THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART NEW YORK RETROSPECTIVE FRANCIS PICABIA

Among the great modern artists, Francis Picabia (French, 1879–1953) remains one of the most elusive; he vigorously avoided any one singular style or medium. He is also an artist with a strong connection to New York, where he first achieved fame as a leader of the European avant- garde. Though best known as one of the luminaries of the Dada movement, his career ranged widely—and wildly—from Impressionist landscapes to abstraction, from paintings of machines to photo-based nudes, and from performance and film to poetry and publishing. Picabia’s contributions to a diverse range of artistic mediums make him especially relevant for contemporary artists, and his career as a whole challenges familiar narratives of modernism.

Francis Picabia assembles key selections and bodies of work, ranging in date from the first decade of the 20th century through the early 1950s. Picabia’s widely varied work as a painter is represented, along with his activities as a publisher and contributor to vanguard journals, and his forays into screenwriting and theater. The core of the exhibition comprises some 125 paintings, along with approximately 45 key works on paper, one film, a selection of printed matter, and sound recordings of selected poems and writings.

Beginnings, 1905–1911

Picabia first made his name as an after-the-fact Impressionist painter, and the exhibition begins with works such as Effect of Sunlight on the Banks of the Loing, Moret (1905) and Untitled (Notre- Dame, Paris) (1906), which call to mind those by older artists such as Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley. But Picabia is believed to have worked from photographic postcards rather than immersing himself in nature and painting outdoors—subverting the original spirit of Impressionism and that style’s open-air techniques. This penchant for dispensing with established norms and appropriating readymade images would become a constant in his career, and these strategies would continue to elicit shock from critics and audiences alike. He quickly left Impressionism behind, cycling through a rapid succession of styles—another through-line in Picabia’s practice that is explored in thisexhibition.

Abstractions, 1912–1914

In the summer of 1912, Picabia turned to abstraction, exemplified by The Spring and Dances at the Spring [II]. Their inclusion at the Salon d’Automne that year, alongside abstract canvases by František Kupka and Fernand Léger, marked the arrival of non-objective painting in Paris. Critics reviled Picabia’s new work as “incomprehensible” although, several months later, the Armory Show opened in New York with four of Picabia’s abstractions on view, including Dances at the Spring [I], and there he was received as a “high priest” of modern art.

When he returned to Paris in the summer of 1913, Picabia began work on a pair of monumental canvases that would become Udnie (Young American Girl; Dance) and Edtaonisl (Ecclesiastic), which are displayed together for the first time in the US. Critics almost universally mocked these works when they were unveiled at the 1913 Salon d’Automne in Paris, but they were subsequently heralded as early precedents for postwar abstract painting.

frame strung with yarn between which words were suspended. Both works relinquished artistic agency in favor of automatic procedures and renounced individual authority, functioning as both irreverent in-jokes and as attacks on the grand European tradition of painting.

Dalmau, Littérature, and Salon Ripolins, 1922–1924

On November 18, 1922, the Exposition Francis Picabia opened at the Galeries Dalmau in Barcelona, featuring almost 50 new works on paper. A section of the exhibition pays homage to Picabia’s original display, based on archival photographs. The works encompassed a dizzying array of styles: portraits of doe-eyed Spanish women hung alongside optical abstractions and geometric drawings inspired by mechanical diagrams published in a popular science magazine.

Picabia continued to submit paintings to the Paris salons. Instead of traditional oils, he used commercial enamel paints (commonly referred to by the brand name Ripolin) and worked on an imposing scale intended to attract attention, creating works in both abstract and figurative modes. The bold graphic character and sinister eroticism of The Spanish Night (1922) and Animal Trainer (1923) are also seen in the contemporaneous, black-and-white covers Picabia designed for the journal Littérature.

Ciné-Theater-Dance, 1924

The composer Erik Satie approached Picabia about collaborating on a ballet in January 1924, and Picabia had the idea of also producing a film, which he imagined as “a parody of cinematic action.” Cinema and dance interacted spectacularly when the humorously titled ballet Relâche (“day off” or “no performance”) and the film Entr’acte (“intermission”) premiered on December 4, 1924.

