One Man, One City

Picasso and Chicago

Even in a place so steeped in art and design history and appreciation as Chicago, some may still be surprised to learn that the city’s Art Institute was in fact the first museum on American soil to exhibit the work of a young Spaniard by the name of Pablo Picasso in 1913. As anyone would today attest, this then up-and-coming artist went on to become one of the most important of the modern era, and it is the century-long relationship between artist and city that is celebrated in ARTIC’s Picasso and Chicago exhibition running from February 20 through May 12.

Key pieces of the museum’s Picasso collection take centre stage in the showcase - drawings like Study of a Seated Man (1905) and The Old Guitarist (1903-4), paintings such as Mother and Child (1921), pivotal sculptures including Cubist Head of a Woman (Fernande) (1909), and a rare example (there are only three in existence) of his famous Blue Period etchings, The Frugal Meal (1904). In fact, there are in total over 250 works on display, and those that aren’t owned by the institute have been sourced from private collectors across the city, making this not only a thorough exploration of Picasso’ illustrious career, but also an affectionate tribute to the modern art-loving US city that first embraced him all those years ago.