Picasso's "Cute" Period

If Richmond gets much cooler, all our heads are going to explode. The good kind of explode, but explode nonetheless.

Yes, I'm talking about the Picasso exhibit that's opening at the VMFA Saturday to the public or Friday for members. And if you're not yet a member of the VMFA yet, all I can say is why in the world not?

You do know that members see special exhibits for free while everyone else will pay a $20 admission? That's fine for out-of-towners, but not for locals who should know better.

But about the show. In case you don't already know, it's eleven galleries of Picasso for a total of 176 works spanning his entire career. RVA is the only East Coast venue for this exhibition. You have just under 90 days to see the show.

The show is arranged chronologically, which allows the visitor to see how Picasso's style shifted throughout the years, based on world events (wars, movements), women (muses, wives and mistresses) and his interests (classical painting, photography).

When you walk into the Cubist gallery, it's clear how the man rewrote the language of modern art with his new style of non-representational figures. The collection of photographs is almost an exhibit within an exhibit and begs a long look for a peek behind the legend.

There are pictures of Picasso's sculpture grouped on the steps of his house, shots of him drawing with his children on the floor, him and friends out at a cafe and pictures of his masterpiece "Guernica" in progress. It's a riveting look at the life behind the paintings and sculptures.

My favorite of the 176 is a piece as un-Picasso like as any I've ever seen. "The Bathers" from 1918 in Biarritz has elongated figures in a picaresque seascape that is completely unlike the monumental figures in the nearby works.

"Oh, I love this!" a woman squealed when she saw it. "It's so cute!" I don't think cute is what Picasso was aiming for and I certainly didn't see cuteness.

On the other hand, it elicited a strong reaction and no doubt the artist would have been pleased with that. I spent ten minutes in front of it and went back twice and it still wasn't enough.

Which is just my way of saying that the crowds are almost as much a part of the exhibit as the art. Know that going in and it's easier to enjoy yourself around the inevitable.

So be sure to allow enough time to linger when something captures your eye, because it will happen. This is most definitely not a show to be rushed through. Also, it's a huge show, so pace yourself.

And when you're finished, head upstairs to see the other major show, Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria, for which we are the only U.S. stop. The crowds will be much smaller and the art every bit as significant; it just won't be Western art.

Then consider going next door to the Virginia Historical Society for An American Turning Point: The Civil War in Virginia, the most compelling exhibit about this period as has ever been mounted in RVA.

It's about at that point that your head is likely to explode, but it will have been completely worth it.

Opening the Front Door to the Past

Front doors. I'm a big fan of going in the front door. It probably stems from growing up in a house where people always entered through the side door.

So here's the big news: the Virginia Historical Society is reopening their front door. Grand buildings require grand entrances and after ten years of entering through the back of this grand building, visitors will once again be welcomed from the Boulevard entrance.

I, for one, will never again enter through the back, much the way I am a convert to the VMFA's reopened Boulevard entrance. I think it's exciting to know that visitors can once again enter these places the way they were intended to welcome the public.

And much the way the Picasso show is going to draw people from all over, the new exhibit at the VHS is sure to do the same.

American Turning Point: The Civil War in Virginia is a blockbuster of a show of over 3,000 square feet and featuring objects, art and audio-visual displays that are like nothing seen at the VHS before.

At this morning's preview, which had that great "new exhibit" smell, there were still some unfinished pieces, but the overall impact of the show was terribly impressive and in a non-traditional way.

This is not an exhibit focusing just on battles; the civilian experience is explored in depth as is the back story of waging the war.

A three-sided mural shows a holographic image of a battle while the speaker overhead provides the sound of horses, gun shots, and screaming. It's harrowing to stand inside this area and hear the chaos and terror of battle. I felt totally in another place and time, but couldn't linger long because it was so unsettling.

It made me understand how soldiers could say that they had no clear memories of battle; the assault on the senses and overwhelming nature of it all would probably be impossible to process at the time.

Equally realistic was a display of a medical procedure going on inside a tent. Silhouetted by a light from inside, you watch as medical personnel perform surgery, peeling back layers of skin, muscle and ligaments and eventually sewing the man back up. It's a look at an important part of the war effort, but conveyed in a more visceral way than a picture could ever do.

After having driven by Hanger Prosthetics on Belvidere hundreds of times, I was fascinated to learn the story behind the company and the exhibit delivered that.

I'd always thought it was a terrible name, not realizing that the company was named after James Hanger, the first amputee of the war; heartbreakingly, Hanger had only been a soldier for a day when it happened.

While recovering, the 18-year old designed and made an improved prosthetic leg with a hinged knee and foot.

Naturally, other soldiers clamored for the same and a company was born that survives today, with a facility five blocks from my house. Now I know.

There are more than 200 objects in this exhibit and not all of them were yet in place today, but I would be planning to go back and see the exhibit again even if they had been.

The emphasis on everybody involved in the war, not just the men, not just the Confederates and not just the soldiers, makes it a well-rounded look at our country's most tragic period.

It's a must-see. And that front door is a must-enter. It's an impressive combination.