This week in art history: Picasso’s first major exhibition
On June 24th in 1901, Pablo Picasso had his first major exhibition at a gallery on Paris’ renowned rue Laffitte.
A celebrated fact about Picasso’s genius is that he actually started exhibiting six years before, at only 13. His father Ruiz was also a painter as well as professor of art, and cultivated his son’s natural talents to the point of convincing officials at Barcelona’s School of Fine Arts to admit him to advanced classes and contribute to group shows at such a tender age.
Yet the June 24th exhibition was the more significant milestone: a solo show at an established commercial gallery, organised by a dealer with increasing clout in the avant-garde scene: Ambroise Vollard.
Vollard’s vision
By the summer of 1901, Vollard was already engaged with a number of Picasso’s post-Impressionist contemporaries: those other two Pauls — Gauguin and Cézanne — as well as Van Gogh and members of Les Nabis.
He worked from his gallery at 6, rue Laffitte from 1896 to 1924, a period of growing — albeit gradual — commercial and critical success. Through his business acumen, dominant personality and some lucky finds (e.g. buying up much of Manet’s unfinished works for cheap after his death), Vollard became the premier dealer of not only post-Impressionism but also a relatively new method of selling art: instead of large-scale, state-sponsored Salon exhibitions, a network of smaller independent dealers and galleries.
As with other ‘anti-academic’ artists, Picasso had to leverage this network to get his foot in the door: he met dealer Pere Mañach on his first visit to Paris in October 1900; Manach then put him in contact with Vollard, who promptly agreed to an exhibition in view of the young artist’s clear talent.
The works
Energised by this opportunity, Picasso threw himself into preparations. He headed back to Paris a few months ahead of the exhibition and continued to work until the very last moment, so eager to show off his range and potential (he is thought to have produced as many as two canvases per day).
The exhibition included around 75 works, which touched on many of the subjects and themes he would explore in his later works: landscapes, street scenes and portraits of both high and low society (himself included).
One of the most startling was a self-portrait, Yo, Picasso (I, Picasso). It was a confident (and no-doubt calculated) declaration of his arrival onto the art scene, and even appeared as the first work listed in the exhibition catalogue.
His ability to capture such intense personalities and expressions was also demonstrated with other portraits, such as that of Gustave Coquiot, an art critic and writer he met through Mañach, or Bibi la Purée, a former actor turned vagabond and colourful reprobate of the local bar scene.
Legacy
In hindsight, it’s easy to forget that Vollard was still taking big risks at this early stage of his career. Even as his more established artists like Cézanne and Gauguin grew in reputation, fickle markets and an enduring establishment resistance to the fierce and bold styles of the post-Impressionists did not guarantee sales.
Young Picasso was a case-in-point. Although the critics in attendance did react favourably, Vollard did not actually view this first exhibition as much of a success; in fact, he didn’t buy again from Picasso until 1906.
On the flipside, Picasso’s initial enthusiasm for Vollard also faltered. He quickly came to see the man as a bit of a vulture and regretted selling a studio’s worth of paintings for such a small amount. This echoed the views of others such as Gauguin and Matisse (the latter reportedly pronounced Vollard’s name as ‘voleur’, the French word for ‘thief’), although Renoir and Cézanne remained lifelong friends.
What followed for Picasso was a struggle, as he found himself in an alien city surrounded by and personally affected by poverty. Ultimately though, it would be a fruitful time: these experiences would lead him into his legendary ‘Blue Period’.
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