Product Description
Simon Packard didn't always want to do his artist report on Pablo Picasso, but after his twin brother Stephen does a report on Monet-Simon's favorite artist-Simon chooses Picasso by default! Throughout, there are reproductions of Pablo Picasso's masterpieces as well as Simon's own drawings, and wonderful nuggets of info that will appeal to kids. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Pacasso comes to Seattle Art Museum
The Seattle Art Museum has a Picasso exhibit starting this month and I wanted to find some books my 9 year old son could read before we check it out. For that, it was perfect.

An original concept in presenting art
I am now a true fan of True Kelley, author and illustrator of "Pablo Picasso: Breaking All the Rules." Instead of presenting information about Picasso--his life and works--she gives the reader/viewer a new way of looking at art. This book is written as a school project/report by a student.

Simon Packard is a student in Ms. Brandt's class, whose letter opens this book. The unit on famous artists is almost over and the students now must close the unit with a report on their assigned artist. Simon's twin brother chose Monet, Simon chose Picasso because his parents LOVE his art and have books and prints in every room in the house.

What a clever way to present the life and art of Pablo Picasso--through the eyes and pen of a student (whose age or grade is not disclosed). The book is his report/project, making this (to me) a definite plus in acquiring not only this book, but also all the other books in this series Smart About Art.

Whether you like or dislike Picasso's art will become irrelevant. What this book presents is a real feel for the man and his art and how and why the two developed. The book is a combination of narrative and art, plus the student/writer's evaluation of the two as the narrative unfolds. For example, Simon presents the Blue Period, a reason for it, and his own reaction through his painting of his cat who died (a "blue" painting).

One of my favorite sections was a two-page history of Picasso's wives and girlfriends simply presented with no ugly history. Another favorite is the next to last page. Simon tells how old Picasso was when he died (91) and how many works of art he created (over 50,000). But the stand-out is Simon's illustrating showing Picasso leaping through the air singing "To draw you must close your eyes and sing." Whether Picasso actually said this or Simon created it, this sentence wonderfully summarizes Picasso's modus operandi.

This is a book definitely worth adding to a school or public library for children, probably for ages 9-13.

There is a student in my school in the fourth grade who loves Picasso. His teacher made a display of some artwork concluding a Native American unit. Each child created a cactus with flowers. Thomas's was distorted. I told him his cactus looked like Cubism. His reply blew me away: "That's what it is supposed to be." I have been giving him books on artists since then (I'm the librarian). Wow! Like Simon's "art report" on Picasso, one never knows what students are capable of until they do it!

Making art fun for children
This book is great for an adult trying to understand Picasso's art from a child's perspective.It does not try to be esoteric but instead keeps things simple which was helpful to me as I prepared for a discussion on Picasso with elementary school students.

Interesting facts but some inappropriate content for childre
This book was a great resource - I had to do an Exploring Arts project on Picasso for both a 3rd grade class and a 1st grade class.I was able to read this book to the 3rd grade class with omitting 4 - 5 pages, but it was definitely not appropriate for 1st graders.During the blue period section, it says that Picasso was depressed because his best friend committed suicide and that Picasso had used (and I quote) "tramps and drunks" as his subjects!It also has a few too many visuals that are better left to older eyes.That being said, it did have some great facts that I hadn't seen anywhere else and the Children REALLY liked this book. ... Read more

Product Description
Over a long, turbulent life, Picasso continually discovered new ways of seeing the world and translating it into art. A restless genius, he went through a blue period, a rose period, and a Cubist phase. He made collages, sculptures out of everyday objects, and beautiful ceramic plates. True Kelley’s engaging biography is a wonderful introduction to modern art. ... Read more

Product Description
No other painter has had a more lasting influence on twentieth-century art than Pablo Picasso. Among the many phases and styles encompassed by his oeuvre, Picasso's late period--which he spent in Mougins, in the South of France, until his death in 1973--has a very special position. For the highly charged paintings that Picasso made during the last decade of his life, often featuring close-ups of the kiss or copulation, seem to cling with all their might to the artist's intense sensuality, his desire for embrace. They are marked by a great restlessness whose aim must be to exorcise death itself. "Wild" paintings rapidly executed by Picasso's masterly hand, the late canvases stand in marked contrast to the artist's detailed, carefully executed drawings of the same period, which are dominated by a unique joy in narrative.
This substantial new volume, edited by Werner Spies, former director of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the most important Picasso expert of our day, examines almost 200 works, including paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures, shedding light on the specific methods and dialectics in Picasso's later work. In particular, the sense of the artist's race against time is made clear through the exciting dialogue that emerges here between painting and drawing. As Picasso himself said, "The works that one paints are a way of keeping a diary." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

excellent overview of late Picasso oeuvre
Picasso's late oeuvre has divided the critics. Previously the consensus was that this period of his output was on a less inspired and a more mechanistic level than his earlier phases. This opinion is now being reappraised with some commentators claiming that some of Picasso's later output contains many neglected masterpieces. Certainly there are masses of paintings, drawings, etchings, ceramics andsculptures to be considered from this last period.

The influence of age on creativity is a fascinating subject. Geniuses like Beethoven and Cezanne polished their craft until their later years, achieving astonishing results. Picasso, an ever questioning artist, metamorphized through various stages of greatness during his long life. What is evident in examining his later creations in this book is his astonishing vigor and technical assurance. Many of the works have an erotic theme, on occasions one sees the artist in a voyeristic stance.

This volume is a catalogue of an exhibition held at the Albertina and in Dusseldorf in 2006/7. It contains useful essays appraising this phase of Picasso's output as well as illustrations of 200 art works-paintings, drawings, etchings and a few folding sculptures. I found the drawings and etchings to be the most memorable. Printing quality and standard of the full page reproductions are excellent. Highly recommended.

