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Who Was . . . ? Series
Who Was Pablo Picasso?
Over a long, turbulent life, Picasso continually discovered new ways of seeing the world and translating it into art. A restless genius, he went through a blue period, a rose period, and a Cubist phase. He made collages, sculptures out of everyday objects, and beautiful ceramic plates. True Kelley's engaging biography is a wonderful introduction to modern art.
112 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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761 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
October 12, 2017
عندما سئل بيكاسو لماذا بعض لوحاته غير مفهومة اجاب العالم بلا معنى ...لماذا تريدون مني ان ارسم لوحات ذات معنى.
لوحاته في غاية الجمال هناك من يمتلك موهبة رؤية ما لا يستطيع الاخرون رؤيته.
لوحاته في غاية الجمال هناك من يمتلك موهبة رؤية ما لا يستطيع الاخرون رؤيته.
August 12, 2018
I'm re-reading some children's books in English, because now I subscribe to scribd.com and I found
on this site, several audios of books that I have read. And I'm not feeling very well to read new foreign language books.
on this site, several audios of books that I have read. And I'm not feeling very well to read new foreign language books.
February 20, 2024
This is a pretty good book for intermediate learners of Spanish. It is not too simple that it's insulting and it has the basics about Picasso's life. Note that the original was written in English, and probably for children. I've found it to be useful with those learning Spanish. There are also black and white illustrations and drawings by the author. In the back is a chronology which would also be useful to identify the events in the world and Picasso's life.
April 1, 2018
Simple, basic intro to Picasso.
Though I know of him and his art, I didn't know much about him. This book introduced me to who he was and what sort of artist he was.
Interesting man but I still dislike his "art".
Though I know of him and his art, I didn't know much about him. This book introduced me to who he was and what sort of artist he was.
Interesting man but I still dislike his "art".
June 8, 2025
I learned...
He had a lot of relationships.
When he died, he was the world's richest artist. Honestly that was so nice to hear after a whole slew of stories of artists who had tragic lives and were appreciated only after they'd died in poverty.
He didn't want to be labeled as cubist or surrealist, and he kept changing styles.
His blue phase was after a friend committed suicide, and his rose phase was after he moved to Paris and fell in love.
He learned art history by painting other artists' work in his own style.
He didn't get drafted because he was living in Paris but wasn't French.
He had a lot of relationships.
When he died, he was the world's richest artist. Honestly that was so nice to hear after a whole slew of stories of artists who had tragic lives and were appreciated only after they'd died in poverty.
He didn't want to be labeled as cubist or surrealist, and he kept changing styles.
His blue phase was after a friend committed suicide, and his rose phase was after he moved to Paris and fell in love.
He learned art history by painting other artists' work in his own style.
He didn't get drafted because he was living in Paris but wasn't French.
October 27, 2022
A very interesting true story about Pablo Picasso. Even though this is meant for kids I learned a lot about him that I didn't know.
A great quick read that is well written.
A great quick read that is well written.
February 28, 2011
Pablo Picasso has the longest name Lily and I have ever heard: Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso. Lily likes that Picasso did artwork his own way, “he got famous even though some people didn't like his art.” We both liked that he worked eclectically in many different mediums; painting, drawing, sculpture, collage, engraving, etc. Early in his career he was so poor that he couldn't afford furniture so he painted some on the walls of his apartment. Lily says, “Pablo painted in blue when he was sad, then painted in colors when he was happier.”
We like that he promoted peace and cared about poor people, we were happy to learn that his poster of a dove in 1949 helped popularize the modern international symbol of peace. Lily especially liked to hear how excited the American soldiers were to meet Picasso after the war, some soldiers arrived at his studio so tired they fell asleep there, “lots of people thought he was cool.”
We like that he promoted peace and cared about poor people, we were happy to learn that his poster of a dove in 1949 helped popularize the modern international symbol of peace. Lily especially liked to hear how excited the American soldiers were to meet Picasso after the war, some soldiers arrived at his studio so tired they fell asleep there, “lots of people thought he was cool.”
December 30, 2018
105 pages. This biography of a famous artist was very interesting. There were lots of stories from his childhood and youth, small sketches of his famous paintings, sculptures, etc. throughout the book. It is well-written and gives a read a great overall understanding of his life and work. Highly recommended for Grades 4-5.
March 7, 2017
Another quick Who was read I shared with my Teen and PreTeen girls. They fully enjoyed it, thought the youngest was getting very upset with the constant carosel of new women coming in and out of his life.
