All Over Albany

Picasso: Encounters at The Clark

Portrait of Dora Maar by Pablo Picasso, 1937. Musée national Picasso-Paris. Pablo Picasso, 1979, MP158. Photo: Mathieu Rabeau © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY © 2017 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

A new exhibit or works by Picasso -- Picasso: Encounters -- opens at The Clark this Sunday, June 4. Press release blurbage:

[Picasso: Encounters] investigates how Pablo Picasso's (1881-1973) creative collaborations fueled and strengthened his art, challenging the notion of Picasso as an artist alone with his craft. The exhibition addresses his full stylistic range, the narrative themes that drove his creative process, the often-neglected issue of the collaboration inherent in print production, and the muses that inspired him, including Fernande Olivier, Olga Khokhlova, Marie-Thérèse Walter, Dora Maar, Françoise Gilot, and Jacqueline Roque. Organized by the Clark with the exceptional support of the Musée national Picasso-Paris, Picasso: Encounters is comprised of thirty-five large-scale prints from private and public collections and three paintings including his seminal Self-Portrait (end of 1901) and the renowned Portrait of Dora Maar (1937), both on loan from the Musée national Picasso-Paris.

The exhibit will be on display through August 27. There's a talk about the exhibit June 11 by curator Jay A. Clarke about "how Picasso's creative collaborations fueled and strengthened his art" -- it's free with museum admission.

As you know, The Clark Art Institute is in Williamstown, Massachusetts -- just about an hour's drive from Albany. In addition to rotating exhibits, the museum has a good permanent collection that includes a wide range of different types of works, including a bunch of paintings by prominent impressionists. The museum -- and Williamstown -- makes a fun day trip.