Ridiculous Price
This book is worthy of more than 17 dollars. I payed 50 and it was worth it.

"Outstandingly unique!"
As an artist and art book collector I carefully examine a book before I buy it. I saw a damaged copy of this book at a Barnes & Knobles Book store in Seattle and really liked the pictures but even more so I enjoyed the way the author explained what they thought Picasso was thinking towards the end of his life. My favorite part is about the two hundred paintings Picasso did in the last three years of his life, pretty extraordinary. The pictures of Picasso's work are clear and clean. An outstanding well done job. If you enjoy Picasso and/or art, then secure yourself a copy of this fine book. You won't be dissapointed. ... Read more

Product Description
Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro and Andy Warhol each significantly shaped the development of art in the twentieth century. These Modern masters are the subjects of four small books, the first volumes in a series featuring important artists in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art. Each book presents a single artist and guides readers through a dozen of his most memorable achievements. Works are reproduced in color and accompanied by informative and accessible short essays that provide background on the artworks and on the artist himself, illuminating technique, style, subject matter and significance. Written by Carolyn Lanchner, former Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum, these books are excellent resources for readers interested in the stories behind masterpieces of the Modern canon and for those who wish to understand the contributions of individual artists to the history of Modern art. This volume focuses on Picasso. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

good summary of Picasso's career
This book was very helpful as I was preparing to present Picasso's art to elementary school children.It takes a long, prolific career, and organizes the different periods of Picasso's art so that it is more succinct.The wording is very understandable yet not condescending for older readers.This is a great series for adults, like myself, trying to help children understand why an artist was so great. ... Read more

Product Description
drawings from many periods, styles show master 20th-century draughtsman’s incredible line. 1905 circus family, portraits of Diaghilev, Balzac, cubist studies, neo-classical nudes, mythological scenes, many media: lithograph, drypoint, etching, pen-and-ink.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

line drawings
I'm a retired mechanical engineer and now an art student.

Because of my enginnering background, I have a tendency to draw anything with lines around the perimeter of objedcts just like I might do if I were making an engineering drawing.

My art instructors try to discourage my approach and one even went so far to suggest that I was not advanced enough to draw with lines.I of course did/do not agree. This instructor suggested I might like cartooning which I have been investigating.

Thus I was very pleased to see this book which shows a number of line drawings by one of the great masters.I was happy to see that my view of the world has been shared by some of the great ones. However, my skill level in no way approaches his work.

Lloyd Lehn

Picasso drawings
This book of Picasso's sketches show the essence of who Picasso really was. They provide a great insight into his style and his sensuality. ... Read more

Product Description
Presents a biography of Picasso ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Great book
I bought all of the books in this series for our homeschool art curriculum.They are easy to read and a fun supplement that can lead to a nice trip to the Smithsonian Gallery of Art.

Informative and well written
I was looking for a book about Picasso to use with middle school students. It is very well written and does not use confusing big words and gives a simple analysis of Picasso's development. A good introduction to art and an inspiration piece for kids!

BRILLIANT series!
This series by Mike Venezia is BRILLIANT!! I love the way he writes - so easy to read. He includes pertinent information, lots of the artist's drawings, and cartoons that make the material fun. The books are read alones for 3rd grade+ but my 4 year old enjoys heraing me read these books. What a fantastic way to introduce artists to young kids when they are still so interested and unbiased! I as an adult learned things too. We own various from this wonderful series!!

Picasso Rocks
This author's approach makes artists interesting for ages 8-80.A combination of comic strip style illustrations and copies of the artists work is entertaining and informative.This book makes cubism comprehensible.The series of books is an obvious "must" for art teachers (3rd-12th gr) but kids will enjoy it as part of a classroom library or in a personal collection as well.If you have a kid who likes to draw but hates to read, introduce him/her to this author's series.

This book is about...
This book was about a painter.The book is non-fiction. Picasso was in his teens when he started painting.He painted lots of famous pictures.One of his paintings was 12 feet high and 25 feet wide.He painted it because he was mad about people dying in the civil war in Spain.He likes to move noses and body parts around in his paintings.I liked learning about Picasso. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

not for babies
I thought these would be fun to take to some nieces/nephews and get them familiar with artists names via stickers. The Kandinsky ones were good.. but Picasso, not so much. If you are at all concerned about possibly objectionable paintings for little children.. don't get these. However, if there are no chldren involved.. have at it. I think they are pretty cool, and the picture resolution is good. No distortions, etc..

Too Cute
I adore these Fine Art Stickers, they are wonderful just to collect or to place at the end of a letter to decorate. But best of all they are perfectly priced so that when my purchase is just under twenty-five dollars I can add one and recieve free shipping. ... Read more

Product Description
The first 100 years of modern art witnessed the popularization of photography and an increasing emphasis on abstraction in painting, which threatened the survival of portraiture as a genre. It continued to flourish, however, because modern painters--Picasso foremost among them--sought and found new ways to portray the human face. The hundreds of works reproduced here illustrate the multiple solutions Picasso invented to solve the "problem" of the modernist portrait. Illustrations, 230 in color. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Masterpiece of Art Literature
It is very seldom that a great artbook on a master of painting comes along, so many books are just a repetition of a general survey of the artist's best works with a little biography to go along with the images, this book is the exception! This book is so comprehensive and detailed that it compares to some of the greatest artbook ever published such as John Rewald's, History of Impressionism. If you are a serious student of Picasso and the visual arts you should buy this while it is still available. The book being a museum published book slip under the radar (publicity) that a lesser book of a high profile publisher would have received.

You might also buy the book, Picasso, The Early Years, as a companion piece, it covers his Blue and Rose periods extensively.

