GEORGE TOWN, Jan 25 — One of the most influential artists of the 20th century and known for co-founding the Cubist movement, Pablo Picasso is not stranger to most people.
While many may be familiar with the Spanish artists’ paintings and sculptures, he was also a prolific lithographer and printmaker who produced over 2,000 prints in his lifetime.
He worked closely with printer Fernand Mourlot in Paris sometime in the mid-1940s and produced over 400 lithographs while experimenting with different techniques.
Now, 64 of Picasso’s prints and lithographs, including original posters printed by Mourlot, are on display at the newly opened Lin Xiang Xiong Art Gallery in Penang.
Picasso’s collection of works are juxtaposed against Singaporean artist, Professor Lin Xiang Xiong’s chaotic and bold artworks depicting the horrors of war to present an East Meets West Art special exhibition titled “Picasso and Lin Xiang Xiong: A Dialogue Across Time.”
A meeting of artists
According to Lin, the Picasso prints and lithographs he chose to obtain for the exhibition at the gallery had one similar theme, a call for peace.
“These are works produced in the 1950s, after the World War II, it was a time when Picasso realised the importance of peace for humans and he started spreading messages for peace with the symbolic dove,” he said.
He said Picasso was an artist who cared for human life and had used his art to spread the message on peace.
“My paintings are a reflection of wars that have been happening such as the conflict in Gaza,” he said in an interview with Malay Mail at the gallery recently.
A longing for peace
Each of his paintings depicted the raw realities of war, streets strewn with skeletons, rivers of blood, plumes of explosions filling the skyline and the abject suffering of survivors.
Lin said he accompanied each painting with a short poem to explain his message behind the work.
One of the paintings on the Gaza conflict, titled Home, But No Return, was accompanied by a poem: “Dark clouds mourn the ruins, The ground is littered with debris. Homeland fell in shocking haste, Praying for peace in the Middle East!”.
“The purpose of this special exhibition is to bring the art of eastern and western artists together under one single theme, to promote peace,” he said.
He said the gallery hopes to organise one or two East-meets-West special exhibitions each year and bringing works by Picasso is only the beginning of these special exhibitions.
“It is not about the value of the paintings or artworks, but about the meaning behind the works, we want people to look at it and see the messages presented by the artists,” he said.
About 20 large prints of Lin’s bold works were set against the wall in contrast with Picasso’s prints and lithographs.
Lin said his original paintings are displayed in the permanent galleries located on the floors below the special exhibition.
The special exhibition is now open and will be on exhibit until March 31 next year.
For information on the gallery, go to lxxartgallery.com.
