WHAT
In the mid-1950s, the workshops of Roger Malherbe-Navarre expanded on the light boxes of French painter, Jean Crotti, by layering pieces of glass into pictorial depictions (gemmail, French for ‘enamel gem’) of several of Picasso’s paintings. Impressed by the gemmistes’ masterful assembling and fusing of carefully selected glass, Picasso quickly became a fan and advocate. The exhibition, supported by the French May Arts Festival and Hongkong Land, contains 19 of the artist’s most renowned compositions reinterpreted in gemmail. The selection of works are on loan from a private collection, and shed a new light on some of Picasso’s most renowned painterly compositions.

WHY
The world-famous artist had selected the paintings he found most representative and meaningful at the time to be reinterpreted in gemmail. French for ‘enamel gem,’ this art form was developed in the mid-1950s and deemed most innovative at the time by the artist himself. During this time, he worked in collaboration with the workshops of Roger Malherbe-Navarre to expand several of his paintings onto backlit panels of the light boxes of French painter, Jean Crotti. Pieces of glass were layered to create pictorial depictions. The artist was so impressed with the gemmistes’ work that he declared a new art to be born. More than 70 years later, Hong Kong audiences are invited to enjoy this ‘new art’ representation of the artist’s most iconic works.