Is every portrait a self-portrait?
This book is the catalogue for a landmark exhibition held at MOMA in NYC and at the Grand Palais in Paris in 1996-1997. As such, it has become a collector's piece since such a large-scale gathering of portraits by Picasso is unlikely to take place again in the near future. The book benefits from brilliant contributions by two legendary museum curators, William Rubin (himself a friend of Picasso's, who reflects on the meaning of portraiture in his art) and Kirk Varnedoe (who writes on the artist's many self-portraits). These two essays are followed by a chronological study of Picasso's portraits, each period being defined by the presence of a new mistress at the side of the master (Olga Khokhlova, Dora Maar, Marie-Thérèse Walter, Françoise Gilot, Jacqueline Roque), with texts written by famous experts (Robert Rosenblum, Pierre Daix...). Lavish illustrations (a few in black and white, but most of them in color) accompany each text and make this publication the definitive bible on the subject and an indispensable item in the already well furnished literature on Picasso.

One Picasso Exhibition Too Many? NOT!!!
While some art buffs may find it hard to believe that anything new could be said about the unquestionably great and unquestionably over-publicized Pablo Picasso, this Museum of Modern Art catalogue actually manages tore-invigorate the discussion of an artist whom some might say the MOMA(having held four colossal exhibitions on Picasso within 15 years) shouldstop shoving down the public's throat.While the paintings are, for themost part, quite familiar to Picasso enthusiasts (with some deliciousexceptions), the catalogue contains several excellent essays which approachthe works of art from a personal, rather than art-historical perspective. Picasso's relationships with his various women, and the effect eachwife/mistress had on his vision of reality, are thoughtfully and, for themost part, intelligently explored, despite some occasional descents intoblatant "National Enquirer"-type celebrity gossip on the part ofthese supposedly "scientific" critics.Fortunately, Picasso'sart stands above the possibly-too intimate concerns of the authors (acareful perusal of the gossip-filled footnotes will amuse you for hours). Page after page of excellent reproductions stun, startle, amuse and amazethe beholder through their sheer perversity.Nearly 30 years afterPicasso's death, his art still shocks and challenges the public.Mypersonal favorites are the paintings of the sad and sensual Dora Maar,which are unmatched anywhere in Picasso's oeuvre for sheer, brutal power. Their distortions haunt the mind, although the joyous and oftensemi-pornographic pictures of the teenage mistress, Marie-Therese, possessan equal charge.This book is a definite must in any art library. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Pablo Picasso influenced and dominated the art of the 20th century like no other artist.The pictorial quality of the Spaniard's fascinating posters is one of the artist's facets that is frequently overlooked.Lively, direct, and playful, all of the posters that Picasso created are depicted in this catalogue raisonne. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An excellent volume
This small book, a collection of all the posters Picasso ever produced, is a fascinating addition to any art lovers library.Picasso's embrace of the poster, which is the modern precursor of mass advertisement, seems tocement his place as one of the most important artistic figures of thiscentury.Page after page reveals Picasso's sensitivity and creativity eventowards subjects as seemingly mundane as pottery fairs.His peace postersare unrivalled in their simplicity, yet they manage to convey both theimportance and the fragility inherent in any call to peace.I thoroughlyenjoyed this book, and am confident any art appreciator will too. ... Read more

Product Description
Packed with juicy gossip and lurid sexual details, this is the explosive bestselling biography of one of the greatest artistic geniuses of our time. This controversial expose reveals in shocking detail the torments and passions of a man in love with life and art. Picasso has already spent 10 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and is a BOMC featured selection. Includes 32 rare personal photos. HC: Simon & Schuster. (Nonfiction) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Picasso:Creator and Destroyer
There is only one of Picasso's works of art that I have ever liked.In the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, there is a charcoal on paper of a human foot that was ready to leap from the wall.Having seen that, I was so excited to see the other works in that museum, only to be disappointed. Of all the works that I have seen, that foot is it.I wanted to understand why he is considered one of the most influential artists of the 20th Century, so I read several books, including this biography by Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington.I learned that Picasso was an unhappy, manipulative, cruel, lying, unfaithful, cheap man who lead a circus of a life.His life was his work of art.Kudos to Franciose Gilot for making her own life and fighting for the rights of her children.I found this book informative and useful.

Bias but delicious
This book gives the wider vision of Picasso to people who don't know him more than the cubiclism painting.
The author loves and hates him in the same time, this idea can pass through the readers. I'm not considering it's totally bias opinion but I guess if you did interview everybody around Picasso, you might write the same book as Arianna.

Very interesting book and I'm not disappointed by it.

Picasso- Creator and Destroyer
Fine reading;the best biographical work on Picasso. Fair review of his multi-facetted life and personality. A portraitwritten with great psychological depth, flair, knowledge of the arts and fascinating insights and comments from those who knew him.
Ariana Stassinopoulos' balancedstory of both his weaknesses and strengths is a ''must read''.

