Customer Reviews

A Life of Picasso: The Triumphant Years, 1917-1932 (Vol 3)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

To say that John Richardson has completed a monumental task is surely an understatement. His three volumes in a planned four part biography of this iconic artist are testament to the biographer's depth of knowledge as well as an intimate understanding of his subject's life and oeuvre. Mr. Richardson's authorial skills and powers of description are more than gratifying to both students of art and less informed readers as each page contributes to a greater knowledge of the man christened Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Clito Ruiz y Picasso.

The Triumphant Years, 1917 - 1932, covers a period of tumult and triumph in Picasso's life. Along with his friend poet Jean Cocteau Picasso has gone to Rome . He has agreed to do the decor for Diaghiliev's ballet Parade. While he had hoped to be married in Rome, Picasso's from time to time mistress changed her mind. Enter Olga Khokhlova, a lady like ballerina who was as "unbeddable as the `nice' Malaguena girls that his family had tried to foist on him."

There was naught to do but marry her - a marriage that may have begun in heaven but descended into hell with the deterioration of Olga's health and psychological condition. In 1927 he met 17-year-old Marie-Therese Walter, a young beauty with whom he became obsessed. Thus began an intense love for Marie-Therese and unbridled hatred for Olga, emotions which Richardson ties to figure paintings done during that time.

Picasso's 50th birthday, according to Richardson, was both a milestone and a millstone as the artist was driven to somehow stem the passage of years with work. In addition, we're reminded that biographer Jack Flam saw Picasso at that time "as a master who felt compelled to correct or improve his fellow painters' performances." (Especially Matisse).

Thanks to John Richardson, here is Picasso - explored and explained. Especially helpful for this reader was the light shed on the artist's often savage imagery. A Life of Picasso will undoubtedly stand for generations to come as the definitive biography of Picasso. We are in Mr. Richardson's debt.

- Gail Cooke

If you think you know Picasso's work, this book will convince you otherwise. John Richardson has done a tremendous service by sorting out when Picasso produced his greatest works between 1917 and 1932, what sources he "borrowed" from, what he was trying to accomplish, and how all of these works affected his career. This book was quite a revelation to me. Simply by seeing a lot of his work (as you can do at Musee Picasso, for example), you quickly realize that Picasso constantly copied himself. And, of course, it is well known that he borrowed much while trying to establish a style and while working with Braque to develop cubism. But Picasso borrowed early and often in ways I didn't realize. In that sense, he was a supreme stylist who could execute someone else's idea in a more profound way. I came away with a new appreciation for that aspect of his talent.

While Picasso was alive, very little was said in books about his mistreatment of women and the motives behind his paintings of his wives and lovers. While his second life was alive, people were still pretty circumspect on this point. But now we know that Picasso was louse when it came to women and his family. This book gives you the full story of his first marriage, relationship with his young mistress who inspired so many joyous works, Marie-Therese Walter, and his constant attraction to prostitutes.

There are some other surprises in this book including how central his work with ballet was in creating interest in his paintings and sculptures. It was through Diaghilev that Picasso met his first wife, Olga Khokhlova, a ballerina in the Ballets Russes. Picasso decided it was time to settle down and marry. Despite having had long relationships with women before, he now was looking for someone who would help make him respectable. In the process, Picasso adopted the lifestyle of one of the first wealthy artists (famously being driven around in one of the world's most expensive cars by a chauffeur in the middle of the world-wide economic depression).

As good as John Richardson is on those subjects, he can be most annoying in other ways. For example, Mr. Richardson seems to have an obsession with Jean Cocteau and writes a lot about him even though Picasso didn't like Cocteau very much and Cocteau didn't influence Picasso very much either. Mr. Richardson also has a writing style that can be enormously elusive, describing what happened without saying anything. Picasso's wife seems to have had a lot of physical and mental problems but these are mentioned without providing much real information other than when they occurred. A greater problem comes in that Mr. Richardson likes to drop in lots of French phrases (I read French so I had no problem), but if you don't read French it makes the text harder to follow. Some will also find some of Mr. Richardson's put downs of those who disagree with as being rude and high handed. Perhaps the most annoying problem comes in using academic words to describe distasteful aspects of Picasso's personality and behavior. It's like putting lipstick on a pig.

