The High Museum of Art will continue its collaboration with The Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA), with the exclusive presentation of the major exhibition “Picasso to Warhol: Twelve Modern Masters” beginning October 2011. This exhibition will present approximately 100 works of art created by 12 of the most iconic artists from the 20th century: Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Constantin Brancusi, Piet Mondrian, Fernand Léger, Marcel Duchamp, Giorgio De Chirico, Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, Jackson Pollock, Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol. “Picasso to Warhol” will be one of the largest concentrations of modern art masterpieces to ever be exhibited in the southeastern United States. Co-organized by the High Museum of Art and MoMA, the exhibition will be on view only in Atlanta from October 15, 2011, through April 29, 2012.

The achievements of these pioneers of modern art will be presented in depth, exploring each artist’s stylistic development and highlighting their role in the most important artistic developments of the twentieth century, including the invention of Cubism, the emergence of abstraction and the development of Surrealism. Highlights of the exhibition include:

Henri Matisse’s “Dance (I),” 1909; Pablo Picasso’s “Girl Before a Mirror,” 1932, and “Night Fishing at Antibes,” 1939; Jasper Johns’s “Map,” 1961; Andy Warhol’s “Self-Portrait,” 1966; Constantin Brancusi’s “Bird in Space,” 1928; Jackson Pollock’s, “Number 1A,” 1948.

“From Picasso and Matisse to the reinventions of Pollock, Johns and Warhol, this exhibition will offer our visitors a personal encounter with the modern masters unlike any exhibition in the past,” said Michael E. Shapiro, the High’s Nancy and Holcombe T. Green, Jr. Director. “These artists ushered in new ways of thinking that forever transformed the artistic landscapes of Europe and the U.S., and reinvented the very idea of art. Our visitors will see the development of each artist’s signature style and works considered to be among their best, giving the residents of our city, state, and region a unique opportunity to experience the historic foundations of modern art.”

“Picasso to Warhol” continues a multi-year, multi-exhibition collaboration between the High and MoMA, which was launched in 2009 with “Monet Water Lilies,” the first in a series of six exhibitions. On view from June 4 through August 14, 2011, will be the second exhibition, “Modern by Design.”  Following “Picasso to Warhol,” a second large-scale exhibition and two additional focus shows are in development for 2012 and 2013. The initiative builds on successful past collaborations between the High and MoMA that resulted in four exhibitions presented in Atlanta between 1997 and 2000. This project will extend ties between the institutions through professional exchanges, development of educational programs and publications and reciprocal admission benefits.

Exhibition Organization and Support

“Picasso to Warhol: Twelve Modern Masters” is part of a series of exhibitions presented as part of a collaboration between The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. It is organized by Jodi Hauptman, MoMA Curator of Drawings, and Samantha Friedman, MoMA Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Drawings, in collaboration with David Brenneman, the High's Director of Collection and Exhibitions and Frances B. Bunzl Family Curator of European Art, and Michael Rooks, the High's Wieland Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. “Picasso to Warhol: Twelve Modern Masters” will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue. The exhibitions and programs of the MoMA Series are made possible by Presenting Sponsor Bank of America, Portman, Delta Air Lines, Accenture, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., Jane Smith Turner Foundation, and Planning Partner: The Rich Foundation. Additional support provided by Margaretta Taylor, Mr. and Mrs. John F. Wieland, Carey and Doug Behham, Dr. Robert L. and Lucinda W. Bunnen, Mr. and Mrs. Holcombe T. Green, Jr., Paul Hagedorn, Barbara and Sanford Orkin, Catherine N. Rawson, Sara and John Shlesinger, Joan Whitcomb, Tull Charitable Foundation, Fidelity Foundation, and Vassar Woolley Foundation.

High Museum of Art

The High Museum of Art, founded in 1905 as the Atlanta Art Association, is the leading art museum in the Southeastern United States. With more than 12,000 works of art in its permanent collection, the High Museum has an extensive anthology of 19th- and 20th-century American and decorative art; significant holdings of European paintings; a growing collection of African American art; and burgeoning collections of modern and contemporary art, photography and African art. The High Museum of Art is also dedicated to supporting and collecting works by Southern artists and is distinguished as the only major museum in North America to have a curatorial department specifically devoted to the field of folk and self-taught art. The High’s media arts department produces acclaimed annual film series and festivals of foreign, independent and classic cinema. In November 2005 the High opened three new buildings by architect Renzo Piano that more than doubled the Museum’s size, creating a vibrant “village for the arts” at the Woodruff Arts Center in midtown Atlanta. For more information about the High, please visit www.high.org.

The Woodruff Arts Center

The Woodruff Arts Center is ranked among the top four arts centers in the nation. The Woodruff is unique in that it combines four visual and performing arts divisions on one campus as one not-for-profit organization. Opened in 1968, the Woodruff Arts Center is home to the Alliance Theatre, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the High Museum of Art and Young Audiences. To learn more about the Woodruff Arts Center, please visit www.woodruffcenter.org.