Pablo Picasso

"This volume - the first reference book devoted to the surrealist work of the artist - analyses Picasso's creative activity during and alongside the surrealist movement. Thematic texts reveal the extraordinary wealth of Picasso's oeuvre during this time, and a dictionary of poetic imagery explores the various possibilities of meaning in his writing. Finally, a detailed chronology places this crucial period within its intellectual and historical context."--BOOK JACKET.

"Between spring and winter 1909, Picasso executed more than sixty portraits of his companion, Fernande Olivier. In their tenacious pursuit of a single subject, these works reveal a level of experimentation that stands out in the history of portraiture. Even more significant, the Fernande series coincided with the invention of cubism. Published to accompany a major exhibition originating at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, this richly illustrated volume illuminates Picasso's radical reformulation of human physiognomy." "Containing eighty-two color illustrations and sixty-eight duo-tones, the catalogue explores the Fernande portraits and related works as a single oeuvre culminating in the magnificent Head of a Woman (Fernande) - one of Picasso's rare pre-1912 excursions into sculpture. By so doing, it allows us to examine Picasso's process in an unprecedented fashion. What emerges is a new picture of the artist developing a single portrait motif with obsessive repetition and struggling to resolve artistic problems during a time of crisis in his work. Also included are studio photographs that offer further insight into the conceptual nature of the artist's process. The next narrates the internal development of the Fernande portrait series, with particular emphasis on the sculpted Head, and relates it to other themes, including likeness, serial repetition, and the history of melancholy. The book also addresses the complex nature of Picasso's interest in the work of Paul Cezanne."--Jacket.

Pablo Picasso was the most innovative graphic artist of this century. With his highly original printmaking techniques and unorthodox, nonlinear approach to style, he produced a body of work in this medium that has never been equaled. Picasso: Inside the Image focuses entirely on the graphic work, with examples from the outstanding collection of prints belonging to the German art historian Dr. Peter Ludwig. Etchings, lithographs, linocuts, engravings and aquatints from all periods of Picasso's career are illustrated in the finest detail. Many of them represent key documents in twentieth-century art: The Frugal Repast, the cubist Nude in an Armchair, Vollard Suite, and Minotauromachy among others - true masterpieces that demonstrate Picasso's imaginative and technical genius. Complementing this selection are full-color illustrations showing five rarely seen print plates.

The exhibition "Picasso, 1905-1906" has allowed an extension,albeit only a temporary one, ofthe permanent collections of the PicassoMuseum in Barcelona. It consisted infact of a compilation of the work whichcame immediately after Picasso's departurefrom Catalonia, in April 1904,at the end of his Blue Period. Throughthis exhibition, it has' been possible tosee the extent to which the artist's rootswere fixed in the Catalan art of the endof the century. At the same time, theartistic effervescence of Paris and hiscontacts with what was to become thevanguard of European culture stimulatedhim and encouraged his ceaseless,determined search for a new and originalform of painting which was to leadto a decisive change in his artistic language.

Catalog of an exhibition held at the Pace Gallery, New York, May 2-Aug. 1, 1986. Bibliography: p. 347. "Picasso considered all of his works to be entries in his diary; he excluded nothing. The sketchbooks are generic chapters inextricable from his oeuvre. In Picasso's paintings the spontaneity of gesture is deceptive since the manner is which he leaves his tracks visible superficially suggests minimal preparation. Although most of Picasso's solutions appear to be immediately worked out on the canvas, this was far from the fact. Many paintings sprang fully formed as the fulfillment of preconscious models, but very often others were the product of the process of trial solution and discovery through drawing. There are eight sketchbooks for Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, five for the saltimbanques, four for the Luncheon on the Grass series, and two for The rape of the Sabines. In sketchbook No. 171, Picasso inscribed: "La peinture est plus forte que moi elle me fait faire ce qu'elle veut" ("Painting is stronger than I am; it makes me do what it wants"). The sketchbook itself is the statement's validation."--Publisher.