Through the Eyes of Picasso explores Pablo Picasso’s lifelong fascination with global art. Famously charismatic, Picasso had a profound impact on 20th-century art. Well-schooled in academic painting, Picasso was an accomplished artist by his early 20s. Yet, he was always in search of the ‘new’ and different.

In 1907, his desire to break away from the art of his time took him to the Ethnographic Museum of the Trocadéro in Paris. There, he was struck by the inventive forms, abstract geometry, and expressive power of masks and sculptures from Africa, Oceania and the Americas. Although Picasso never travelled outside Europe, he formed and treasured a personal collection of over 100 works mainly from French colonies, including the Ivory Coast and Gabon. Through the Eyes of Picasso follows the trajectory of Picasso’s relationship with these objects and explores how they may have influenced the evolution of his iconic style throughout his career.

Visitors to the exhibition are exposed to nearly 200 objects, including paintings, prints and sculptures by Picasso, as well as objects he may have seen at the Trocadéro, which now make up the collection of the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac. In addition, 30 objects are included that were once part of Picasso’s personal collection of art from Africa, Oceania and the Americas, and this is the first time that some of these objects will be displayed in the United States. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is the only U.S. venue for the show, which will make its final stop at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts opening in May.

As the first featured exhibition I have worked on since joining the African Department at the Nelson-Atkins, Through the Eyes of Picasso is particularly special for me. Although in the past, I have helped facilitate the reinstallation of the museum’s African galleries and have curated several permanent collection rotations, the experience of working on a major exhibition was unique.

Conceived by Yves le Fur, Director of the Museum’s Heritage and Collections Department at the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac (MQB), the exhibition became something very different from the Paris version once reimagined for Kansas City audiences. To begin with, Parisian audiences have easy access to many works by Picasso nearby at the Musée Picasso and the collections of MQB adjacent to the special exhibition (originally called Picasso Primitif). As the Nelson-Atkins does not have significant works by Picasso in its collection, this meant that the installation needed to be more didactic concerning Picasso’s career than the Parisian version. In addition, the Nelson-Atkins needed to supply more information on the global art for its audiences.

The physical space of the Nelson-Atkins’ Bloch Building facilitated the rethinking of the exhibition in Kansas City. The very modern building, by renowned architect Steven Holl, boasts soaring ceilings and an open design. This helped to allow Nelson-Atkins Director Julián Zugazagoitia, who served as curator for the exhibition, and the design team to manipulate the physical space to fit Julián’s vision for the show. Julián’s ability to reconstruct the exhibition for our specific audience is a testament to the rapport he has with MQB Director Stéphane Martin, a relationship that has seen additional exhibition partnerships.

In 2014, Gaylord Torrence, Curator of American Indian Art at the Nelson-Atkins, presented Plains Indians: Artists of Earth and Sky, which made its debut at MQB before travelling to the Nelson-Atkins and eventually to the Metropolitan Museum in New York. That joint effort paved the way for Through the Eyes of Picasso, and the trust established between the institutions allowed for significant freedom when reimagining the goals for the installation and interpretation of the show for U.S. audiences.

In the early 1900s, Picasso began looking at and collecting art from Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. He was drawn to these works because they were so different from what he was used to seeing. For him, global art felt liberated from the European artistic conventions which he found stifling. It was the beginning of life-long experimentation and innovation.

In 1907, Picasso made his first visit to the Ethnographic Museum of the Trocadéro in Paris. It was transformative. The displays of objects from Africa, Oceania, and the Americas (some of which are now housed at MQB) challenged his sense of what art was and how it functioned. He spoke of repulsion and fascination and of discovering the concept of art as catharsis. He said, “For me, the masks were not just sculptures. They were magical objects, intercessors, against everything—against unknown, threatening spirits. They were weapons—to keep people from being ruled by spirits, to help free themselves. If we give form to these spirits, we become free.”

Some of the masks he might have seen at the Trocadéro and similar masks are assembled in the first section of the exhibition, pictured below.

This map below highlights the geographical and cultural diversity of the objects in the exhibition. Although he didn’t travel outside of Europe, Picasso saw and collected works from around the world.

By 1918, two headdresses of D’mba—the ideal female in Baga society—were in Picasso’s studio, and he placed them prominently in his many residences. D’mba has a formidable presence, with a prominent nose, strong neck, and heavy breasts. The four supports would have been concealed by a fibre and cloth costume and the face polished with oil before a performance. Her appearance signalled prosperity and well-being for all who witnessed her.

The simple geometry of this type of Kru mask appealed to Picasso, and he had bought two of them by 1912. The mask’s projecting, cylindrical eyes helped him define his approach to sculpting a cardboard Guitar in 1912.

Because the exhibition involves multiple public and private international lenders, the orchestration of art shipments and object couriers during installation was no small feat. Our head of registration worked tirelessly leading up to and during the two-week-long install to ensure that everything went smoothly, and found solutions for all of the hurdles that came our way (for example, U.S. Customs does not make it easy to import objects containing any number of unknown varieties of fur, horn, bone, skin, seed and wood species).

In 1944, Picasso traded one of his valuable paintings for this significant sculpture. Cast in bronze, it depicts a ruler (the Oba) of the kingdom of Benin and would have been placed on a memorial altar. He wears a woven cap, pendant strands, and a high collar representing official regalia that would have been constructed of coral beads.

The photographs by David Douglas Duncan featured at the end of the exhibition are from the museum’s collection and are exclusive to The Nelson-Atkins’ installation. Originally from Kansas City, Duncan had a deep friendship with Picasso. Duncan met Picasso in 1956 and was immediately welcomed into the artist’s home. The intimacy of their friendship is indicated by Duncan’s first photograph of Picasso—soaking in his bathtub! Until the artist’s death in 1973, Duncan returned often to visit, creating an unparalleled visual record of the artist at work and at play.

Through the Eyes of Picasso runs at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art—4525 Oak Street, Kansas City, Missouri, United States—until April 08, 2018.