Picasso

Picasso invites the reader to set aside preconceived ideas before exploring the work of one of the 20th century's greatest and most influential artists, and to relive one of the most profound revolutions in pictorial art. By the age of twenty, Pablo Picasso had produced over a thousand paintings and drawings, but his first critical success came in 1907 at the age of twenty-six when he created his famous Les demoiselles d"Avignon. Notables in the Paris art world were too shocked to express disapproval; never before had they seen such a crude transformation of reality. As a painter, Picasso questioned, transformed, and ultimately disfigured the material world surrounding him, giving birth to a new era in art. His talent is illuminated in this complete survey with 120 brilliant full-color illustrations and 25 b/w documents that span from 1896 to 1972, from his class portraits and still-lifes as a young artist, to his outrageous masterpieces in cubism and realism, and also including his sculpture and ceramic art. Picasso is an outstanding contribution to an complete understanding of the man and his work. -- Midwest Book Review