Conversations with Picasso

by Brassaï, Jane Marie Todd (Translation)

"Read this book if you want to understand me."—Pablo Picasso

Conversations with Picasso offers a remarkable vision of both Picasso and the entire artistic and intellectual milieu of wartime Paris, a vision provided by the gifted photographer and prolific author who spent the early portion of the 1940s photographing Picasso's work. Brassaï carefully and affectionately records each of his meetings and appointments with the great artist, building along the way a work of remarkable depth, intimate perspective, and great importance to anyone who truly wishes to understand Picasso and his world.

Genres: Art, Biography, Nonfiction, Memoir, Photography, Art Design

412 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

George Brassaï (pseudonym of Gyula Halász) (9 September 1899 — 8 July 1984) was a Hungarian photographer, sculptor, and filmmaker who rose to international fame in France in the 20th century. He was one of the numerous Hungarian artists who flourished in Paris beginning between the World Wars. In the early 21st century, the discovery of more than 200 letters and hundreds of drawings and other items from the period 1940–1984 has provided scholars with material for understanding his later life and career.

Reviews

[Lăcră Grozăvescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picasso: Man doesn't change. He keeps his habits. Instinctively, all those people found the same corner for their kitchen. To build a city, don't men choose the same sites? Under cities you always find other cities; other churches under churches, and other houses under houses. Races and religions may have changed, but the marketplace, the living quarters, pilgrimage sites, places of worship, have remained the same. Venus is replaced by the Virgin, but the same life goes on.

[Ekaterina Ulitina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Брассай, фотограф и рисовальщик, добрый друг Пикассо, рассказывает о дружбе и работе с мэтром в период парижской оккупации, касаясь краем рукава всей тогдашней богемы из Кафе де Флор – Стайн, де Бовуар, Матисс, Дали, Элюар, разнокалиберные коллекционеры и обивальщики порогов. Очень тёплая книга, много смешных историй и пойманных моментов повседневности, после которого великий и далекий человек кажется ближе и проще.

[Unbridled · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been skeptical of painters for many years – some, it seems to me, are outright frauds, mere ad men selling middling images, like Warhol. And yet I've always been strangely fascinated with painters and they amount to some of my favorite people of all time. So it will not surprise that Picasso has always been a source of peculiar fascination for me. Of course I'd seen his seminal work and I never doubted his genius, but I never quite understood the precipitous reverence for the man of whom it was once claimed that only God created more. But I slowly started poking around: starting with Arianna Huffington's short, gossipy, and guilty-pleasure read, Picasso; watching Anthony Hopkins in the execrable Surviving Picasso (quite faithful to the Huffington book); and reading Norman Mailer's admirable, if misfired, Portrait of Picasso As a Young Man. Still, nothing. No rousing of the fire. But then I came across Henri-Georges Clouzot's film, The Mystery of Picasso, which was a documentary of sorts that filmed Picasso painting. It's a bit of a stunt, won't interest everyone, but I was mad for it, enraptured, and at the finish, I raised my fist to the sky in celebration of what I saw. Witnessing Picasso's radiant creativity in the very act, stroke by color by stroke by obliteration into sensation and thought into life extraordinaire – well, raw creative power like that is like sitting through a thunderstorm with heavy rains and the sun still shining strong. Seeing Picasso paint made me understand what genius means; I see everything by Picasso differently now. Which finally brings me to Brassaï's Conversations with Picasso. As much a biography as a series of conversations, but a biography of the epoch as well, when so many titans still reigned and called Paris home. The book is filled with the personalities who drop into Picasso's orbit, like Paul Eluard, Matisse, Braque, Henry Miller, Dali, Man Ray, Andre Breton, Apollinaire, Miro, Andre Malraux, Cocteau, Sartre, Camus, de Beauvoir, Max Jacob, and many, many others – it's dizzying and I've forgotten more than I remember so I will list no more. Can I say it is a definitive work? No. But reading this book fits Picasso the personality into the demoniacal force that I watched paint in the Clouzot film.

[Juan Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

El contexto privilegiado del fotógrafo de origen húngaro y su labor artística reporteril coyuntural fueron cruciales para la gestión de esta obra que resume su relación de amistad con Picasso. El malagueño siempre lo considero la persona mas autorizada para hablar de su obra porque lo conoció casi desde el principio y en sus momentos históricos críticos. Sus apreciaciones no son formalmente críticas, pero las compensa con su testimonio directo y ricamente descriptivo que mezcla el quehacer de Picasso con su vida personal.
Es una obra sobre una amistad entre sensibilidades artísticas en medios diferentes. Indispensable para conocer aspectos ocultos en la carrera y vida del pintor en el periodo entre guerras especialmente.

[Anastasiia Mozghova · Rating 4 out of 5]

брассай довольно долго фотографировал разные работы пикассо и записывал разговоры, случавшиеся во время их встреч. тут и наблюдения брассая о пикассо, и множество интересных размышлений самого пикассо. и периодические вкрапления талантливейших людей двадцатого века (мишо, матисса, миллера, например).

