Cubism

Primitivism, Cubism, Abstraction: The Early Twentieth Century (Modern Art : Practices and Debates)

Cubism A&I (Art and Ideas)

Cubism and Culture (World of Art)

Often considered to be the seminal art movement of the twentieth century, Cubism initiated a pictorial revolution through its radical approach to image making, invention of the new media of collage and sculptural assemblage, and evolution toward pure abstraction. Scholarly yet accessible, Cubism and Culture reveals these profound formal innovations as integrally related to changes in French society. The authors first examine the movement's origins in primitivism and its engagement with issues of race and colonialism, and then consider the Cubists' responses to anti-Enlightenment philosophies, the relation of Cubist art to the "classical," the role played by gender conceptually and within particular careers and practices, collage and its interplay with cultural themes, and the impact of anarchism, nationalism, and pacifism on Cubism's cultural politics. This comprehensive and fresh examination of Cubism in its wider context—social, cultural, political, scientific, and philosophical—covers the full range of art and artists from the movement's advent in 1908. 182 illustrations, 54 in color.

Among the artists included: Alexander Archipenko
• Maria Blanchard
• Georges Braque
• Robert Delaunay
• Sonia Delaunay
• André Derain
• Marcel Duchamp
• Raymond Duchamp-Villon
• Albert Gleizes
• Juan Gris
• Alice Halicka
• Roger de La Fresnaye
• Marie Laurencin
• Henri Laurens
• Henri Le Fauconnier
• Fernand Léger
• Jacques Lipchitz
• Louis Marcoussis
• Frans Masereel
• Jean Metzinger
• Francis Picabia
• Pablo Picasso

The Ultimate Picasso

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 awareness of art made by others. An in-depth treatment of key works like Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (which Picasso memorably called his "first exorcism painting") and signature themes, like the half-man, half-animal 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 balanced, psychologically penetrating portrait of the artist.

Hefty, elegant, and inclusive, The Ultimate Picasso hits most, though not all, of these marks. It offers more than 1,200 reproductions (nearly 800 in color) spanning the artist's entire career. Smoothly translated from the French, the book weaves biographical detail and discussions of the art into a concise narrative. ("Olga became pregnant in the summer of 1920, and in Picasso's work forms blossomed and flesh took on the massive quality of stone.") The three authors are all experts--Léal and Bernadac are (respectively) present and former curators of the Musée Picasso in Paris, and Piot coauthored the catalogue raisonné of Picasso's sculpture. They clearly explain visual sources, duly acknowledge leading art historians' interpretations, and choose good quotes from contemporaries. Yet the text can be surprisingly skimpy. The 16-page section on Guernica, for example, has barely two pages of discussion about the painting and its genesis. The authors keep an extremely tight focus on their subject, with only as much mention of Picasso's contemporaries or the outside world as is absolutely necessary.

The major flaws, however, are 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 psychological insight about the repeated devastation Picasso wreaks on the female form. In this old-fashioned portrait of the male artist as genius, human failings do not exist, unless they belong to somebody else. --Cathy Curtis

Of all the books on the man many consider the greatest genius of 20th-century art, this sumptuous work stands out as truly the "ultimate" Picasso. Not only does it cover in one volume all the periods of Pablo Picasso's long, incredibly versatile career-with exquisite reproductions of nearly every significant work he ever created-but the scholarship is impeccable: each of the three authors is a leading authority on a particular period of Picasso's artistic evolution.

Brigitte Léal covers Picasso's formative years from 1881 through 1916, including his invention of Cubism with Georges Braque. Christine Piot explores the astonishingly fertile period from 1917 through 1952. Marie-Laure Bernadac discusses the unabashed vigor of Picasso's later years, from 1953 until his death in 1973. Nearly 1,200 magnificent reproductions, 720 in full color, illustrate Picasso's breathtaking range of artistic expression.

Picasso once boasted that a book would have to be written on him every day to keep up with his creative surges. Perhaps. But for art lovers and students seeking just one book, The Ultimate Picasso is unsurpassed.

BRIGITTE LÉAL is a curator at the Muse Picasso in Paris.

CHRISTINE PIOT contributed to the catalogue raisonn of Picasso's sculpture.

MARIE-LAURE BERNADAC is curator of the Muse National d'Art Moderne (the Georges Pompidou Center), Paris. Previously she was curator of the Muse Picasso in Paris.

1,186 illustrations, 720 in full color, 111/2 x 12"

Picasso's 'Les demoiselles d'Avignon' (Masterpieces of Western Painting)

Long recognized as one of the most significant paintings of the twentieth century, contributors to this volume consider Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon from a variety of methodological and topical perspectives, including psychoanalytical, feminist, historical, and postcolonial. Through these various analyzes, the contributors explore the power and significance of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, situating the work within twentieth century art history and debates over Primitivism, sexuality, and stylistic change.

