PICASSO IN RAMALLAH

A daring loan premised on the faith that the paintbrush is mightier than the M16 ...

From THE ECONOMIST online

"Painting is not made to decorate houses," Pablo Picasso wrote. "It is an instrument of offensive and defensive war against the enemy." It was this side of the master painter—also known for his womanizing and eccentricity—that was unveiled in the West Bank on Friday. Dozens of Palestinians and international guests, many dressed in jeans, came to a Palestinian art school to welcome the “Buste de Femme”, a Cubist rendition of a woman painted in 1943, the same year Picasso penned those provocative words.

The canvas, valued at £4.5m, had made its way to the town of Ramallah after two years of planning between the small International Academy of Art Palestine and the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven. The loan involved some daunting hurdles, such as finding an insurer for the travelling masterpiece, building a climate-controlled room for its display and impossible Israeli customs fees (ultimately waived). By late June there was only the matter of entering Ramallah, which required travelling the treacherous several kilometres that lay between the last Israeli checkpoint and the first Palestinian security posting. Knowing that the painting would be vulnerable to thieves in this no-man’s land, academy officials asked journalists to accompany the painting, hoping cameras would deter any ambush.

What did Picasso say, if anything, about the creation of Israel in 1948? This was a question asked by a member of the audience at the painting’s unveiling. In reply, the academy’s art director, Khaled Hourani, said that extensive research on the subject had yielded nothing. Picasso’s views on the region remain a mystery.

But Charles Esche, director of the Van Abbemuseum, said Picasso would have been delighted that his work was being shown to Palestinians. “In our museum, we say that art is a way to imagine the world otherwise,” he told the group. “Politics is about what already is, not what can be.” Scathing towards what he called the Dutch government’s “neoliberal nonsense”, Mr Esche spoke of demonstrations underway in the Arab world as paving the way towards change in Europe. “One of our challenges as a museum is how to pass on modernity to the new generation.” By “modernity”, he explained that he meant “equality”.

Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, enjoyed a grand entrance, with drums pounding and men wielding ceremonial swords and flames. Yet an uneasy murmur ran through the crowd. One man began to chant, softly, wryly, the slogan that has brought down Arab leaders this year: “The people demand…”

Faced with a dead peace process with Israel, Palestinians say they plan to seek statehood from the United Nations in the fall. Mr Fayyad is internationally credited with building the institutions and western relationships needed for this. At ease and casually dressed, he stayed on message. This groundbreaking showing of a world masterpiece was a sign of Palestinian readiness, Mr Fayyad said.

Once the crowds had left, a few police carrying semi-automatic weapons awkwardly shuffled around the courtyard. The Picasso canvas hung alone in a softly-lit room. Its background is painted in olive tones, with angular lines cutting through it. Angry green brush strokes are scrubbed to the left of a woman’s geometrical face, her mouth twisting sharply to the side. Its Cubist style is apparent; perspectives of the subject are broken up and then refitted together to enforce the painter’s vision. One 25-year-old Palestinian woman called the painting “violent”, even as she praised it for its fresh way of seeing.

(Via Prospero)

Picture credit: AP