, Picasso would just judge if he liked it and, if he did, he'd sign it. Picasso was just a brilliant craftsman with a sharp sense of humor -- a proto-Kaufman! |
I'd disagree. You don't get that good by not taking the work seriously. Picasso, I think, was likely to goof on the commerce of art, but not the stuff itself.
That could explain the ignorance, poverty, backward, disease ridden, immoral and uncivilized state in most of Africa today....
The "original thought" or "original genius" was expended and never recovered....
Semper Fi
Absolutely. Take a look at English literature and fiction since the time of Shakespeare. Much of it is inspired by his plots, including the current season of "The Sopranos" where it's predicted that we'll see a Soprano family meltdown much like the familial meltdown that befell King Lear. Now we should all go out and accuse the "Sopranos" writers of stealing "King Lear" from Shakespeare.
Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola openly admitted that "Godfather Part 3" was based on "King Lear."
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