Picasso on Rembrandt

Comparative exhibition of prints of two masters at Wagner

Odon Wagner Gallery is currently showing over 40 fine etchings, lithographs and linocut prints by the seventeenth century master Harmensz van Rijn Rembrandt (1606-1669) and twentieth century artist Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). The collection includes a number of exemplary self-portraits by Rembrandt and a selection of work from Picasso's Vollard Suite, many of which acknowledge the influence of the Master painter in the form of portraits of Rembrandt.
One of the subjects that held Picasso's interest throughout the duration of his career was the art of the past. He executed drawings, paintings, masterful prints and object d' art inspired by great masters such as Velazquez, Goya, El Greco, Rousseau and Rembrandt. A relatively constant source of inspiration from 1934 on were the works of Rembrandt, in particular, his body of etched works which are considered historically and academically to be the gold standard of the medium.
In an accompanying catalogue essay, critic Gary Michael Dault considers the notion of examining the work of one artist in the context of another.
Because Picasso had great reverence for Rembrandt's work, he studied the etchings of the master carefully for subject matter, tonal range, themes and technique. When you compare Picasso's prints with those of Rembrandt, the similarities and differences become fascinating threads of wondrous connectivity between not only two great masters but the work also serves as a bridge of the human condition between the span of the 17th century to the 20th century.
Unlike any other exhibit of Picasso and Rembrandt that I have ever seen, this display of comparative works showcased at the Odon Wagner Gallery remains unique simply because it has prices. This might also explain the appropriateness of the location of the gallery itself, which is cushioned between Forest Hill and Rosedale, those clients who might in fact be willing to cough up $69,000 for a pencil on paper print by Picasso.
Key word: 'print'. That's right, even at this price, you'd be crazy to imagine yourself the legitimate owner of a Picasso work, though friends surely would not be able to tell the difference. The Picasso prints are limited, to be sure, however there are hundreds of them. Perhaps this is one step up from the controversial faux-Degas show at the AGO, where disputes arise depending on who you ask regarding the subject of authenticity. There are 40 or so images, tucked in frames, all of which read as familiar. They concern the reclining nude, angelic voluptuous forms, with faces half-baked in ecstatic pleasure and/or sleepiness.
But Odon Wagner's Rembrandt and Picasso is less about the content of the pieces themselves, but about the nature of artistic lineage and the passing on of torches. It is said that Picasso had a real reverence for Rembrandt, among many other artists, and his commemoration of their impression on his career often came in the form of imitative suggestions. One drawing, called "Untitled: Degas pays and leaves, the girls are not kind" references an incident where Degas was made fun of at a brothel. But towards Rembrandt, however, the gesture is kinder. For example, in his drawing "Rembrandt and Heads of Three Women" he is pictured as the centre of erotic and artistic inspiration. Also, he drawing "Dormeuse" is said to be a kind of tribute to Rembrandt's "Negress Lying Down".
Either these are tributes, or they are formal exorcisms, ways of manipulating the blank artistic space such that it releases at least the illusion of the potential for originality. For as 'original' as Picasso was, he never conceived of himself as a boy in the plastic bubble. Rather he gave aesthetic credit through riffs in his own work, perhaps hoping that the ghost of Rembrandt might be looking on approvingly, knowingly. Or perhaps it was Picasso's guilt for all the wealth and fame he was awarded. It was said, for example, that at the height of Picasso's success, after dinner at a restaurant, he would merely trace the skeletal remains of a fish he had eaten with a few pencil crayons on a napkin and leave that as payment.
Curating an exhibit with two masters alongside one another conjures up other questions about the nature of such a juxtaposition, beyond the simple fact that one was 'influenced' by another. Gary Michael Dault, in the catalogue for this show, inquires: "What is to be learned from such comparisons? What is to be gained from such contrasts? First, that there are great subjects that inevitably feed great artists (the reclining nude, the painter and his model, the self-portrait) and that these subjects are common property. And second, that the influence of one artist upon another is simultaneously an honour to the master and a wary intoxication to the student."
They also testify to the sex drive of both, as many of these drawings were used as seductive offerings to the models themselves. Witness the practices of 17th and 18th century flirtations or just come to marvel at two of art history's 'greats.'
Rembrandt and Picasso: A Comparative Exhibition of Prints shows at the Odon Wagner Gallery, 196 Davenport Rd., until November 22. For more information call 416.962.0438.

Publication Date: 2003-11-09
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