Bad Man Great Artist?
"Picasso" by Arianna Huffington is a very thorough book that can probably be skipped, except possibly by those with an intense interest in Picasso's personal life. For the rest of us it is sufficient to know that Picasso had no friends or family, just groupies (many of whom were family) throughout his life, and, to a person, he treated them despicably. For example, he usually had several women at a time who each worshiped him. He would play them off against each other, often openly and in public, seemingly in an attempt to provoke jealous rage, murder, depression, or suicide (he succeeded grandly at all except for murder, but his best friend took care of that one for him). He found ways to treat the male groupies with equal misery. But, soap operas should last thirty minutes at most. This book goes relentlessly on and on for 500 pages determined to prove that Picasso did not take one decent breath in his whole entire long life.At a certain point the reader begins to wonder that "thou dost protest too much."So then how did he come to be hailed as the genius of the 20th Century; as the man who showed us what our world really was or at least what it really looked like? The answer to this question is somewhat complex. The easiest part of it is that he was like a human camera. He could paint exactly what he saw as if he were a camera, and, he could paint any impression of what he saw, better than any human being alive. He was half way home on that talent alone, meaningless though it may have been. After all, if you can throw a ball better than anyone you are halfway home too. But Picasso's subject was, seemingly, important; one that intellectuals were interested in. Hence if he could capture their imaginations and somehow add their imprimatur to his painting talent the world would be at his feet, where he always felt it belonged.
Picasso hung out in Paris with many of the world's leading intellectuals. He even wrote a play called "Desire Caught By the Tail" directed by Albert Camus in which Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir acted. The play was about 10 pages long and nothing more than a series of bizarre scenes similar to what might have appeared in his painting. When Picasso commented about literature he said "it seems many writers want to be painters" apparently not knowing that the descriptions of visual objects in literature are often mere back drops for the infinitely larger conceptual themes with which language artists deal. He really didn't seem to understand that there was more in the world than pictures. His friend Sartre, a legitimate genius, set the record straight about the essential triviality of pictures in "What is Literature" when he said, "even when Picasso attempted to approach the real world with "Guernica" does anyone think he changed even a single mind with that painting"? And this was before the visual world was forever trivialized by, affordable travel, cameras, video cameras, TV, and film. We don't need a great painter anymore to create "The Last Supper" and by his choices tell us about the true nature of Jesus.
It did turn out though that the tyrannical and confused little painter did have something in common with the leading existentialist avant guard intellectuals of his day, namely, they all wanted us to see the world differently. The intellectuals because the world of physics had correctly foreshadowed today's confused world of string theory and because philosophy had foreshadowed the concomitant shift from the certain, well defined world of God to the confused existential world of man. Picasso too wanted us to see the world differently not because he was a physicist or philosopher but because 1) he was so hopelessly neurotic that he did see the world differently as any sick person does and 2) he realized he had to paint differently to develop a reputation as a different and great painter. The intellectuals were happy to use Picasso because his technically ingenious but neurotically confusing paintings did help loosen our grip on old realities. Picasso in turn was happy to use their imprimatur of change to normalize his neurosis and to falsely give philosophical meaning to his immense skill at meaningless painting. That he encouraged us toward misogyny and/or other of his gruel narcissistic indulgences did not matter; it was change, and that was what the intellectuals wanted most. The public really had no idea what was going on as Picasso's legend grew and grew to newer and newer heights of irrationality. Today, Picasso's reputation seems mostly in the hands of art owners, museums, and curators all of whom profit in Picasso's on going and growing legend. This summer's hugely successful Picasso/Matisse exhibit at MOMA , for example, drew 100s of thousands of adoring fans. Curators raved at the point, counter point genius of the two artists; everyone made money, had fun, and wished they too could free their troubled souls and enlighten the world by creating great art, but not a word was ever said about the emperor having no clothes.
Norman Mailer, who was taken seriously as the greatest living writer and thinker, is a great fan of Picasso and has written adoringly and extensively about him; so perhaps his view is worth comparing to Huffington's? He and Picasso had things in common: both were diminutive technical genius who gained public adoration and hugely deformed egos at a very early age. Mailer stabbed one of his early wives and clearly behaved a lot like Picasso, and perhaps for many of the same reasons, although he matured as he aged whereas Picasso did not. His portrait of Picasso as a young man tends to be purely forgiving. The idea that internal struggle, suffering, depression, angst, turmoil, and general soap opera leads to great, honest, revolutionary art apparently still lives in Mailer's soul. After all, what can an artist create if not the manifestation of tremendous inner turmoil and growth?
Mailer forgives Picasso for everything because it was all to produce "great art." Sadly, the idea that the traditional, formulaic, hypocritical, country club Republican mentality would be replaced by the existential soap opera playing out in the communist souls of Picasso, Mailer, and French intellectuals seems more a joke today than anything else. So in the end, Huffington is quite right about Picasso, although she doesn't address the meaning of Picasso's art at all, except in so far as she ruthlessly cuts his foundation away.

biased
this book is totally Anti-Picasso, she hardly touches his Art her only concern is ripping him apart. ... Read more

Product Description
Picasso has often been called the greatest artist of this century. This biography defines his greatness: his accomplishment and versatility as a painter, sculptor, graphic artist, ceramicist, and designer. Most of the innovations in twentieth century art are associated not only with his work but with the legend he built of himself as the quintessential modern artist. Rollyson, an experienced biographer who has taught Picasso in college classrooms, explores the artist?s early years in Spain, the treatment of women in his art and his life, and the influence of contemporary French writers on his experimentation with a number of different styles . Picasso?s greatest works of art, such as ?Les Demoiselles D?Avignon? and ?Guernica? become focal points of this biography, establishing the artist?s central place in international culture. Rollyson concludes with an assessment of Picasso's importance and the qualities of his best work that are likely to continue to influence artists in the future. With a detailed timeline, annotated bibliography, videography, glossary, and listing of important websites, this biography is the place to start for an introduction to Picasso?s life and work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Good Pictures
Good book for the price. A little over the top in terms of praising Picasso. Good quality images.

Excellent condition and very speedy delivery!
First, I was amazed and delighted to receive my order so quickly (in 2 days!)! Both books are in excellent condition as per the description on-line. I am very satisfied to have paid such a reasonable price for two fantastic books, filled with good quality photos of Picasso's artwork and interesting text and comments about his life. I definitely trust the Amazon team comments and recommendations for their "Used" books section!

Excellent little reference book
I bought this book to research Picasso and his artwork.It gave me so much information, not only about his artwork, but also about the genius behind the artwork, and his influences. There are sections of Picasso's drawings, graphic art, and scultures, which I never knew much about. The book contains a timeline of Picasso's life and all the major events that influenced his art and techniques. This is an interesting book with many sketches, scuptures, and 56 color images of Picasso's work. Although there are many pictures, I felt that some key pieces were left out of the book. Other than that, I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to know interesting facts behind the genius of the century.

