Since the “Picasso and Paper” exhibit opened on Dec. 8 at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA)—the tour’s only venue in North America—it has attracted and inspired art lovers from around the globe to visit and learn.

Picasso’s prolonged engagement with paper is the focus of the groundbreaking exhibition, which was organized by CMA and the Royal Academy of Arts in London, in partnership with the Musée national Picasso-Paris. The exhibit showcases nearly 300 works that span Picasso’s career and highlights his relentless exploration of paper.

On view first in 2020 at the Royal Academy of Arts before coming to Cleveland, where it’s been for three months now, the “Picasso and Paper” exhibit will come to a close on Sunday, March 23. There’s still time to see this engaging exhibit before it closes.

An elevated Picasso experience

Whether you’ve already been to “Picasso and Paper,” or are planning a visit, the CMA docents can make your visit to the CMA extra special. With the help of two docents, Bob Cohen and Nancy Wilhem, FreshWater is taking you behind the scenes for some extra intel on the artist and the exhibit.

Whether you choose to walk through the collection with a guide or independently, knowing the talent behind the exhibit tours is inspiring. Each has a story that connects them to art, and a story that allows art to fulfill a part of their personal lives.

With around 70 docents at the CMA, each has a unique story of how and why they became experts. If you take a guided tour, remember docents have backgrounds that drew them to art in the first place and there’s a bridge from their own life experiences that led them to share their art knowledge. Don’t be too shy to ask their stories. Enjoy the exhibit—and your docent’s expertise.

Docent Bob Cohen

CMA docent Bob Cohen gives a tour in front of Picasso's 1901 self-portrait“My undergraduate degree is in art education, and I have always been doing art in different schools,” says CMA docent Bob Cohen. “I studied art in Italy. I studied art in New York.”

Cohen, 76, has studied drawing, painting, and print making. But the Beachwood resident found a successful 40-year career in audio visual sales for a large Cleveland company instead of pursuing art.

When Cohen retired in 2018, he was ready to scratch his art itch. He says he had stayed in tune with his love of art through the decades—continuing to make prints and after retirement took a CMA class in abstract drawing and decided to become a docent.

“I became a docent because I wanted to learn a lot about our museum here in Cleveland,” he says. Cohen’s connection to art, and his love of being a docent, is partly because of the human interaction that comes along with the job.

“I really enjoy getting people to take a much longer look at what the artist is trying to say and try to understand what the circumstances were around a piece of art,” he explains. “It might be historical; it might be emotional or [about] relationships—things like that.”

Overwhelming emotion

On the tours, Cohen shares biographical and historical facts that influenced Picasso’s work, such as events around World Wars I and II, and the work of Picasso’s contemporaries.

Frequent reactions from visitors often center around Picasso’s willingness to experiment and try new techniques.

"For the most part, people are just amazed at the amount of work he's done and the direction in which he's gone with his work," Cohen explains.

Personally, he says he can relate to Picasso through the artist’s commitment to his craft. “His work ethic in general was something to be admired,” Cohen says, adding that Picasso’s work has influenced his own work recently. “You know, he was productive most of his entire life.”

Seeing works or art for the first time can sometimes evoke unexpected reactions and emotions in Cohen. He says art is part of his life, so he feels it on a deeper level than other people might.

Such was the case with seeing “Picasso and Paper” for the first time.

“I was overwhelmed—I mean, I really was. I knew Picasso, but only to a point,” explains Cohen. “I was extremely surprised by the depth and the breadth of his work over his lifetime.”

Cohen’s passion is necessary since volunteer docents go through extensive training. The docents are given large amounts of content to read, they take classes, are walked through the collection by curators, and they do practice runs with mentors, among other trainings.

“I did a lot of reading on the outside and I took all the classes,” Cohen recalls. Even during an exhibit’s run, docents still train once a week.

From a docent’s perspective, Cohen says he had to see the Picasso exhibit about three times to fully grasp everything he would need to know and understand.

“There are almost 300 pieces in the exhibit so it’s pretty extensive,” he explains. “You can’t learn something about every piece, but you can learn about the pieces that were most influential. So that’s a couple of months’ worth of study.”

His favorite Picasso work? The 1962 "Head of a Woman" because he says he likes the elegant use of negative space.

Artist admiration

As an artist, Cohen says he sees beauty in reflection. “What I’d like [people] to take away from the exhibit is that [Picasso’s] contribution to contemporary art is stunning,” he says. “Its influence on what is still being done today is incredible.”

Cohen says he appreciates the talent of others and the friendships that grow organically through a shared love of art.

“One of the other reasons why I joined the docent corps is the curators [who] bring the pieces to the museum for exhibit,” he shares. “I was curious because they do such a wonderful job and sometimes these exhibits take years to put together.

