Cover Image: Man admires No Chicken Please, "We're born again Vegan" (2011-2013) displayed in Where Thoughts Provoke
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Building on his first European solo exhibition at Atelier Cardenas Bellanger in Paris in 2007 and his residency and solo show with Hauser & Wirth in Paris in 2023, Henry Taylor has returned to the City of Light with an exquisite retrospective exhibition called Where Thoughts Provoke.

The Picasso Museum hosted the vernissage (opening) of the show on Tuesday, April 7.  Perfect spring weather provided the backdrop for the hundreds of people who partook in the champagne reception in the courtyard of the Hôtel Salé before entering the museum to enjoy the exhibition.

Where Thoughts Provoke brings together around one hundred (100) works—paintings, sculptures, and installations—in rooms on the lower level and ground floor of the building.  Each room has a specific theme, which is presented in French and English on a wall panel near the entrance to that room.

The exhibition begins on the lower level.  Walking past the cloak room on the left, you enter an "anteroom" that presents a large scale triptych, a large scale painting, a sculpture, and a bio and timeline for the artist. 

Exhibition "Anteroom"
© Entrée to Black Paris

Henry Taylor timeline and bio
© Entrée to Black Paris

You must walk to the far side of the room and behind the wall bearing the single large scale painting—We Were Framed (2014)—to enter the exhibition.

The vaulted rooms of the lower level evoked a sense of intimacy that enhanced my contemplation of the works shown. 

Lower level exhibition room - "The 1990s"
© Entrée to Black Paris

Having a fondness for three-dimensional art, I particularly enjoyed the room entitled "It’s like a jungle."  In it, Taylor has assembled an installation of the same name that dominates this long, narrow space.  From a multitude of objects—broken furniture, cardboard boxes, and other found materials—he has created something that for me does indeed evoke a jungle.  

It's Like a Jungle
2011 - Mixed media
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

It's Like a Jungle - Tarzan is coming soon
2011 - Mixed media
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

It's Like a Jungle - Michael Jackson badges
2011 - Mixed media
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

It's Like a Jungle - Ghana premium pies
2011 - Mixed media
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

The wall sculptures in this room also captivated me.  Made from bleach bottles, broomsticks, table legs and other various objects, they were either attached to a flat surface or hung free form on the wall.

Untitled (wall sculpture)
2012 - Mixed media
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Paragraph and Caption (wall sculpture) - far right
2014 - Mixed media
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

The painting for which the exhibition is named hangs in this room.

Where Thoughts Provoke, getting deep in shallow water
2015 - Acrylic on canvas
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Returning to the ground floor, you will find six exhibition rooms in which paintings, painted objects, and a single sculpture are on display.

For many, the main attraction of the exhibition—and undoubtedly the reason the Picasso Museum was keen to host it—is the painting called From Congo to the Capital, and Black Again.

From Congo to the Capital, and Black Again
2007 - Acrylic and mixed media on board
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

It represents Taylor's "take" on Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, which is held by the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

Taylor has represented Black women in his work where Picasso used white women. Similar to Picasso's work, the two women at the right of the painting have African masks for faces. The woman in the center of the painting resembles Josephine Baker.

From Congo to the Capital, and Black Again - Josephine Baker
2007 - Acrylic and mixed media on board
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

The arm of a white male extends around the arm of the faceless woman at the far left of the painting. (No males are represented in Les Demoiselles.) 

From Congo to the Capital, and Black Again - white man's arm
2007 - Acrylic and mixed media on board
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Nothing in the information I've read about Where Thoughts Provoke indicates that Taylor created this work 100 years after Picasso created Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. 

There is no mention of the fact that Taylor created From Congo to the Capital in Paris when he came here for his solo exhibition entitled We’re All Water, But Some Of Us Are Muddy, which was held at Atelier Cardenas Bellanger.

And there is no mention of the fact that Taylor's painting was auctioned by Sotheby's in New York in 2023 and fetched the record breaking price of $2,000,000 ($2,480,000 with fees). 

Three original works by Picasso are shown in the room where From Congo to the Capital is hung.

Among the dozens of works in the entire show, the one that intrigued me the most was an acrylic on paper portrait of Jay-Z.

I Am a Man (portrait of Jay Z)
2017 - Acrylic on paper
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

It hangs in Room 0.1. - Icons.

Where Thoughts Provoke will be on display through September 6, 2026.

Musée Picasso
5 Rue de Thorigny
75003 Paris
Internet: https://www.museepicassoparis.fr/en/henry-taylor-where-thoughts-provoke

Next week, Part 2 of this Art and Food Pairing™ will review the Senegalese restaurant, Le Petit Dakar.