Excellent value

(A review of the papeback editon)

The two volume book is arranged in seventeen chapters concluding with a considerable Chronology illustrated with numerous black and white pictures, mostly photographs with many of the artist, Notes, a Bibliography which includes exhibition catalogues, and a rather brief (one page) Index of Names.

The opening Chapter reminds us of the stature of the man, and of his prodigious output; briefly summarising his career. The subsequent Chapters chronicle Picasso's progress starting with his childhood efforts, through the Blue and Rose Periods, Cubism, "Guernica" to mention just a few and concluding with "The Legend of the Artist". It is intelligently written, accessible and makes very interesting reading. The illustrations run with the text and are usually within a page or two of the relevant reference.

Produced in two paperback volumes in a cardboard slipcase Taschen's 25 anniversary edition is an impressive effort. It is superbly illustrated throughout with approaching 1,500 images mainly in colour but with a few back and white (usually drawings or photographs). The smallest pictures are just thumbnails, the largest full page and the occasional double page spread, with every size between; but there are plenty of good sized pictures with whole sections of colour plates, it certainly makes an impressive array. Overall the pictures far outweigh the text.

At such good value for money it is hard to be critical of this two volume set, but I fear I have two concerns. Firstly the Index seems wholly inadequate, an Index of Names which amounts to one page; finding a particular painting or anything else might prove difficult. Secondly, while the two volumes come protected in a slipcase, the card covers (paperback edition) to the individual volumes feel very slight; with each approaching 400 pages one feels one has to handle them with great care for fear of damaging the binding. It is however a very worthwhile set, one would be hard pressed to find so many reproductions of Picasso's work elsewhere for the money, and would not hesitate to recommend it.

For young Picasso's too
This is a very nice introduction to the works of Picasso. In the early nineties this book was a gift to one of my sons who was a mere child then. It is quite appropriate for young readers as there are many pictures . The parent or teacher can cultivate or nourish a young persons interest in art with these nice reproductions. The early period of Picasso's works, most notably his Cubist period seems to particularly intrigue young artists as they seem to relate to the "disfigured" human anotomy etc. In the case of my son he liked these pictures very much and as a result has a pretty good eye and hand for art that translates into interesting drawings and graphic arts. I believe this is in part a result of his early exposure to this Picasso book. Although the text is ackward at times it can be modified or paraphrased for youngsters. This is good stuff for the budding Picasso in your household and of course the price is right. ... Read more

Product Description
"The best biography of Picasso."—Kenneth ClarkPatrick O'Brian's outstanding biography of Picasso is here available in paperback for the first time. It is the most comprehensive yet written, and the only biography fully to appreciate the distinctly Mediterranean origins of Picasso's character and art.

Everything about Picasso, except his physical stature, was on an enormous scale. No painter of the first rank has been so awe-inspiringly productive. No painter of any rank has made so much money. A few painters have rivaled his life span of ninety years, but none has attracted so avid, so insatiable, a public interest.

Patrick O'Brian knew Picasso sufficiently well to have a strong sense of his personality. The man that emerges from this scholarly, passionate, and brilliantly written biography is one of many contradictions: hard and tender, mean and generous, affectionate and cold, private despite the relish of his fame. In his later years he professed communism, yet in O'Brian's view retained to the end of his life a residual Catholic outlook.

Not that such matters were allowed to interfere with his vigorous sensuality. Sex and money, eating and drinking, friends and quarrels, comedies and tragedies, suicides and wars tumble one another in the vast chaos of his experience. he was "a man almost as lonely as the sun, but one who glowed with much the same fierce, burning life." It is with that impression of its subject that this book leaves its readers.
. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

I doubt even Picasso would have enjoyed this book.
I purchased this book as a text book for a class on Psychology of Art History.I only read the first 70 pages and was completely turned off by the author's blind worship of Picasso.(Not to mention his laborious style and paragraph-long sentences with too much needless information.)It is literally the worst book I've ever read in my life.Picasso must surely be one of the most interesting characters in the history of art, but this books is mind-numbingly boring.There is a whole chapter about the weather where Picasso lived as a boy, but only one sentence on how he lost his virginity.

Accomplished, readable and very worthwhile
Patrick O'Brian was not an art historian or a professional biographer. He was an accomplished writer with a wide range of interests and knowledge. He is, of course, the author of the celebrated Aubrey/Maturin nautical novels ("The best historical novels ever written" - New York Times), but was much more than that. Among other things, he was the first to translate Simone de Beauvoir's works into English, and was the author of a fine biography of the English scientific luminary Joseph Banks. He was also a close friend of Picasso's.

O'Brian's familiarity with Picasso, his wide range of interests and knowledge, and his attention to historical context and detail is a recipe for a wide-ranging and very personal account of the artist. It attends carefully to the material and geographical circumstances of Picasso's origins and life; it is filled with real truth about the artist and how his life and history are reflected in his art. It is not a treatise on Picasso's contribution to 20th century painting, but is nonetheless a wonderfully written and engaging perspective on the man and his work. Highly recommended.

A note: Amazon lists several versions of this title. Most of them are imports that will take 1 to 4 months for delivery, and the more current one from Norton doesn't show up in a search on Picasso and O'Brian. Do a search on ISBN 0393311074, listing just the number, to get the most current edition.

Amazingly literate biography
I have read two other books about Picasso ("Picasso's Women" and "Picasso's War".This give a much more-rounded (and affectionate) view of the great man, and also gives much insight into his work and the critical reception of it.Highly recommended.

A pleasant read without much effort.
After having read many books about Picasso. It was a pleasure to enjoy the author's prose. The subject was a keen interest of Mr.O'Brian's as were his other bio. clients who form a wide range of characters. It is apparent that it is the writing rather than exacting erudition which is the author's trademark.

