Picasso & things

Picasso's still lifes, though less dramatic than his highly charged figurative pictures, include some of his most original, daring and emotionally complex work. This lavish catalogue of a traveling exhibition combines sensitive connoisseurship and ample illustrations (393 plates, 145 in color) to document Picasso's exploration of still lifes in paintings, sculpture, constructions, collages, drawings, prints and ceramics. The great analytical cubist experiments are here, along with many less familiar forays. Boggs, a Picasso scholarsufficient ID?seems circular/it's what this person does all day, every day, so stet.gs , shows how the artist raided the techniques of Cezanne, Rousseau, Braque, Matisse, Zurbaran and Chardin to produce powerful still lifes that bore his distinctive stamp. Bernadac and Leal, curators at the Musee Picasso in Paris, in separate essays investigate his obsession with food imagery and his "Don Juanism," or cheerful, promiscuous mixing of styles.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A common object in the eye of an uncommon artist becomes a unique image, a spatial expression of symbol and reality. Picasso's exploration of the still life in every media and in every period is the theme of this outstanding work. Published to accompany a major loan exhibition opening at the Cleveland Museum of Art and traveling to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Grand Palais, Paris, this is not only a superb catalog but, as the first scholarly study of this theme, an important contribution to the Picasso literature. In chronological order, with full citations and color illustrations, illuminating essays, and discussions of related works, this is a stimulating guide through seven decades of creativity. Substantial in size and content, handsome in format and production, this is a valuable book, both as a record of a landmark exhibition and as a comprehensive examination of this special aspect of Picasso's work. Highly recommended.
-Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum of Art Lib., New York
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.