Picasso Erotique (Art & Design)

Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism

Picasso Erotique (Art & Design) Details

From Publishers Weekly Readers who are inured to the late, comically lewd work will find plenty of it in Picasso Erotique, but there's also plenty of the early, more ephemeral erotic work here that will prove less familiar, and even revelatory. Jean Clair, Director of the Mus‚e Picasso in Paris and author of numerous art historical books in French, has gathered 317 color and 143 b&w illustrations covering all periods of Picasso's incessant output, fleshed out with excellent essays by Annie Le Brun, Robert Rosenblum and others. Placed next to Fernande Olivier's Loving Picasso (Forecasts, Apr. 9), the two books make for some serious high art thrills. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Read more From the Publisher At the turn of the century, the young Picasso created drawings and watercolors inspired by the bordellos of Barcelona which he frequented. These works mix desire, fascination, but also comedy and the grotesque alongside the ever-present fear of disease. They would result, seven years later, in his masterpiece, "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon". The works in this ground-breaking book include erotic drawings - formal and informal - sketches in notebooks hidden in drawers and private collections, and occasionally paintings and sculptures. Essays by an international team of scholars analyze the primeval notion of desire in Picasso's work, of artist to model, as well as his relation to voyeurism and exhibitionism. Whether through playful or hallucinatory forms, Picasso's representations of the desiring and desired body have become a pivotal moment in the history of twentieth century art. Produced to accompany a major exhibition in Paris, Montreal and Barcelona, "Picasso Erotique" is a unique examination of the central theme in Picasso's work. Read more See all Editorial Reviews