Long recognized as one of the most significant paintings of the twentieth century, contributors to this volume consider Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon from a variety of methodological and topical perspectives, including psychoanalytical, feminist, historical, and post-colonial. Through these various analyses, the contributors explore the power and significance of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, situating the work within twentieth century art history as a whole and debates over Primitivism, sexuality, and stylistic change.

Picasso: Style and Meaning

A ground-breaking book in Picasso scholarship in which Elizabeth Cowling presents a fresh, lucid and detailed analysis of the controversial subject of style in Picasso's work up to the outbreak of World War II. Showing how Picasso drew on the work of other artists and events in his own life and times, she reveals how Picasso consciously manipulated style to convey meaning. Well known as an authority on Picasso, the author has spent nearly ten years researching and writing this major new synthesis. Combining biography, historical background and masterful analysis into a fluent and enthralling narrative, it is full of fresh insights into Picasso's methods and motives, and destined to become the classic introduction to the study of Picasso.

Cubism (Movements in Modern Art)

Cubism, perhaps the seminal art movement of the twentieth century, is also one of the most complex. It was the product of the decade before the outbreak of war in 1914. France, during this period, was torn by intercity class and international tensions, caught between excitement over the experience of modernity and anxiety about its consequences. Analyzing paintings by Picasso, Braque, Robert and Sonia Delaunay and their associates, David Cottington describes how the artistic avant-garde, and Cubism within it, were formed by that turbulent and complex moment.

Cubism, perhaps the seminal movement for the arts of the twentieth century, was also one of the most complex. David Cottington describes how the artistic avant-garde, and Cubism within it, were formed by that turbulent and complex moment before the outbreak of the war in 1914. Analyzing paintings by Picasso, Braque, Robert and Sonia Delaunay and their associates, he traces their exploration of the convention of pictorial representation in the interest both of reflection on the experience of modernity, and of critical resistance to its seductions.

Picasso: The Real Family Story

Already published in France, Spain and Germany to wide acclaim, this book presents an insider's portrait of Pablo Picasso, the women in his life and the Picasso family. The author, Picasso's grandson Olivier Widmaier-Picasso spoke extensively with relatives, friends, and contemporaries of the artist and discovered unknown information about Picasso's life. Correcting previous portrayals of the artist which have been highly critical of his personal relationships and treatment of women, this book offers a balanced and sensitive account of his life. Olivier Widmaier-Picasso—whose grandmother was the artist's muse and lover Marie-Thérèse—answers allegations about everything from the artist's sexuality and relation to money and politics to the feuding over his estate and the author's own handling of the artist's legacy. This compassionate, penetrating biography, which includes never before published family photographs, offers a unique perspective as it explores the double-edged sword that is fame and talent.

Paul Klee: Theater Everywhere

Like many of his Bauhaus contemporaries, Paul Klee (1879-1940) was deeply influenced by theater and the stage. Throughout his life Klee attended theatrical performances, from the opera to puppet shows, with an almost fanatical zeal, and characters from plays or opera--Hamlet, Falstaff and Don Giovanni, for example--populate his enigmatic visual world. Various types of character roles and theatrical elements, like clowns and masks, were firmly established themes in his repertoire, and as last year's delightful Paul Klee: Hand Puppets showed, he also delighted in puppetry, making bizarre bricolaged puppets out of household materials to amuse his son Felix. Primarily, though, Klee understood the sympathies between theater and life, absorbing the topos of the world as a stage into his observations: People became actors or marionettes and theatrical events touched upon scenes from everyday life. This publication sheds light on all of these aspects of Klee's fascination with the arts of the stage. A chronology gives a panoramic outline of his several encounters with the theater and a selection of works by contemporary artists makes it clear that Klee was not the only artist to be fascinated with the sharp-eyed perception of theatrical scenarios--the topic is one that continues to engage artists today.

Cubism (Taschen Basic Art)

As you'll find out in this guide to the fundamentals of cubism, there is more to the genre than its most famous proponent. Cubism -- often identified by flattened, geometric shapes, overlapping, simplified forms and fragmented spatial planes -- was quite possibly the most influential movement in 20th-century art. Featured artists: Pablo Picasso, Edmond Fortier, Paul Cizanne, George Braque, Henri Le Fauconnier, Jean Metzinger, Fernand Liger, Juan Gris, Albert Gleizes, Henri Laurens, Salvador Dalm, Brassao, Robert Delaunay, Raymond Duchamp-Villon... TASCHEN's Basic Art movement and genre series: includes a detailed introduction with approximately 30 photographs, and a timeline of the most important events (political, cultural, scientific, sporting, etc.) that took place during the time period. The body of the book contains a selection of the most important works of the epoch; each is presented on a 2-page spread with a full page image and, on the facing page, a description/interpretation.