October 4, 2017
i enjoyed learning about his artwork and i would read many more of these biographies
October 19, 2017
Audiobook
Read
November 3, 2017piccaso was one of the most intresting painter there was
November 8, 2017
I learned a lot from this book, like how when Pablo Picasso started making abstract paintings, nobody liked them, but now they are worth a ton of money.
February 18, 2018
Rated 5 stars
Ages 12+
Ages 12+
April 3, 2018
Elementary level biography of world renowned artist and ladies man Pablo Picasso who tried many mediums and produced a vast amount of work.
May 17, 2018
What a ladies man!
July 16, 2018
A very enjoyable audiobook.
My partner and I listened to it on the way during a short weekend getaway trip.
It was quick, very informative and had great structure.
My partner and I listened to it on the way during a short weekend getaway trip.
It was quick, very informative and had great structure.
December 2, 2018
For those kids like pets, they must find themselves in the book. Picasso is a pet lover. Apart from dogs and turtle, he even had a rat, a monkey and a goat. He drew and invented his artistic language and symbols for the subject. He drew what he thought not what he saw. He tried to use different media apart from paint brush, collage, and etching. Kids would be very familiar with his art projects in reading the books as these are used in VA lessons nowadays. Kids might not know how hard did he try at first.
He drew industrially from a young age. He painted continuously with Baroque for 5 years. He might be the luckiest artist at the time. He was famous, rich and successful. A friend committed suicide. And a lot more were in living without enough food on the table. Even Picasso was once very poor with not enough food to eat that his dog, Frika, pulled a string of sausage to him. What does this tell us?
The life of Picasso is inspirational not only to kids. His love of art, his hard-work, his lovers and his courage to do something different, in his own way. His is a successful story and not always, we have one. Does it matter?
He drew industrially from a young age. He painted continuously with Baroque for 5 years. He might be the luckiest artist at the time. He was famous, rich and successful. A friend committed suicide. And a lot more were in living without enough food on the table. Even Picasso was once very poor with not enough food to eat that his dog, Frika, pulled a string of sausage to him. What does this tell us?
The life of Picasso is inspirational not only to kids. His love of art, his hard-work, his lovers and his courage to do something different, in his own way. His is a successful story and not always, we have one. Does it matter?
May 17, 2017
Who was Pablo Picasso by True Kelly was very fun to read. This book was about the famous author Picasso and his life. In the book you learn about all the different styles of artwork Picasso did and invented. You also learn about Pablo's personal life and the things going on outside of his paintings that affected him and how we painted. Once he even painted with cool colors like blues and greens and purples because he was depressed.
I found it amazing how many names Picasso had I would've never known that. I also thought it was very interesting how many different styles Picasso would do art in and how many styles he invented also. Usually artists stick with one style but Picasso did so many different ones. I liked how he stayed behind during the war where he lived and would paint over all the gunfire that he heard.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves art because it was very inspirational and people who want to become artists can learn a lot from Picasso. I really liked this book.
I found it amazing how many names Picasso had I would've never known that. I also thought it was very interesting how many different styles Picasso would do art in and how many styles he invented also. Usually artists stick with one style but Picasso did so many different ones. I liked how he stayed behind during the war where he lived and would paint over all the gunfire that he heard.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves art because it was very inspirational and people who want to become artists can learn a lot from Picasso. I really liked this book.
April 18, 2019
Another great artist biography, with information on Pablo Picasso's personal life (quite a tumultuous love life) and his work as an artist, beginning as a child prodigy. It's super interesting to me how his style and medium changed constantly over the years, how he followed no predictability or rules, and this is described in detail.
"When he was a child, (Picasso) could draw as well as a talented grown-up. But the older her got, the more he wanted to make art like a child."
Having just read Who Was Leonardo da Vinci?, who is attributed only 15 finished artworks - Picasso is quite a contrast; he finished roughly 50,000 works.
This book has plenty of information on the art he explored; cubism, modernism, collage, surrealism, etching, abstract sculpture, pottery and linoleum block prints.
There is also information on world history throughout his lifetime which included two world wars and the war in Spain (General Francisco Franco and the German bombing of Guernica).
My knowledge was expanded, a biography success.
"When he was a child, (Picasso) could draw as well as a talented grown-up. But the older her got, the more he wanted to make art like a child."
Having just read Who Was Leonardo da Vinci?, who is attributed only 15 finished artworks - Picasso is quite a contrast; he finished roughly 50,000 works.
This book has plenty of information on the art he explored; cubism, modernism, collage, surrealism, etching, abstract sculpture, pottery and linoleum block prints.