The opening of the book which describes Malaga and its history is fascinating and sets the stage for Picasso's development. One can easily understand Picasso absorbing this rich culture.

On comparison with Richardson this volume comes off rather poorly and subscribes to some well known anecdotes which are now known to be false. One such incident was when Picasso's father is supposed to have given up painting altogether after seeing how good his son was. Picasso was fourteen or fifteen at the time yet there exist paintings of pigeons signed by Don Ruiz up until his death.

The narrative follows Picasso from Spain to France and rightly emphasises the entire cubist episode. The usual list of early characters are present, e.g. Max Jacob, Guillaume Apollinaire, Fernande Olivier, etc.

What struck me as the best of this book was the author's willingness to describe Picasso's terrible behaviour, especially in his latter years when he would ignore or reject official plaudits. His treatment of women including the terrible initiation of Jacqueline Roque is not spared and yet it is not written with malice but with an understanding that it was all the sycophants and their scraping that only served to isolate Picasso even further.

Nevertheless, when Picasso was faced with an equal (Matisse or Braque) or someone even older than himself whom he may have known as a youngster (Pallares)he was a gracious and tactful host.

This is not the best biography of Picasso (that honour belong's to John Richardson) but it is perfectly readable and does contain some insights that are unique.

A fascinatingand well-written portrait
It is a pleasure to find a work of non-fiction in which the writing flows smoothly across the page, and in which a rich portrait of the subjectemerges without recourse to over-wrought speculation. This sympathetic, yetdetailed account of Picasso is both fun to read for its own sake, andfascinating for the sake of its subject. A very readable biography. ... Read more

Product Description
As he magnificently combines meticulous scholarship with irresistible narrative appeal, Richardson draws on his close friendship with Picasso, his own diaries, the collaboration of Picasso's widow Jacqueline, and unprecedented access to Picasso's studio and papers to arrive at a profound understanding of the artist and his work. 800 photos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A Study in Greatness
This first part to three part series Mr. Richardson has written on Picasso is a preview of the greatness of the volumes to come. Mr. Richardson has a flair for bringing to life the times and events that led to the greatest revolution in the art world that has yet to be matched to this day. Mr. Richardson's prose is very well written and brings to life the world at that time, (1881-1906). The book ends just at the eve of 1907 and Picasso standing at the brink of revolutionizing the whole of the entire Western Art world. The research is exhaustive and very well documented. The author shatters many myths and inaccuracies previously put forth by the artist, (Mr. Richardson was a personal friend and confidant), and previous biographers. What emerges is a very detailed analysis of this great artist and the events and links that led to what we call art today. If I have one negative criticism of Mr. Richardson's writing is that he, at times, will lapse into a phrase in either French or German that is not translated for the reader. However, in today's world this is a small issue with translators on the internet easily available. And to be fair, the instances of such are not the norm, but the exception. I highly recommend this and the two following books which I own. I, for one, eagerly await the fourth and perhaps final volume in the series. If you like Picasso, or you're just a student of art, do yourself a favor and buy this book.

The definitive Picasso biography
The first volume of John Richardson's monumental Life of Picasso (so far, three volumes have been published), this book is a thoroughly documented and elegantly written account of Picasso's early years in Malaga, Barcelona and Paris (up to 1907 and the inception of his masterpiece "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon"). Following a strictly chronological pattern, the text is accompanied by numerous illustrations (all in black and white) of every single work quoted by the author (whether or not by Picasso; there are even small portraits by Picasso's mistress Fernande Olivier, who appears to have been more than a merely talented artist). A must-read and an unsurpassed biography of the Spanish master, as Richardson (himself a friend of Picasso's) had first-hand access to a trove of unpublished documents and a privileged relationship with Picasso's heirs.

A Fan Explains His Hero
Where does genius come from? What are the motives? What are the stars that guide?

Picasso was arguably the most original and influential artist of the 20th century. In volume one of four planned volumes (three of which have been produced to date), John Richardson collaborates with Marilyn McCully to establish the detailed record of how Picasso developed as a man and an artist through the early Rose period. The book is made richer by Richardson's friendship with the artist and his access to Picasso's memories of key events. But he doesn't slavishly accept Picasso's version (except in damning Matisse as inferior to Picasso) but rather checks out the different versions and picks what seems to make the most sense.

Picasso's fanatic desire to succeed was fueled in part by his contempt for his father's failed career as an artist and his father's views that Picasso should follow in his footsteps. Picasso also needed to be treated as special, more than most of us. Groveling before exploitive dealers built a lifelong passion to be in charge. Picasso also knew that Paris was where he had to shine and suffered greatly to make his success there. His struggles will impress you.

Where the book is unequaled in my experience is in tracking down the sources of Picasso's images, gestures, styles, and innovations. The book is filled with black and white images from the works of other artists, Picasso's notebooks, photographs of the scenes and subjects, and related works that Picasso did. From these, you get a better sense of Picasso as a synthesizer of styles and modes.

In closely examining Picasso's work from these years, it's easy to develop superficial impressions of what sort of man did those paintings. For instance, the paintings of women show someone who feels compelled to alternately adore and dominate women . . . especially sexually. Learning later that he locked his mistress into the studio even on the hottest days when he left adds to that impression.

The book provides other powerful insights of this sort by relating the heavy use of opium by Picasso and his circle of artist friends during the Blue period. A lot of the models seem stoned in those paintings. Could it be that they were? Picasso loved to paint the circus performers and one of his first mistresses was one. Could it be that those performers are really emotional self-portraits? The book isn't clear on that point, but the possibility of the interpretation will occur to you.

A few central mysteries are left undeveloped. Why did Picasso stick so long with styles that he later abandoned and which didn't sell well when he was very poor? Picasso admitted to Richardson that the Blue and Rose periods had been mistakes. Why did Picasso slow down his production at times when he had contracts and shows upcoming? How did Picasso incorporate his love for poetry into his paintings?

