Kunsthaus Zürich Hosts Major Francis Picabia Retrospective for Dada Centenary

The Kunsthaus Zürich is presenting a comprehensive retrospective of Francis Picabia, curated by Cathérine Hug in collaboration with Anne Umland of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, marking the centenary of Dada. The exhibition traces Picabia's eclectic career from his early Impressionist and Orphic Cubist works, influenced by friend Apollinaire, through his Dada period in Zurich (where he frequented Cabaret Voltaire from 1919 until his 1921 declaration of departure in Comoedia), to his 'mechanomorphic' paintings, the 1924 film 'Entr'acte' directed by René Clair with a script by Picabia (featuring a famous scene where a water jet washes away a chess game between Duchamp and Man Ray), neoclassical portraits in industrial paint, expressionist works from the Côte d'Azur, figurative paintings from the 1930s-40s (which drew suspicion of collaboration but contained social critique), and post-war abstract forms. The show highlights Picabia's role in conceptual art, Op art, Pop art, and Art Informel. The exhibition will travel to MoMA in autumn 2016. It runs until September 25, 2016, at Kunsthaus Zürich.