Mosqueteros picasso museum

March 26 – June 6, 2009
522 West 21st Street
New York City, 212 741 1717
Monday to Saturday, 10 – 6

Is it possible to admire the body of work unwrapped by “Pablo Picasso: Mosqueteros” at Gagosian for what it is––a heroic sowing of wild oats to the very end by an ageless, workaholic satyr––while refusing to wallow in cult-of-personality recidivism?

To judge by buzz and critical reaction, a complete rapprochement between contemporary art and its erstwhile maximum superstar has been engineered by the Gagosian machine , laying claim in the process to a nearly exhaustless market of sudden masterpieces.

Until now, the prevailing opinion has undervalued Picasso’s late work, as quantified by economist David Galensen’s hybrid analysis, Old Masters and Young Geniuses.

In his formulation (derived from an observation of Roger Fry’s), Picasso exemplifies the “conceptual” artistic innovator whose contributions diminish with ag