The Essential Pablo Picasso

The Essential

by Ingrid Schaffner

For readers who are short on time, long on curiosity, and turned off by art-world jargon, Abrams presents a series of hip, entertaining books on artists and pop culture.* A fascinating account of the artist's life and work

* Fresh anecdotes, both professional and personal

* Concise sidebars on major players and cultural and social movements that shaped the artist's work

* Superb, full-color reproductions

112 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another cheap pick-up at the Hershey Library book sale. I'm not much of an art appreciative person, nor am I very good at reading into art the meanings, the subtleties or the levels of complexity. And I also only had a rudimentary, vague idea of Picasso's life.

But this did a wonderful job of describing his artwork through the ages, describing his life, the times, the cultures, etc, that it really brought a lot of great information to the forefront on him.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picasso was a very complicated man with a messy love life. He had a few marriages, different mistresses and lovers over the years and had 4 children with 3 different women. This book has a "sanitized" version of his private life. But, it does a good job of saying a little bit about everything. It tells a bit about his family, friends and contemporaries, the different styles (blue period, rose period, cubism, etc) he tried over the years, and his amazing work ethic. A short summary of some of the highlights of his career.