Synopses & Reviews
The extent to which photography influenced the work of Pablo Picasso is now considered by scholars to be of great importance in the understanding of the artist's entire oeuvre. Linked to a major exhibition, this beautifully illustrated books present a unique view into Picasso's relationship with the photographic arts. The presence in his personal estate of several thousand photographic images, donated to the French government upon his death, prompted this study and bears powerful witness to the artist's versatility and imaginative depth. The collection featured here includes nineteenth-century portraits, postcards featuring colonial themes or ethnic groups in regional dress, as well as portraits, self-portraits and studio views taken by Picasso himself. Already at the turn of the century, they contributed to the artist's figurative expression as well as to his major cubist interpretations.
The artist commanded a wealth of themes, styles, and media over his long and productive career, and he explored drawing, painting, and sculpture. His voracious appetite for experimentation led him to push the medium to unorthodox extremes, both stylistically and technically. The range of Picasso's photographic production comprises a variety of forms and techniques and resulted in independent works of art: superimposed photographs, cliché-verres, photo-based engravings, photograms and original drawings on photographs, slides, collages, and photographic cutouts. His collaborations with other artists such as Dora Maar, Brassaï, Gjon Mili, and André Villers reveal a playful inventiveness, and demonstrate his ability to push photography in unexpected directions. The works featured in this study provide new insight into Picasso's creative world. An outstanding text by Anne Baldassari makes a major contribution to Picasso scholarship by examining what could be the last unknown area of the artist's work.
Synopsis
The extent to which photography influenced the work of Picasso is now considered by scholars to be of great importance in the understanding of Picasso's entire oeuvre. This beautifully illustrated new book, linked to a major exhibition and with an outstanding and authoritative text, presents a unique view into Picasso's relationship with the photographic arts -- the least known area of his work.
The photographs which form the nucleus of this book, many of which were donated to the French government from Picasso's personal collection upon his death, bear powerful witness to his versatility and imaginative depth. The artist commanded a wealth of themes, styles, and media over his long career and delighted in extracting unexpected meanings out of forms by combining them in new ways. He explored photography with the same intensity he explored all media, and in his hands it was yet another instrument of unlimited potential for a supremely creative mind. His voracious appetite for experimentation led him to push the media to unorthodox extremes, both stylistically and technically. The works featured in this study -- self-portraits, studio views, found photographs, and graphic designs that he manipulated to create independent works of art -- encapsulate Picasso's ever-deepening command of the medium, examining what could be the last unknown area of his work.
Picasso and Photography was the subject of a major exhibition curated by Anne Baldassari which opened in November 1997 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
About the Author
Anne Baldassari is curator of the photographic archives of the Musée Picasso, Paris, and the author of numerous works on Picasso and the photographic arts.