National Gallery of Art Announces Major Early Drawings Exhibition by Pablo Picasso

The National Gallery of Art in Washington presents a Major Early Drawings Exhibition by Pablo Picasso on view January 29–May 6, 2012.

Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), Sleeping Peasants, Paris or San Raphaël, August 1919. Gouache, watercolor, and pencil on paper, 12 1/4 x 19 1/4 inches. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Fund (148.1951) © 2011 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) was the greatest draftsman of the 20th century, exploring every technique from a single line to explosions of color. Through some 60 works, Picasso’s Drawings, 1890–1921: Reinventing Tradition presents the dazzling development of the artist as a draftsman during the first 30 years of his career, from the precocious academic exercises of his youth to his radical innovations of cubism and collage. On view at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, from January 29 through May 6, 2012, the exhibition includes many of Picasso’s finest drawings, watercolors, and pastels, borrowed from American and European public and private collections—including the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte—and seven drawings from the Gallery’s collection of 278 works by Picasso.

“Drawing served as an essential means of invention and discovery in Picasso’s multifaceted art, connecting him with the European masters of the near and distant past,” said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. “Picasso’s work has long been integral to the Gallery’s collection and has been the subject of six important exhibitions here, but this is the first to focus on his major drawings, watercolors, pastels, and collages.”

Picasso’s Drawings, 1890–1921: Reinventing Tradition was co-organized by The Frick Collection, New York, where the exhibition was on view from October 4, 2011, through January 8, 2012, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington.

The exhibition is made possible through the generous support of The Hearst Foundation, Inc. This exhibition is also made possible by The Exhibition Circle of the National Gallery of Art.

The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery’s Web site at www.nga.gov