Picasso (Famous Artists)

Rating:
Summary: An solid intermediate look at the life and art of Picasso
Review: This Famous Artist book by Antony Mason serves as an introduction to the life and work of Pablo Picasso. These books are organized in a particular way for each two-page spread: On the left page there is an illustration of the artist's home or environment and the story of the artist's life, along with a painting and a small symbol used to indicate the size of the paintings relative to a person. On the right page there are more paintings (usually with a key section enlarged) with text about the artist's work at the time, along with a feature on the artist's technique (e.g., balancing colors, seeing all angles, reworking great art) with practical projects to try.

This book balances Picasso's life with his art, organized chronologically by the key stages of his career: Paris, The Blue Period, The Rose Period, Cubism, Synthetic Cubism, etc. Some of the key paintings studied are "The Absinthe Drinker," "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," "Minotaur and Dead Mare Outside a Cave," and "Guernica." Mason not only highlights key aspects of these paintings (and other art forms as well), he fills his book with fascinating details, like the German officer who saw "Guernica" in Picasso's studio and asked "Did you do this?" only to be told by the artist, "No, you did this." These are the sorts of things that are well worth being remembered by students. There are certainly more detailed books about Picasso's life and art, but this is an excellent intermediary book. Other titles in the Famous Artists series look at Cezanne, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Monet and Van Gogh.