Another Look at Cubism

Abstract

“Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism,” which was on view at the Museum of Modern Art from September 24, 1989, to January 16, 1990, was one of the most impressive exhibitions that museum has ever mounted. It brought together some 390 works by the two artists in all the mediums they employed during the years between 1907 and 1914, and was installed with a masterful blend of aesthetic acuity and historical awareness by William Rubin, director emeritus of the Department of Painting and Sculpture. Museum publicists are often somewhat cavalier about describing special exhibitions as “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunities, but this was one case where the phrase applied. The exhibition was especially rich in rarely seen pictures from private collections and foreign museums, and it is hard to imagine how such a show could be mounted again.