STALIN BY PICASSO OR PORTRAIT OF WOMAN WITH MOUSTACHE I 2008 I 30’00”

In 1953 Pablo Picasso – a member of the Communist Party – made a drawing of Joseph Stalin commissioned by the French communist weekly ‘Les Lettres Françaises’, a portrait that was intended as a tribute to the recently deceased leader. Much to Picasso’s surprise, his drawing caused a scandal. The film traces the personal, political, artistic and media implications of a simple artistic act.

 

LENE BERG (NOR/°1965)

Lene Berg works with video, photography and text. She explores the relationship between contemporary images and inherited conventions, between clichés and facts, between artistic freedom and political agendas. Berg’s work was recently included in the Sydney Biennial (2008) and the Taipei Biennial (2009).

Stalin by Picasso or Portrait of Woman with Moustache, 2008
Video, PAL, colour, sound, 30’00’’
Courtesy the artist