THE Metropolitan Museum of Art will soon be exhibiting its complete holdings of the Spanish artist's paintings, drawings, sculptures and ceramics, plus 200 works on paper. And auction powerhouses Sotheby's and Christie's in early May are offering two rare Picassos not seen on the art market in decades. One could surpass the current $104.17 million record. The expansive Picasso exhibit, starting April 27, will be a first for the museum. It will include "The Actor", which underwent conservation after being accidentally damaged at the Met in January. In preparation, conservators used X-rays an infrared reflectography to closely examine all the museum's Picasso paintings and discovered that he more frequently painted over other paintings than originally thought, said exhibition curator Gary Tinterow. The practice, known to art specialists, is not widely familiar to the public. All the compositions in the exhibition "show traces of revision and correction," he said. Some have earlier works by Picasso underneath while others are painted over the works of other artists. In creating "La Coiffure", for instance, Picasso painted over at least four compositions and several beginnings of compositions, said Tinterow. The practice saved Picasso money "at a time when he was very poor ... when he wasn't selling very much," added Tinterow. In the case of "The Actor”, which depicts an acrobat posed dramatically against an abstract background, the museum discovered that Picasso had painted the image on the back of a previously painted canvas after covering the earlier work with heavy paint. The painting on the reverse side appears to be a landscape and could have been painted by him or another artist. The 1904-05 oil underwent conservation after sustaining a 6-inch gash in the lower right-hand corner when a museum visitor lost her balance and fell on it. The Met exhibition, comprising 34 paintings, 58 drawings and 12 sculptures and ceramics, represents every period of Picasso's long career, from his selfportrait "Yo”, made when he was 19, to "Standing Nude and Seated Musketeer”, when he was 87. Highlights also include the famous 1906 portrait of Gertrude Stein, which was a bequest from the American writer in 1946 and the Met's first Picasso acquisition. Hundreds of Picasso's works on paper, which have rarely, if ever, been shown at the museum, will be part of the exhibit. And a video of nine Picasso paintings will demonstrate how the artist revised his compositions, styles and themes in reworking specific paintings.
