Life in Print: William Kentridge and Pablo Picasso

Life in Print: William Kentridge and Pablo Picasso brings together two of the most prolific and innovative artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, highlighting parallels between the two artists, including their shared interest in printmaking.

The exhibition presents works from Kentridge’s expansive Universal Archive alongside selections from Remai Modern’s collection of Picasso’s linocuts, the most comprehensive of its kind in the world. This is an extraordinary opportunity to explore, side by side, the two artists’ work in this captivating and accessible printmaking technique.

Kentridge and Picasso not only share an inventive approach to the linocut medium, but absolute trust in the potential of collaboration and experimentation in the print studio.

The Picasso Collection at Remai Modern includes editioned prints, working states, and experimental proofs. Picasso became serious about making prints in 1904–05, and, over the course of his career, he tried out many printmaking techniques. It was in the period between 1951 and 1968, working with Master Printer Hidalgo Arnéra (1922–2007) in the south of France, that Picasso committed himself to linocut.

There were many hands involved in the creation of the Universal Archive. Kentridge worked with a team of printmakers led by master printer Jillian Ross to translate the works, which started as ink drawings, into prints that retain the fluidity of the originals. They hand carved plates and coaxed the linocut process into a convincing mimicry of brush and ink. While Picasso’s linocut prints possess a spontaneity resulting from his dynamic approach to carving, Kentridge’s prints possess the illusion of spontaneity, achieved, paradoxically, through painstaking work with a dedicated team of expert, collaborative printmakers.

Concurrent to Life in Print, Remai Modern is presenting Live Editions: Jillian Ross Print, which has transformed the museum’s Connect Gallery into a working print studio. Jillian Ross Print is showcasing the editioning of their latest collaboration with  Kentridge—a large-scale and highly complex photogravure series consisting of over 30 plates. This exhibition explores and celebrates the significance of Ross’s work as a collaborative printmaker in the production of the yet unpublished series by the internationally renowned South African artist. 

Live Editions will also demonstrate Ross’ collaboration with artist Wally Dion during an intensive two-week residency in the gallery in July. Jillian Ross Print began working with Dion in 2022 on the artist’s first printmaking work. Ross and Dion will showcase the experimental and technical aspects of developing a work together, which brings together diverse elements of Dion’s practice including drawing, painting, sculpture, and textile.

The exhibition includes recently published works by Jillian Ross Print with a focus on Kentridge’s Studio Life Gravures series created in response to COVID lockdown, the short film A Guided Tour of Etching by Joanna Dudley and William Kentridge, and Dion’s Prairie Braids.

Remai Modern would like to thank The Gund at Kenyon College and David Krut Projects, Johannesburg/New York for their generous loans of works from the Universal Archive.

Life in Print: William Kentridge and Pablo Picasso and Live Editions: Jillian Ross Print are curated by Michelle Jacques, Director of Exhibitions and Collections & Chief Curator, and Bevin Bradley, Assistant Curator.

Remai Modern is situated on Treaty 6 Territory and the Traditional Homeland of the Métis. We pay our respects to First Nations and Métis ancestors and reaffirm our relationship with one another. The museum’s programming is supported by the Frank and Ellen Remai Foundation, the City of Saskatoon, the Canada Council for the Arts, SK Arts and SaskCulture’s Saskatchewan Lotteries Fund.