There is a magic to Africa. It takes hold. And a magic to Pablo Picasso’s work that also takes hold, an otherness that even over a century on from when he was first painting has extraordinary power to enthral. Put the two together as in Oxford’s Meller Merceux gallery’s new exhibition, Picasso & Tribal Art, which combines striking West African sculptures with 40 works by Picasso, as well as Parisian contemporaries, and we have in our city a rare, if not unique opportunity. In 1907, when Picasso was 26 and living in Paris, already noticed by connoisseurs for his ‘blue’ and ‘rose’ period paintings. Yet, seeking something other, he visited the city’s ethnographic museum. His interest in what was then called ‘primitive’ art had been sparked by an African mask shown him by Matisse. He was deeply moved by the objects he saw at the Trocadéro: ‘magical’ things, unlike any other pieces of sculpture he knew, they had a profound and permanent effect on the young Spaniard’s perception of art. He began to incorporate African influences into his work, not copying, but allowing the abstract expressive forms and faces of African art to help him express his own vision. He was working on Les Demoiselles d’Avignon at the time (1907) but now based the faces of the two women on the right on African masks. This pivotal work is considered the first Cubist painting. The earliest work here is an original etching from 1918 showing Picasso’s first wife, the Russian ballet dancer Olga Khokhlova in classical dress (it is signed, April 1968). A rare lithograph on show, from the early 1920s, was commissioned by Picasso’s long-term dealer and friend, Daniel Henry Kahnweiler, one of the first champions of Picasso, Braques, and Cubism. Another shows Françoise Gilot, Picasso’s young lover and artistic muse from 1944 to 1953, portrayed as if being created in the studio by Picasso while daughter Paloma looks on. The profile Picasso draws of himself as a bearded sage displays astonishing economy of line. A rare signed etching comes from the renowned Vollard Suite. The Suite, comprising 100 etchings by Picasso between 1930 and 1937, is considered the artist’s most important cycle of etchings. Themes vary here, as with many in the series, inspired by a visit to Pompeii and Herculaneum, he offers a bearded toga-clad man (Picasso?) on a couch with a young woman (Marie-Thérèse) curled beside him. It is finely etched, proof of his brilliance as a printmaker. I love the simple outlines of vase and flowers on the window ledge and the classical sculpture head watching on. Hand-carved wooden ceremonial figures and masks on sale include a Yoruba staff, Kota Fang figurines from Gabon, and a seated Dogon figure with angular upturned face covered by the figure’s hands. Gallery director Aidan Meller says: “With demand for ceremonial sculpture at an all-time high, we are delighted audiences can experience authentic African tribal works alongside those of Picasso and his Parisian peers Henri Matisse and Alberto Giacometti.”