At times Richardson is over the top in his fawning. Here's an example. Picasso is described as clearly one of the great poets of the 20th century, but Richardson doesn't reveal any evidence . . . nor was Picasso doing any poetry writing at the time of this volume. I suspect that the fawning was the price of admission for his access which rewards us in other ways.

Ultimately, the book's main weakness is that the images are not in color. Fortunately, color is less important to Picasso's work during this period than in later periods. Perhaps there will be another edition at some point that will bring the full dimensions of the work to bear at least for the masterpieces.

Enjoy your immersion in Picasso's chaotic world.

A life of Picasso vol 1
Great work, done by a real scholar, beautifully written, as fascinating as a novel. Keeps away from myths and tales, impressively documented, meticulously illustrated (too bad it is not in color).

John Richardson's Magisterial Biography of Painter-Genius Picasso begins in Malaga in 1881
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was born to a mediocre painter and his good wife Maria on October 25, 1881.His family was poor but well connected. One uncle was a priest; another a prominent medical doctor. Picasso's father was easygoing eking out a living as an art teacher. When Pablo was a boy the family moved to Barcelona where his father taught in an art school. His mother was beloved of Pablo who had her tenacity of character and eager desire to learn. His younger sister Conchita died in childhood and he was close to his remaining sister throughout their long lives.
Pablo loved to paint from birth! He did not like formal schooling. He did attend the art school in Madrid but grew bored and left. As a teen he was wild and enjoyed chasing girls and hanging around with his bohemian chums.In these early years Pablo developed his routine throughout life: hard work, lots of sex (often in brothels!and smoking. Picasso drank very little and never had an alcohol problem.
As a young man he made three trips to Paris finally staying for good in the City of Lights on his fourth trip. He became friendly with several artists and writers most notablly the poet Apollinaire. His first true love was Olive Ferdinand a fetching Parisian who was also a minor painter.
Picasso had countless mistresses.
During these early years he went through his "Blue Period" in which he portrayed tragic and erotic figures in gloomy and sad modes. He later entered the "Rose Period" of colorful harlequins, clowns and street folks. He also enjoyed sculpture. His work began to sell.
Instrumental in his success were the dealers he relied upon to majrkethis avant garde art. Among the influential people who bought his paintings were the American expatriots Leo and Gertrude Stein. Picasso was popular with Russian buyers. He preferred private sales rather than exhibiting his art alongside other salon artists. It was during these years he produced such masterpieces as "La Vie" "Old Man with a Guitar" and several works portraying androgynous bathers. As the book ends he is on the verge of moving into cubism along with fellow painter Braque.
Richardson does a good job of keeping his text balanced between sapient art assessments and Picasso's personal life. The crammed text is filled with such characters as the Steins, Matisse and the fetching Olive
Ferdinand. We see how Picasso was influenced by such masters from the past as: Ingres, Cezanne, Velasquez and El Greco. Richardson is insistent that we see Picasso as a Spanish artist heavily influenced by his Andalusian roots and the luminaries of Spanish art.
The book is well illustrated with hundreds of black and white photos of Picasso's works and snapshots taken of Picasso and friends. Richardson knew Picasso in his old age and is a brilliant critic of his work.
What kind of man was Picasso? He once told an interviewer "Truth is false!" In other words he was a paradox. He could be kind or cruel. He could abuse lovers forcing them into unnatural sex acts or he could be a gentle lover. He loved and hated Spain. He was apolitical at this early juncture of his career. Picasso hated pretense and liked common people.
He is complex and unique in art history as a protean master of many different types of art. This is the best biography ever written of Picasso and is the first of the four volumes to be published on a 2oth century art icon. Essential. ... Read more

Product Description
"Picasso's most memorable etchings...an extremely important as well as moving group of pictures." —Art Review

"As a graphic artist, Picasso never rose to greater heights...Picasso at his most classical, his most personal, most touching."—Sunday Telegraph

The 100 superb etchings made by Picasso between 1930 and 1937 for the great art critic and dealer Ambroise Vollard, who commissioned and published them, have long been recognized as one of the supreme productions of the master's hand. Arising from Picasso's artistic caprice, from his working experience, or from the very depths of his unconscious, these plates show, more than any of his other works, a man at once inspired by and prey to his dazzling imagination and the demands of his inner demon. 100 illustrations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The only way to document the series is with the help of this book
The 100 superb etchings made by Picasso between 1930 and 1937 for the great art critic and dealer Ambroise Vollard, who commissioned and published them, have long been recognized as one of the supreme Picasso's production.They were made in series of fifty.Much recently, the series was reprinted in series of five-hundred and much larger in dimension. ... Read more

Product Description
In 1944 Picasso joined the French Communist Party, and he remained a loyal member to the end of his long life. This book examines for the first time Picasso's puzzling political commitment to a repressive organization that maintained an authoritarian hold on its artistic community. Gertje R. Utley offers new insights into the impact communism had on the artist's life and on his artistic production. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Hostile account of great artist and communist
This beautifully-illustrated book studies Pablo Picasso's artistic and political work after he joined the French Communist Party in 1944. `An illustrious son of democratic Spain', he opposed Franco, aided the resistance in Paris and championed France's post-war cultural renaissance.

Utley details Picasso's creative efforts and depicts the care and constant reworking with which he conceived, executed and reproduced his designs in different media, whether murals, paintings, sculptures, posters, postcards, prints, brooches, key chains or pottery. She disposes of the well-travelled lie that Picasso admitted that his work was all a blague, a trick played on the public. In fact, as she shows, the alleged conversation was drawn from Il Libro Nero, a collection of fictitious interviews written by Giovanni Papini.