Entr’acte is screened in the exhibition alongside publicity photographs of Picabia’s sets and costumes and various related drawings by Picabia, including portraits of people involved in the ballet’s production.

Lovers (After the Rain) (1925), which Picabia painted over an earlier abstraction. Over-painting became a recurrent tactic within Picabia’s practice, as would masking and superimposition.

Transparencies, 1927–1930

In 1927, Picabia began creating the “superimposed” works known as his Transparencies by alternating layers of paint with layers of resinous varnish, which allowed him to lay linear motifs atop one another while keeping them distinct. These richly layered, multi-referential compositions interweave an often dizzying array of contour images drawn from such diverse sources as Renaissance painting, Catalan frescoes, and contemporary popular culture. As seen in the exhibition, Picabia’s Transparencies range from the complex imagery of paintings like Sphinx (1929) to the masterful refinement of Aello (1930), Mélibée (1930), and Salomé (1930).

Eclecticism and Iconoclasm, 1934–1938

The mid- and late 1930s was a period of intense material experimentation and reworking for Picabia, as he shuttled back and forth between Paris and the French Riviera. Works like Fratellini Clown (1937–38) and The Spanish Revolution (1937) exemplify the troubling malaise and sense of creeping doom that was spreading throughout Europe, as the threat of fascism and totalitarian ideologies took center stage. Despite the political unrest and looming threat of war, Picabia continued to organize lavish galas at the municipal casino for Cannes high society; he also created facial superimpositions and photo-based portraits, including one of his friend, the author and art collector Gertrude Stein.

Photo-Based Paintings, 1940–1943

Picabia remained in the south of France throughout World War II, where he painted works that combine kitsch subjects, popular culture, and politics in an unsettling mix. Many of Picabia’s wartime paintings recombine images lifted from photographs published in late-1930s soft-core pornography magazines, often preserving those photographs’ artificial studio lighting, soft focus, and optical distortions created by the camera lens. His much-debated wartime paintings remain open to interpretation, bearing witness to the moral ambiguities of this dark historical moment, and to the intricacies of an individual’s response to seismic political change.

his last years. After suffering a stroke in June 1951, Picabia died on November 30, 1953, in the same house in Paris where he had been born.

DIGITAL MUSIC PROGRAM:

Francis Picabia, a lifelong music enthusiast, said, "The attempt of art is to make us dream, as music does." Picabia's circle of influence included the most innovative musicians and performers of the day. Terrance McKnight, a host on New York City classical music station WQXR, has paired works by Picabia with music by Erik Satie, Igor Stravinsky, Ernesto Lecuona, Edgar Varèse, Scott Joplin, and others. Visitors to the exhibition can listen to the musical selections on their smartphones. McKnight’s full playlist is available at mo.ma/picabiaplaylist.

MoMA CLASSES:

Francis Picabia, Modern Master

Daytime session: Mondays, November 14, 21, December 5, 12, 11:00 a.m.–12:50 p.m.

Evening session: Mondays, November 14, 21, December 5, 12, 6:00–7:50 p.m.

This course explores Francis Picabia’s immense influence on modernism. Ever the artistic chameleon, Picabia was associated with several important avant-garde movements, including Cubism, and Dada. Working in mediums including painting, performance, poetry, and publishing, Picabia expanded the field of early-modern isms, defying attempts to neatly categorize his work. Through class discussion and gallery visits, students will gain a deeper understanding of the artist and his enduring legacy. Instructed by Heather Cotter (MA, Boston University, and MEd with a specialization in art education, Harvard University), a lecturer at The Museum of Modern Art.

Nonmembers $355; MoMA members and Corporate Member employees $325; students/educators

$250. Space is limited; to register for classes, visit moma.org/courses.

The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY 10019, (212) 708-9400, MoMA.org.

Hours: Saturday through Thursday, 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Friday, 10:30 a.m.–8:00 p.m.

Museum Admission: $25 adults; $18 seniors, 65 years and over with I.D.; $14 full-time students with current I.D. Free, members and children 16 and under. (Includes admittance to Museum galleries and film programs). Free admission during Uniqlo Free Friday Nights: Fridays, 4:00–8:00 p.m.

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