Picasso in Shanghai

One of the biggest names to hit Shanghai's exhibition scene in, well, quite some time, Pablo Picasso's impressively – and sometimes bafflingly diverse – paintings, photographs, prints and sculptures have descended on the China Pavilion. The late and great Spaniard's works are being toured globally whilst their home institution, Paris' Musée National Picasso undergoes something of a revamp, and will be on show until January next year before stopping off in Hong Kong next Spring. CreativeHunt met with Chinese organizer, Xie Dingwei of Tix Media to get the lowdown on this landmark exhibition.

"The works on show cover all periods of Picasso's creation, right from when he was 14 years old (the somewhat pensive looking 'Girl with Bare Feet'), right through until the end of his life – 'Dimanche' from 1971. I hope this exhibition will let a Chinese audience see these different styles and different periods of his art, face to face, instead of just in books or the internet".



"People are very interested – there haven't been any Picasso exhibitions here before, but his name is very well-known in China. That's it, though – the name and that he's famous. That's why we're doing the exhibition, we want to let people know and see what Picasso did and who he was".

Comprising a total of 62 pieces, the exhibition is broad in content and scope, and explores the various stages of Picasso's artistic career, from early realism, the more sombre Blue Period, harlequin-infused Rose Period, through to the Cubism for which he is perhaps best known, and much later, neo-expressionist works.





"[The Musée National Picasso] have two selections from their collection that are currently touring around the world – this is one group, it was previously in Taiwan. Another group of 250 pieces has just finished in San Francisco and now it's going to Sydney, opening there next week. When they select these two groups it was to balance the different time periods and styles. The American show has drawings too. The selections were made to give an overview of Picasso's work", Mr. Xie explains.

That it does, although we'd love to see more Cubist pieces, and although there are some of those really iconic works – 1925's Paul en Pierrot, for example – there's few pieces of real wow factor. That's not to say the show is disappointing, with paintings such as the colourful Jeune fille assise (1970); the faintly surreal and somewhat subversive Jeune garçon à la langouste; and much later, the somehow rather sweet Peintre et l'Enfant (1969) providing a real treat for exhibition-goers.



As with most things in life, it's of course what's inside that counts, but it's worth mentioning the show's venue – a vision in red, the mighty China Pavilion. Mr Xie explains: "This exhibition hall was built especially for the exhibition. Before we signed a contract with the Paris Museum, the French Minister of Culture sent an expert to take a look – at the general environment of the Pavilion, the security and so on – and that was before we'd even built the hall! He spent three days talking to us, the security people, checking the airport facilities – it had to be very, very thorough. After that we of course needed insurance, and they had to send an expert too – they'd never done anything in China before and didn't know what to expect".

In order to house the Picasso masterpieces, the new hall required humidity and temperature controls, new security systems, fire equipment – the works. For all of its state-of-the-art technology, however, it's not the most inspiring of spaces, with the Picasso showcase demonstrating little in the way of exhibition design. It was, though, a worthy investment, with the space destined to become a museum following it's current incarnation.





What is interesting, though, is Mr Xie's vision for future blockbuster shows in China. Trained as an engineer, he worked in Silicon Valley for some 20 odd years making integrated chips before returning to China to pursue his other great passion: art.

"In the past, exhibitions in China have been government sponsored, with almost nothing in the way of private funding, money or industry. But exhibitions like these are very expensive – the government can't do these things very often which means that the Chinese audience don't get many chances to see [works of this kind]".

"My thinking is that someone needs to do this, not for money, but so people get to see works by these famous Western artists. Outside of China this business model has happened for a long time – you pay a museum to borrow an exhibition, then sell tickets, gifts, books, that sort of thing. Then you solicit support from private enterprises. From these three income sections, you can pay for the exhibition".



And that's just what he's doing, having founded Tix Media especially for the Picasso exhibition. Whilst the show itself may not have quite matched our expectations (partly our fault, we concede: explanatory text is all in Chinese...), Mr. Xie's enthusiasm and ambition is enticing, and bodes well for future high-calibre art showcases in China.

"Private enterprises need to get involved in art, that way we can bring more to China, and bring art to more people whoever they are, not just a small group. There's a lot of government regulations of course – but it is doable, it just takes lots of time and effort to get there".

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China Picasso Exhibition continues until 10 January 2012. For ticketing details, click here