Quels liens Picasso a-t-il entretenu avec les arts non-occidentaux? Traitée à de multiples reprises, la question a pourtant longtemps été éludée par l'artiste lui-même. Décryptage d'une relation faite d'admiration, de respect et de crainte.

What links has Picasso maintained with the non-Western arts? Treated on many occasions, the question has long been eluded by the artist himself. Deciphering a relationship of admiration, respect and fear. "Negro art?" Not know. It is in the tone of provocation that the Andalusian painter, sculptor and draftsman will endeavor to deny his relationship with non-European art. Yet, as his personal collection shows, the arts of Africa, Oceania, the Americas and Asia have not ceased to accompany him, especially in his various workshops. The documents, letters, objects and photographs gathered in the first part of the exhibition bear witness to the artist's interests and curiosities with regard to non-Western creation. In a more conceptual second part, Picasso Primitif proposes a comparison of Andalusian works with those of non-Western artists, drawing more on an anthropology of art than on the observation of aesthetic relations. The resulting confrontation reveals similar questions that artists have had to answer (the problems of nudity, sexuality, drive or loss) with parallel plastic solutions (disfigurement or destructuring of bodies for example). The primitive is no longer understood as a stage of non-development, but as access to the deepest, intimate and founding layers of the human--Resume by Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac: http://www.quaibranly.fr/fr/expositions-evenements/au-musee/expositions/details-de-levenement/e/picasso-primitif-36915/