Picabia

most extensive, detailed study of picabia. huge and heavy.

A founder of the Dada movement, Francis Picabia was a maverick, an out-and-out individualist who mocked even his fellow-travelers. He participated in Surrealism but was reviled by the Surrealists. His entries in the New York Armory Show of 1913 made him a leader of the avant-garde, but even after that exhibit Americans couldn't understand his religious fantasies laced with savage humor. Picabia is less well known in the U.S. than in Europe; he is often considered more of a catalyst than a genius in his own right. This massive, definitive biography (originally published in Spain) should add luster to Picabia's reputation. His Dada pictures, which lyrically link machines, words and images, now seem precursors of conceptual art. Like Picasso, he was a chameleonturning out imitations of Monet and Pissarro, then Fauve nudes, geometric abstractions, Cubist burlesques. The 226 color plates and 927 halftones display Picabia's astonishingly fertile imagination and wit. The later works include a considerable amount of kitsch, with more misses than hits. Borras sets this prolific output in the context of the artist's circle and personal life, which she documents with some 100 photographs. December
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A highly detailed and documented study of the life and work of Francis Picabia (1879-1953). Picabia is most closely associated with dada and surrealism, but in fact his painting includes styles from impressionism, fauvism, cubism, and realist and abstract art. Each phase is well illustrated here by a selection of paintings. Painting, Picabia said, is an antidote for everything that bores you. Over 100 photographs show a handsome man living the high life among artists, writers, and bon vivants in continental Europe. Among these were Duchamp, Picasso, Andre Breton, Isadora Duncan, Gertrude Stein, and Apollinaire. This large and definitive study is for modern art libraries. Hara Seltzer, NYPL
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.