“The other reason I really like being part of this docent corps is the other docents,” Cohen continues. “I think the other docents—[by] sitting down and having conversations with them—they’re brilliant. Those are the things that keep a 76-year-old man sharp. I think these are elite, world-class docents.”

Though humble, Cohen is proud to be one of them.

Docent Nancy Wilhelm

CMA docent Nancy WilhelmWhen Nancy Wilhelm, 77, of Highland Heights, retired in 2013 as a history teacher for St. Ignatius High School, friend suggested she volunteer at the CMA.

Wilhelm began volunteering at CMA in other capacities—working at the information desk and positions within the education department, where she was able to lead hands-on exhibits and activities with students and older adults.

“That’s how it started,” she recalls. “One thing led to another. I really enjoy it. It’s very stimulating for me.”

Wilhelm eventually became a docent, giving general museum tours and specialty tours. Her extensive and ongoing training has her well-versed in the CMA collections, and she says she feels confident in answering questions.

A teacher’s experience

She has many visitors from out of state and even out of the country, especially in the summer. “Internationally, we are one of the best museums,” she proclaims. “We have about 64,000 works of art covering 6,000 years of history.”

Working with a large, diverse group of people has made Wilhelm appreciate how others see the works and share their perspectives to her.

“Being a history teacher, I thought I was just going to go in there and teach, but that’s the last thing [the CMA staff] want us to do,” Wilhelm explains. “They want to have the visitor experience [an exhibit] on their own, instead of through a lecture.”

Wilhelm adds that because visitors are coming specifically to see “Picasso and Paper,” she needs to make her tours very targeted.

“Because there’s around 300 works, you can’t do a look and discover—you’d never get through the galleries,” Wilhelm explains. “So it’s a back-and-forth and it’s stimulating and fun—especially for me.”

Seeing the influence

Wilhelm says she focuses on the fact that Picasso has been called “the most influential artist of the 20^th century” and uses her tours to show how he deserves the title.

She says she likes to explain and show how Picasso challenges the viewer to look and discover the images in his cubist work—to broaden the viewer's imagination. She explains that Picasso and other modern artists went beyond “spoon feeding” an image. She explains how Picasso challenges the viewer to look and discover the images in his cubist work to broaden the viewer's imagination

Additionally, Wilhelm points out that Picasso's work is autobiographical and reflects his reactions to what is happening around him at the time—whether it’s a personal, artistic, or social event.

On the tours, she says guests’ comment of Picasso’s amazing range of creativity with different styles of art (academic, impressionism, cubism) and different mediums (paintings, sculptures, collage, etchings, lithographs, pottery, set design). Additionally, she says tour guests see how he moved well beyond traditional art and broadened the scope of Modern Art.

Personally, Wilhelm says her favorite work is “Paloma and Claude,” a 1950 lithograph Picasso made of his two children. “He's [did] them with his fingers," Wilhelm marvels. "He still tried to remain child-like, and I think he demonstrated that when he did these prints of Claude and Paloma."

Picasso applied lithographic ink directly to a printing stone using his fingers. He experimented with the technique during the print’s creation, wiping the material in sweeping marks to depict his daughter, Paloma, and layering his fingerprints for the image of his son, Claude. The vertical border between the pair suggests the work’s intended use as the cover of a book about Picasso’s lithographs.

Family ties

Wilhelm’s love of the CMA has spread to her family. In fact, she says her granddaughter, who is a high school junior, asked if they could see the “Picasso and Paper” exhibit together.

Wilhelm says her granddaughter has developed her own relationship with the museum and enjoys sitting in the museum atrium and doing her homework.

Perhaps the most influential person in Wilhelm’s journey to become a docent was her husband of more than 50 years.

“Sadly, my husband passed away, so for me, this is like therapy,” reflects Wilhelm. Jeff Wilhelm passed away almost two years ago, but Wilhelm says he encouraged her to volunteer for the art museum, which helped them connect since he was a graphic design and landscape artist.

“My husband was like a renaissance,” Wilhelm gushes. “He was very creative. He saw beauty in everything. [When] I’m in my house and I look around me, pretty much everything Jeff built. He built this furniture; his art is on the walls—he was just an amazing person.”

Wilhelm still feels her husband’s love through art. She values the relationships she has made at the CMA that make her heart happy since his passing.

“The one thing I’ve benefited from the most from being part of the docent group is the friends I’ve met,” says Wilhelm. “There’s a richness there. I’ve developed very close relationships with these docents. We travel together; we admire one another.”

Wilhelm says she will continue her volunteer work as a docent. “Absolutely. It’s good for me.”

Picasso and Paper runs through Sunday, March 23 in the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Hall and Gallery. Tickets are free for CMA members; $22 for adults; $15 for seniors aged 65 and older or adult groups of 10 people or more; or $11 for college students, member guests, and youth ages six to 17.