Picasso and Dali art set for Dundee V&A exhibition

The McManus Gallery will host a series of prints for three months from August in the latest major exhibition to come to the city ahead of the multi-million pound new V&A attraction on Dundee’s waterfront.

The displays, at Dundee’s principal art gallery and museum, are expected to provide a major boost to the city’s bid to become the UK capital of culture in 2017.

The V&A’s own futuristic museum in Dundee, which is scheduled to cost £45 million, has suffered some setbacks after its site had to be relocated in a bid to keep costs down and its completion date has been put back at least a year.

The museum, work on which is due to start later this year, will both showcase Scotland’s design heritage as well as play host to major international exhibitions.

The latest in a series of exhibitions planned ahead of the museum’s opening has been drawn from the V&A’s vast collection of prints, posters and artists’ books.

V&A curator Gill Saunders said: “These ‘modern masters’ each had a profound influence in the art world, but also beyond. Their legacy pervades our culture. All four were also accomplished printmakers, using the medium to reach a wider audience.

“Together, these four artists spanned a 75-year period that saw the birth of the modern age. They employed a wide range of techniques, and their work represents one of the most creative and diverse periods of printmaking in the history of western art.”

Philip Long, director of V&A at Dundee, said: “The artistic giants of the 20th century – Matisse, Picasso, Dali and Warhol – took print-making and really re-invented it as a new and very vital way of expression.

“Each of these artists’ approach to print-making was highly distinctive but all used the medium to drive forward the development of their work as well as to create individual masterpieces. This is a fabulous opportunity to see both well-known and less familiar works by the four outstanding talents of modern art.”

Dundee’s Lord Provost Bob Duncan added: “This is another exciting exhibition for the McManus.

“People are responding enthusiastically to the benefits of our close partnership with the V&A.

“It is becoming widely-known as a quality destination and this exhibition is an outstanding attraction to bring visitors to the galleries and the city.”

New plans for the V&A in Dundee had to be drawn up following a decision taken last October to site most of the museum on the banks of the Tay, instead of on a specially constructed “promontory” in the river, as originally proposed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. The Scottish Government has committed £45m to the project, with the Heritage Lottery Fund approving a £9.2m grant in principle.

Modern Masters in Print: Matisse, Picasso, Dali and Warhol will be at the McManus from 23 August to 17 November.