SGS Art Services and The Met NY examine the African mask that influenced Picasso’s Guitar

In a recent collaboration, SGS Art Services has worked with art historians and conservators at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met, New York) on a study of a Kru Mask from Ivory Coast.

This mask previously belonged to Pablo Picasso and it is believed to have influenced the construction methods used for his cardboard and mixed media sculpture, Guitar (1912, The Museum of Modern Art, New York).

As a 2016-17 fellow in The Met’s Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (AAOA), Dr. Joshua Cohen is conducting new research on modernist appropriations of African sculpture. His research has led him to this Kru mask, from Ivory Coast, which dates from around the turn of the 20th century.

SGS Art Services stepped in to perform a full technical study of the mask, including visual inspection, photographic documentation in visible and UV light, documentation under stereomicroscope, digital X-ray radiography, X-ray microfluorescence, and pigment/binder sampling. Conservators and conservation fellows at the Met are working to further analyze the pigment/binder samples collected by SGS.

The crucial issue in this study was to understand the methods and techniques used in the construction of the mask and the composition of its materials. For example, X-radiography has verified the number of pieces of wood used in the mask and how they were assembled with iron nails; and X-ray microfluorescence was used to determine the elemental composition of the pigments. These answers were essential in assessing whether any of the elements was not part of the original artwork.

The results provided by SGS will help Dr. Cohen compare this mask to others from the same period and region, and to better characterize the mask’s influence on the construction techniques used in Picasso’s Guitar. The lab analyses indeed permit Dr. Cohen to clarify his preliminary findings (based solely on visual inspection) presented at the Musée Picasso in Paris in 2016. The overall research project is set to conclude later this year, with publications to follow.

About SGS Art Services
SGS is the only art service provider in its category to maintain a global presence, including a dedicated laboratory in the Geneva Freeport. SGS has developed a unique system to monitor the condition of artworks globally, based on an international network of accredited art conservators, proprietary software and rigorous museum level procedures. Experts help clients to analyze and date works of art and gain in-depth knowledge of their materials, techniques and condition. SGS also helps art experts to authenticate artworks, uncover unknown masterpieces, and can provide inventories of art collections, as well as document and verify the condition of artworks before and after logistical operations.

Learn more about SGS Art Services [www.sgs.com/en/arts-and-culture]

For further information contact:

Stephanie Pionchon
Global Marketing Manager
SGS Art Services
Email: cts.media@sgs.com
Website: www.sgs.com/arts

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Joshua I. Cohen (PhD Columbia University) is a historian of African art specializing in 20th-century cross-cultural exchange. He is Assistant Professor at The City College of New York, and the 2016-17 Jane and Morgan Whitney Fellow in the Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (AAOA) at The Met.

http://picasso-sculptures.fr/2017/03/13/table-ronde-primitivisme/ (min. 31-47)
http://picasso-sculptures.fr/2017/03/14/joshua-i-cohen-picassos-guitar-1912-and-two-ivoirian-masks/

About SGS
SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 90,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 2,000 offices and laboratories around the world.

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This release was published on openPR.