Neil Jenney / Pablo Picasso

In 2010, artist Neil Jenney commissioned the late portrait painter Ki-Young Sung to create copies of works by Pablo Picasso. Sung had trained as an artist in his home city of Seoul (South Korea) after which he became a portraitist for the South Korean military. After many years making portraits and subsequently running his own gallery, Song moved to New York City where he worked as a portrait painter. Jenney first met him after walking past his studio and seeing a Picasso copy in the window. After Song’s copies were created for Jenney, Jenney then went about touching up details as he saw necessary and building them new frames, resulting in what he titled “Improved Picassos.”

The Morris Museum owns four works by Picasso spanning the 1930s-1950s, which show how one of the world’s most impactful artists experimented with depicting the human form. A highly prolific artist, Picasso made works during this period that range from delicate illustrations to the bold “cubist” style for which he is so famous. For Jenney, Picasso’s work presented the opportunity to honor the original images but play with their presentation. This exhibition offers a look at the work of both artists together through Jenney’s unique point of view.

About Neil Jenney

A maverick of twentieth-century American art, Neil Jenney pursues realism as a style and a philosophy. Mostly self-taught, he attended the Massachusetts College of Art in 1964 and moved to New York in 1966, where he has lived and worked since. His works have been shown at institutions including The Museum of Modern Art (New York), The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), The Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), The Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington), The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles) and The Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles).

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, and one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. He is best known for co-founding the Cubist movement and for his innovative approach to form, perspective, and artistic expression.

Neil Jenney, Improved Picasso, Mother and Child, 2006, Oil on canvas in artist frame