Duchamp, Man Ray, Picarbia
Tate Modern, until 26 May
Juan Muñoz
Tate Modern, until 27 April
The recent Tate habit of serving up in threes major figures from art history is not to be encouraged. It almost worked in 2005 with Turner Whistler Monet, but as the old saying goes, ‘two’s company but three’s a crowd’, and one of the artists usually suffers. In the Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec show (2005–6), it was Lautrec who suffered. In the current offering, it is Picabia, the least familiar of the three and the one needing most introduction to the public, thus warranting a better showing than he gets here, having to compete with his heavyweight mates. That said, it’s an enjoyable enough canter through Dada, though rather on the skimpy side. The show can’t decide whether it wants to tell the story of an art movement or of three buddies.
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