KUNSTHAUS MUSEUM PRESENTS PICASSO EXHIBITION

IN SEPTEMBER 1932, ALREADY A WORLD-FAMOUS ARTIST, PABLO PICASSO DROVE FROM PARIS TO ZURICH FOR THE OPENING OF A MEGA-EXHIBITION OF HIS WORKS THAT WAS TO MARK A TURNING POINT IN WESTERN CULTURAL HISTORY. ALTHOUGH HE CURATED THE EXHIBITS HIMSELF AT A LUXURY LAKESIDE HOTEL NEARBY FOR TWO DAYS, HOBNOBBING WITH ART CONNOISSEURS AND CRITICS, HE MYSTERIOUSLY NEVER WENT TO SEE THE SHOW AT THE CITY'S KUNSTHAUS MUSEUM. THIS AUTUMN, AND TO CELEBRATE ITS OWN CENTENARY, THE KUNSTHAUS HAS RECREATED THE LANDMARK EXHIBITION, OR SOMETHING UNDER HALF OF IT, AND IT HAS BEEN PULLING IN THE CROWDS. FOR THE ORIGINAL, THE THEN ALREADY 51 YEAR OLD PICASSO CHOSE THE 229 WORKS HIMSELF, PAINTINGS, LITHOGRAPHS AND A HANDFUL OF BRONZE SCULPTURES, TO BE DISPLAYED. 'IN EFFECT', SAYS TOBIA BEZZOLA WHO PUT TOGETHER THE NEW SHOW, 'HE CURATED THIS ONE TOO.' AT A TIME WHEN CONTEMPORARY ART WAS NORMALLY DISPLAYED IN PRIVATE AND COMMERCIAL GALLERIES, THE 1932 EXHIBITION WAS PROBABLY THE FIRST RETROSPECTIVE OF A LIVING ARTIST TO BE PUT ON IN A MUSEUM, CULTURAL HISTORIANS SAY. COVERING THE SPANISH-BORN PICASSO'S OUTPUT FROM 1899, WHEN HE WAS AN 18 YEAR OLD PRODIGY IN BARCELONA, THROUGH THE PINK, BLUE, CUBIST, CONSTRUCTIVIST AND SEMI-SURREALIST PERIODS THAT FOLLOWED WHEN HE MOVED TO PARIS AT THE TURN OF THE 20th CENTURY, IT SET A TREND THAT SWEPT THE ART WORLD AFTER WORLD WAR II AND STILL DOMINATES IT. WITH ITS CATALOGS, IN CHEAP AND EXPENSIVE VERSIONS, ITS POSTERS AND PRESS RELEASES, THE FIRST KUNSTHAUS SHOW WAS A PROTOTYPE OF THE ART BLOCKBUSTERS THAT BOOST REVENUES FOR MAJOR AND MINOR MUSEUM AROUND THE WORLD TODAY. NOT THAT IT BROUGHT MUCH CASH IN THEN, A TIME OF DEEP ECONOMIC WOES AS THE WORLD MOVED INTO THE GREAT DEPRESSION OF THE 1930s, DESPITE, FOR THE TIME, AN IMPRESSIVE TOTAL OF 32,000 VISITORS DURING THE TWO MONTHS IT WAS ON. A REFLECTION OF THE CASH-STRAPPED AGE WAS THAT NONE OF THE CANVASES WHICH PICASSO OFFERED FOR SALE AS THE KUNSTHAUS WERE BOUGHT EXCEPT ONE, BY THE MUSEUM ITSELF. THAT CUBIST WORK, 'GUITAR ON A GUERIDON' OF 1915, IS ONE OF THE CENTRAL PIECES AT THE NEW SHOW, WHICH OPENED ON 15.OCTOBER, CLOSES ON 30.JANUARY AND HAS ALREADY HOSTED 250,000 VISITORS.