я не являюсь ни фанатом, ни знатоком искусства пикассо, но книгу прочла с удовольствием.

[Dwhale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ara Güler röportajları ve fotoğrafları ile Picasso. Kitap asıl Brassai'ye ait. Ama ben Ara güler ve Picasso'nun anılarından da çok etkilendim. 2. Dünya Savaşı yıllarında Paris, Picasso ve dostları ve Nazilerin hayatı nasıl etkiledikleri,ve bununla birlikte sanat adına konuşmalar. Picasso beni bazı fikirleri ile çok şaşırttı. Okuyunuz. Okumak için sahaf geziniz.

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picasso: But those are my thumbtacks.
Brassaï: Yes, they're your thumbtacks.
Picasso: Okay, I'm taking them back.
Brassaï: Don't take them! I need some for my backdrop.
Picasso: Good, keep them. I'll leave them here. But you have to give them back to me. They're my thumbtacks.

[Manuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Para que una escultura luzca todo su volumen, sus zonas iluminadas deben quedar mas claras que el fondo, y sus zonas oscuras,más oscuras. Es muy sencillo". Brassaï dixit.

[Chris Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

(The title's misleading though - there's more here than just dialogues)

[Richelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic book. Reading the conversations that occurred between Picasso and Brassai really made me wish that I had been in Paris during the 1930s and 1940s (of course, not during the war, though...). The conversations that Brassai recorded revealed not only much about his main subject, Picasso, but also much about life, art, and culture in Paris during this period. Everyone from Henry Miller to Matisse to Salvador Dali and Simone de Beauvoir appeared in this book. Brassai's musings and recollections also opened my eyes to a completely new persona of Picasso. It also revealed much about their great friendship. I highly recommend this book.

[Seamus Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spent a morning glossing and perusing this book. I'd only known Brassai as a photographer (his photos of Picasso and his studio and circle of friends would make this a fascinating book by themselves) so I was pleasantly surprised to find that he also writes well. Clear, concise, evocative accounts of conversations and gatherings (based on notes Brassai jotted down at the time and then stuffed in a large vase) make up the bulk of this book.

[Vincent Hernot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good bits, although when you've read a fair amount about and around and from Picasso, I guess the novelty wears off a bit.
But: Brassai writes well, albeit in a slightly stilted style at times, and in fact he leaves us wanting more, certainly when he refers - obliquely - to all the other people he was working with, photographing etc. In a way, it's a pity it's so much about Picasso - a silly thing to say seeing the title, but there you go...

[Gergely Jánosi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the book seems to have a tendency of excessive name-dropping from time it is quite entertaining. It was an interesting experience to see that even during the most turubulent times of the 20th century art was just so important to people closely associated with it, that they were able to keep it alive and therefore find some solace in the horror of reality at the time.

[Mocek Ramone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book. I'm not a big fan of Picasso (his art and him as a person),but he was so interesting as an artist. I love how Brassaï has written about him as a friend and co-worker. You can see him like art. Author described artist's point of view, inspiration, lifestyle. You can feel like his another friend. I recommend it for all art lovers and creative souls

[Joel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible oral history of the conversations between Brassai, Picasso, and the host of other artists, writers, and hangers-on who passed through Picasso's Paris studios over the span of twenty-some years. A really beautiful book about some incredible artists.

[Ola · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was amazing. Truly, it was. Not because of the language or composition (In fact I "deBrassaised" this book a bit - Picasso is far more important then the Author) but as a portrait of an Artist. Rather a picture than a literature.

[Valeria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Несколько смущает избирательность, при которой переводчики оставляют без внимания некоторые фразы на английском и латыне. Во-первых, не всегда понятен смысл такого хода. Во-вторых, не уверена, что все читающие книгу владеют этими языками.

[Ludaputina · Rating 5 out of 5]

совершенно потрясающая! словно сидишь у Пикассо в мастерской, он твой близкий друг и рассказывает о жизни, о картинках. словно сидишь в кафе на Монмартре и пьёшь странный заменитель кофе, ведь на улице 43, но война не может остановить творчество

[Katarzyna Kupczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable book — its language is vivid and evocative. It offers rich insights into Picasso's life and the artistic bohemia he was a part of. The volume is beautifully complemented by photographs from Brassaï, a profoundly talented artist in his own right.

[Andreea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic book that nourished my interest in painters' life and talks of life and art.

[Jeffrey Berman]

A great book.

[Pablo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant.

[Suavi Kendiroğlu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fotografçı Brassai bizi Picassonun atölyesine götürüyor. Dönemin önemli galerici, koleksiyoner, ressam, hayran, öğrenci vb figürleri önümüzden geçiyor. Nefis tanıklıklar...

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring record of talks on art, life, love, and everything in between with Picasso.