VIDEO & 360 PHOTO: Picasso Linocuts exhibition opens in Yorkshire at Barnsley Cooper Gallery

Picasso pictured visiting South Yorkshire almost 70 years ago - now his work is on show at Barnsley's Cooper Gallery.

Art lovers in Yorkshire are getting a rare chance to see world famous and priceless works of art by Pablo Picasso at a new free exhibition.

Picasso Linocuts, an exhibition on loan from the British Museum, features 17 linocut prints by the man who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century.

The work is on show for three months at the Cooper Gallery in Church Street, Barnsley, until Saturday, April 29.

MORE VIDEO: Watch curators from The British Museum explaining the techniques Picasso used in our YouTube embedded video - or CLICK HERE.

360 PHOTO: Take an look around the Picasso Linocuts exhibition at the Cooper Gallery in our amazing 360 degree photo - CLICK HERE.

Spanish artist Picasso, who died in 1973 at the age of 91, experimented with a wide range of styles and themes in his long career, most notably inspiring Cubism.

This exhibition, on tour for the first time, features linocut prints he made towards the end of his life in 1962 when he was 80 years old - more than a decade after his famed visit to South Yorkshire.

He addressed an international peace conference at Sheffield City Hall, in 1950.

The linocuts show the development of two key works, Jacqueline Reading - depicting his wife, Jacqueline Roque - and the Still Life Under The Lamp.

Linocutting is a printmaking technique in which a design is cut into a sheet of linoleum, often mounted on a wooden block, to create a mirror image relief surface, then inked with a roller and impressed onto paper or fabric.

The recently transformed Cooper Gallery is one of just three venues across the country to be hosting Picasso Linocuts, supported by the Dorset Foundation.

The works were acquired by the British Museum with support from the Art Fund, and are counted among Picasso’s most important works in linocut, demonstrating the progressive stages he used in the process.

Still Life Under The Lamp, one of the world famous and priceless Picasso linocuts on show at Barnsley's Cooper Gallery.

During the exhibition the Cooper Gallery will host a series of talks and activities, including family sessions to create linocut prints.

Sarah Briggs, the curator, describes the Picasso work on show as wonderfully bold and colourful.

She said: "It features 17 works of art, three series of prints he produced in his 80s. It shows a whole other side to his work, with his print-making.

"It's your only chance to see the exhibition in Yorkshire and it's free. A unique opportunity to come look at some beautiful Picasso art.

The linocuts show the development of key works, including Jacqueline Reading - depicting Picasso's wife, Jacqueline Roque.

"At the Cooper we feel we are really up to this world class exhibition. Our galleries are recently extended and renovated. so visitors can also see our permanent collections, including lovely pieces by Turner and Henry Moore.

"We've also got lots of activities based around the Picasso exhibition including a chance to have a go at linocuts, with workshops for families, children and adults, so everyone can have a go. There's even an Ian McMillan poetry workshop."

For full details - and more about Cooper Gallery - visit www.cooper-gallery.com

* Picasso's 1950 visit to South Yorkshire, when he addressed the peace conference and reportedly made a trip to a local barber's shop for a haircut, is the the fascinating subject of a 20-minute film, called Trimming Pablo.

MORE VIDEO: Watch Trimming Pablo trailer highlights and Graham Walker's report from the 2009 film set at Sheffield City Hall, talking to film-maker Tim Newton and Paul Freeman, the acclaimed British actor and Indiana Jones star who portrayed Picasso - CLICK HERE.