“Picasso Cut Papers” highlights many exploratory works created by the artist. (photo by Zarko Vijatovic)

The Hammer Museum at UCLA presents “Picasso Cut Papers,” an exhibition about an important yet little-known aspect of the practice of Pablo Picasso running from Sunday, Oct. 2, through Saturday, Dec. 31.

The exhibition features some of Picasso’s most whimsical and intriguing works made on paper and in paper, alongside a select group of sculptures in sheet metal. Cut papers were created as independent works of art, exploratory pieces in relation to works in other mediums, as models for Picasso’s fabricators and as gifts or games for family and friends. Although the artist rarely sold or exhibited them during his lifetime, he signed, date and archived them just as he did his works in other mediums. Many examples have been stored flat or disassembled in portfolios and will regain their original three-dimensional forms when presented in the exhibition. The survey spans Picasso’s entire career, from his first cut papers created when he was 9 years old in 1899, through the 1960s, with works he made while in his 80s.

The exhibit includes approximately 100 works, with many loaned by the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte, the Picasso estate and the Musée National Picasso in Paris. Major loans have also been granted by the Museu Picasso in Barcelona, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the collection of Gail and Tony Ganz.

“Given our major collection of works on paper from the Renaissance to the present, the Hammer has a long-standing commitment to presenting both historical and contemporary exhibitions of works on paper,” Hammer Museum director Ann Philbin said. “We are thrilled to be organizing the first exhibition devoted solely to Pablo Picasso’s inventive cut papers, many of which have never been exhibited. ‘Picasso Cut Papers’ will also be the first international loan exhibition to occupy our new Works on Paper Gallery.”

The Hammer Museum is located at 10899 Wilshire Blvd. For information, call (310)443-7000, or visit hammer.ucla.edu.