Hannah Gadsby takes aim at Picasso in ‘It’s Pablo-matic’ at Brooklyn Museum

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973), ‘The Crying Woman,’ October 1937. Oil on canvas, 21.7 by 18.2in. (55.3 by 46.3cm). Musee national Picasso/Paris/France, MP165. © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. (Photo: Adrien Didierjean, © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, New York)
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973), ‘The Crying Woman,’ October 1937. Oil on canvas, 21.7 by 18.2in. (55.3 by 46.3cm). Musee national Picasso/Paris/France, MP165. © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. (Photo: Adrien Didierjean, © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, New York)
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973), ‘The Crying Woman,’ October 1937. Oil on canvas, 21.7 by 18.2in. (55.3 by 46.3cm). Musee national Picasso/Paris/France, MP165. © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. (Photo: Adrien Didierjean, © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, New York)

NEW YORK – Fifty years after his death, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) remains an artistic and cultural icon whose status as the preeminent modern artist has gone largely unquestioned. The exhibition It’s Pablo-matic: Picasso According to Hannah Gadsby grapples with Picasso’s art and legacy through intersecting, critical feminist methodologies that have emerged since 1973 and continue to reshape art history today. Part of the global Picasso Celebration 1973–2023, the Brooklyn Museum’s exhibition is organized by senior curators Lisa Small and Catherine Morris with Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby, whose groundbreaking 2018 comedy special Nanette pointedly challenged how public debate around marginalized communities is conducted, including art institutions’ frequent condoning of art history’s inherent misogyny. It’s Pablo-matic: Picasso According to Hannah Gadsby opens on June 2 and closes on September 24.

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