Utley shows how `a strategy elaborated at the highest levels of the American government' presented the art of the New York School as a living manifestation of democracy as opposed to communism. The US state promoted Abstract Expressionism, to make New York supersede Paris as the capital of Western art. It promoted the notion of the Nietzschean artist, the individualistic, introspective genius in his ivory tower, free from all social and political concerns, casting Picasso as the `anti-artist', compromised because committed.

Yet this is a deeply anti-communist account of a good communist. Utley sneers at what she calls the communists' `illusory goal of bridging the gap between art and the people', and at `the inadequacies of the artistic policies and aspirations of the French Communist party'. It is clearly beyond the comprehension of the author, an American academic based at New York University, that Picasso was a loyal and active Party member for the rest of his long life - which says more about the author's limits than the subject's!

Her stale caricature of `repressive Party' and `servile member' fails completely to explain how people of the calibre of Picasso and his friends Paul Robeson, Pablo Neruda, Louis Aragon and Paul Eluard could be Party members. Were they all dupes? Unlike, say, an American academic, who cannot imagine how anyone cannot trust the US state?

Picasso's Role in The Communist Betrayal of Liberalism
As a working politician over the past sixty years in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, I experienced first-hand the sinister and underhanded role of Communists as putative allies and ultimate enemies.From the American Student Union in the 30's ("The Yanks are not Coming!) to the subversion of the McGovern campaign in 1972, American Communists, as disciplined and treacherous as their counterparts in Russia, sought violent Revolution as their doctrinaire goal under cover of a liberal "alliance" both here and more importantly in the unstable Fourth Republic. Gertje Utley's book, "Picasso, The Communist Years" shows bit by closely honed and researched bit, how Picasso lent his name and prestige to this debilitating process in France.With neither the background nor the political intellect to comprehend the logical consequences of his support for a repressive and hypocritical dictatorship, Picasso became the willing dupe of his Communist masters draining support for liberal political leaders and causes in France and elsewhere during the critical years of Communist dominance over the peoples of Eastern Europe.Utley connects Picasso's art and personality during this period with political views which were naive and egotistical in their origin and mischievous in their application. It is difficult to think of a greater challenge to an art historian than to attempt to describe the aberrational behavior of a great artist and the tangential effect of that behavior on his or her art.Utley's book is a readable and fascinating description of the macabre process by which Picasso was drawn into a realpolitik which aimed to destroy the very basis of his own artistic liberty. ... Read more

Product Description
In Picasso's War, Russell Martin weaves politics, history, art, and science into a stirring narrative of the monumental canvas that was to become the most important artwork of the 20th century.Pablo Picasso, enraged by Hitler's bombing of Guernica in Northern Spain on April 26, 1937, responded to the devastation in his homeland by beginning work on Guernica. In Picasso's War, Martin follows Guernica, the renowned masterwork, across decades and continents, crafting an engrossing story of a its impassioned creation and the struggle to find hope in the face of unspeakable acts of terror. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

A Bit Off
One correction and one observation.

The description of the corrida sequence was just plain wrong. Los toros do not enter the ring through the toril with the banderias already in place. That occurs after the Picadors have their action.

Also, it is a bit ironic that no where in the book do you find any of the pre-works and other photos with the exception of the cover and opening page. With all the references to people, places and things one would expect at least some illustrations. Apparently done on a tight budget.

Padre Thyglow

This Book Is Not Good
I regret having to give this even one star.The author has thrown up a bolshevik screed that is ignorant of history.His knowledge of the Spanish Civil War seems to be entirely the product of communist propaganda; he even repeats hackneyed lies that Moscow gave up on decades ago!Even worse than the author's political bias and historical shortcomings is his terrible grammar.The author should have written a simple art review for a European, socialist-type magazine and called it quits.HOW did this over-expanded piece ever get published as a book?

Has this author never heard of a split infinitive?
I'm midway through 'Picasso's War' and so far I'm really enjoying its content. It's a well-rounded account not only of Picasso's famous artwork, but of the history and social context and Picasso's life and personal situation at the time. However, I have one huge criticism, which is that this book is full of grammatical errors - namely split infinitives on just about every page. I don't expect every author who has something interesting to say to have a perfect grasp of grammar, but surely that's what an editor is for? The lack of good editing in this text has quite spoiled the experience of reading it for me. I read very widely and I can honestly say that I've never read such a poorly edited book in all my life. Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster or whoever you are, you've done a very poor job.

Great Book for a Light Read On Picasso
The book as a whole was rather well written, and, if someone asked me for a good nonfiction book about Picasso, there is a good chance that I would point them to this book. The book had good descriptions throughout, it was written for so that people who had very little understanding previously could understand what was going on, and the book was written so that it didn't have to be read all in one sitting. So, while I probably wouldn't pass it onto others, I feel that it was a good experience to read it.

Good discussion - Visuals lacking
Picasso's War untangles much of the criticism of the artist during WWII for remaining in France. It is an excellent discussion of Guernica--the paintings beginning as rough sketches to the final product.The tragedy at Gernica is discribed vividly, putting the reader at the scene.Martin's take on Picasso is balanced--his outstanding talent and chauvenism toward his many women are discussed.My criticism of the book lies with the total lack of illustrations.As an artist I wanted to see pictures of the initial sketches, the painting in process and a good reproduction of Guernica, not just what was on the cover.The lack of illustrations makes the book much less effective for a visual person, artist or art historian. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Picasso's private world
David Duncan was the first photographer allowed full access to Picasso, including documenting the artist at work, as well as at play. Still youthful at 75, the "maestro" appears in both text and image. The format is interesting: several pages of text describing the author's observations of the artist, the art, his home, his habits and the other people who are admitted to this intimate circle, are followed by the photos that bring the words alive. Picasso's wife Jacqueline, his daughter Paloma, his dog and several friends including a visit from Gary Cooper fill these wonderful pages.Then several more pages of text followed by many images; like an illustrated diary or journal. It feels intimate, yet not intrusive. ... Read more