There is also information on world history throughout his lifetime which included two world wars and the war in Spain (General Francisco Franco and the German bombing of Guernica).
My knowledge was expanded, a biography success.
October 27, 2021
Pablo Picasso is one of the most inspiring visual artists to ever live. Not very many artists go through so many distinct periods and styles in their career, mostly because some of their careers are very short. Because his career spanned almost 90 years. He begin painting at eight years old with his first known painting of a bullfight. Throughout his life he worked in different mediums from painting and to sketches to sculpture. Through his talent he was able to travel to almost every part of the world. I his work went from simplistic to realist to abstract. He was thought to have produced over 50,000 pieces of art in his career. He remain an active and prolific artist until the very end of his life. This is a fun and easy to read book about one of the most interesting artists of the 20th century. Highly recommend!
October 27, 2024
This book is about a painter named Pablo Picasso who followed his dreams through a lot of discouragement and suffering. Pablo was one of the richest painters in the 20th century. He was recognized for his very very unique art. At first business was bad for him but he kept following his dreams and that’s what led to some of the paintings that could be in your house.
FUN FACTS ABOUT PABLO PICASSO
- His first word was lapis which is Spanish for pencil
- Pablo had 16 pets
- Pablo had 7 wives
- Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maria de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso was his full name.
I like this book because it helped me learn a lot about the famous character and explained it to me in a very simple way.
FUN FACTS ABOUT PABLO PICASSO
- His first word was lapis which is Spanish for pencil
- Pablo had 16 pets
- Pablo had 7 wives
- Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maria de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso was his full name.
I like this book because it helped me learn a lot about the famous character and explained it to me in a very simple way.
March 22, 2022
Pretty good book! Picasso had an extremely long name, an extremely long career, and an extremely long list of lovers...
Seven women were listed, including one who was only 17. Sheesh.
Francoise was the only one with whom he had 2 children, and Maybe my favorite:
When Picasso was 71 years old, Francoise left him. He couldn't believe it! No woman had ever left him before. He had always been the one to call it quits.
Ha, well let this be the first time then. She went on to write a memoir about their life together (Life with Picasso) and as of March 2022 is still alive! She's currently 100 years old. 😲
Seven women were listed, including one who was only 17. Sheesh.
Francoise was the only one with whom he had 2 children, and Maybe my favorite:
When Picasso was 71 years old, Francoise left him. He couldn't believe it! No woman had ever left him before. He had always been the one to call it quits.
Ha, well let this be the first time then. She went on to write a memoir about their life together (Life with Picasso) and as of March 2022 is still alive! She's currently 100 years old. 😲
February 6, 2023
I liked this biography of Picasso although I thought it was too brief and too many gaps were left open to obtain a good flow of this artist's life. It sounds like Pablo was quite a womanizer, so maybe the holes were necessary to be appropriate for young readers. I have never liked his strange cubism style, but I gained insight into his purpose of trying to capture many angles of a face simultaneously.
May 18, 2019
It’s hard to give this a theme because it’s nonfiction but I would say the theme is pursue your dreams and keep persisting. I ours say this because he lost basically his entire family and married many women and divorced nearly all of them and yet he still is one of the greatest artist ever in o lay a brush on paper.
August 6, 2021
I love these books. They give me enough detail without going too deep and drawn out. They are the cliff notes of non-fiction.
I knew a bit about Pablo Picasso beforehand, but there was so much more I didn't know. I knew his style was eclectic, but I didn't know it was that diverse. Also, I had no idea he had so many wives.
I knew a bit about Pablo Picasso beforehand, but there was so much more I didn't know. I knew his style was eclectic, but I didn't know it was that diverse. Also, I had no idea he had so many wives.
August 30, 2021
Fascinating. This tiny book helps to capture the wild and eccentric life of Picasso. Clearly a very unique individual, his art was like it’s maker. The only problem with this book is that such art cannot be well represented by black and white drawings. I guess that’s what Google is for. A great way to begin to understand the life, loves and art of a unique artist.
December 3, 2022
Born to be a brilliant artist. But in the end, all the thing i have remember ab him in funny mood is his very ability to love and marry a lot of woman in his life:)). Like it said in the book:”he didn’t care of what other people think ab him, he was just self-centered”. Yeah and i think that maybe one of the keys leading to his greatest success.
December 20, 2018
I thought the author did well with keeping the reader's attention. I, also, think this book would be more interesting if it had colored pictures of Pablo's artwork. This book is a true story, so it had realistic elements. I felt this book was a good way to get to know about Pablo's life.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews