Picasso (25 Spring)

July 1, 2008 | By Doug In picasso |

Picasso (25 Spring)
Customer Review: Excellent value
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 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.

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If you had to choose just one book about Pablo Picasso, the most protean artist of the 20th century, what would you look for? Copious, good-quality reproductions; an authoritative account of the way his approach to painting was influenced by his personality, the women in his life and his contemporaneousness with other notables; an in-depth treatment of key works–like Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (his self-proclaimed “first exorcism painting”)–and recurrent themes, like the Minotaur. Then there’s the question of tone. Some books cast Picasso as a demigod or a destroyer. Others, like art historian John Richardson’s A Life of Picasso, offer a more responsible, psychologically penetrating portrait of the artist.

Hefty, elegant, and inclusive, The Ultimate Picasso hits most of these marks. It boasts more than 1,200 reproductions spanning the artist’s entire career. Smoothly translated from the French, the it weaves biographical detail and discussions of the art into a concise narrative. Visual sources are all confidently accounted for. Yet the text does seem rather skimpy. The 16-page section on Guernica, for example, has barely two pages of actual discussion. The authors maintain their extremely tight focus on their artist, which is admirable. But in their concentration, they seem to compulsively refrain, perhaps by default, from acknowledging the external world as anything but resource or dalliance for their subject.

The authors’ hyperbolic view of their subject–”Picasso did not paint nature, but the suffering of the men and women of his time, creating from it beauty and truth”–and the lack of any real psychological insight about, for instance, the continual hazard Picasso poses to the female form, may be considered a flaw. But in this old-fashioned portrait of the male artist as genius, so certain is it of the gulf between the common and the exalted, human flaw does not exist, unless it belongs to somebody else. –Cathy Curtis
Customer Review: The Ultimate art book
This is a book “that does exactly what it says on the tin”. I particularly liked the format, which is compact and easy to handle. This is an accessible book with clear text, copiously illustrated. It contains everything you would ever want to know about Picasso and his life and art. I would highly recommend “The Ultimate Picasso”.
Customer Review: Truly the Ultimate!
This book stands out alone as a definitive reference dealing with Picasso’s working life. The text is both authoritative and comprehensive,yet gripping, in its unfolding of the thinking and creative energy that was Picasso. The greatest jewel of this wonderful work surely lies in the superb quality of the photography and printing, faithfully reproducing colour form and detail of all his major works. This book is a “must have” for people who are interested in art, but perhaps more important, in getting an insight into one of the greatest influences in the development of visual expression,thinking and communication ever.
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Full set of black carpet Citroen C4 Picasso car mats to fit all models from 2007 onwards. This set comes with two metal eyelets in the drivers front mat. The hook over the fixings in the floor panel of you car to secure the mat. The mats pictures are the exact same shape as the ones we will send you, so please check the image for fitment to your car.
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As an artist and a personality, Pablo Picasso resembled the Hindu god Shiva, “the destroyer of worlds,” intent on outraging orthodoxy and defying tradition whenever possible. So it’s ironic and even amusing to watch as “Surviving Picasso” turns his Continue

Picasso: A Biography