But I advise you to read the book while being prepared for its weaknesses. I'm afraid there is no substitute. The generously represented art makes up for the weaknesses.

As expected, this book is very thorough and well written. Kudos to Richardson for strking back at the claims of an affair between Picasso and Sarah Murphy (there is no evidence). I have seen this allegation stated as fact in the catalogue of a recent show at the Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth. Richardson is very informative on his exploration of surrealism and what Apolliniare may have had in mind when he coined the term with a hyphen (sur-realism) as opposed to Breton's use of the term. It appears, however, that Richardson goes to far in some of his speculation on the meanings behind Picasso's work when he presents his opinions almost as absolute fact. In these cases one almost wishes that the spirit of Douglas Cooper could be conjured up just long enough to say "Oh shut up, John!"

Mr. Richardson has out done himself on his Picasso opus. He displays Picasso in the light of his work and his influences without fluff and sensation. The book is a pleasant and interesting read sans the dry, academic, and often inaccurate writing of other books on Picasso. He also down plays the sensationalism producing a sensative and revealing portrait of the greatest artist of the twentieth century. As an artist myself, (www.arteespanol.us), I found this book extremely informative, useful, and entertaining. I highly recommend this, and Mr. Richardson's previous books on Picasso to art lovers and lay people alike.

Volume III is everything I'd waited for, and more. Richardson's miraculous voice present on every page. His is a fiercely skilled faithfulness that reveals Picasso of truth, one with the myth, but presenting a work discreetly bound to as scrupulous and seductive telling of a magnificent life as seems possible. Admire Richardson's herculean effort, now alas nearly completed, precisely for its reckoning candor, and for the beauty of its prose. I've not seen this mentioned yet here, but I feel in this volume Richardson goes to exquisite lengths to remind and confirm in the reader the place Olga held in Picasso's inner life. He alone among the artist's biographers presents to us Olga forgotten, cautions us not to forget Olga. I think this a great service to Picasso, to his history. There are too many magnificent aspects to this third installment to rehearse them - Richardson's compassion and the presence of his own extraordinary life and personality together forge a gloriously detailed history of an age embodied in a single human colossus, wit and learning treading hand in hand with handsome discretion and kindness. Richardson's great work has saved Picasso from time and from the distrust that creeps into an unbelieving age - something indeed to be grateful for. The superlative installment so far, for me The Triumphant Years is a wickedly fine addition to the mission, and something special quite on its own. Big recommendation.

John Richardson's long awaited third of four volumes of "A Life of Picasso" does not disappoint. The writing is insightful due to the author's personal relationship and knowledge of the artist. The first two works provided more than simply a lesson in art history, rather, an encompassing view of the life and times of the man and his culture. This most recent work continues the saga in the same well written manner.

I love Picasso and to read about him as a regular guy living his life is very revealing in that he is human as well as a protean god of Art. Loved this book as it continues the story along. The only real criticism I have of J. Richardson is that it seems he's in a rush. Quite a difference from the slow but sure tone of the first two books. It seems for some reason that he went in and took out a lot of stuff some stupid editor told him was too much for any one to care about. Wrong. I sure hope he finishes the proposed 7 volume series but for as long as it is taking him to write it, well, I will keep my fingers crossed because he writes in a honest way the story of one man who changed the world.

Several years ago famed art historian John Richardson launched a remarkable multivolumed biography of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). This new work is the third in a projected plan of four volumes. In this book the reader sees Picasso at the apogee of his fame as the greatest artist of the twentieth century. Picasso was a Protean artist whose genius was manifest in both painting and sculpture. Picasso was a genius who could do it all with flair, style, wit, cruelty and savagery. He is a complicated, colorful Andalusian who left the streets of Barcelona for Paris and worldwide and lasting fame.
Richardson begins this tome with examining the work Picasso did designing curtains for the ballets of Serge Diaghilev's famed ballet corp featuring such masters as Nijinksy and Massine. It was in the Diaghilev troop that Picasso worked with such musical giants as Satie and Igor Stravinksy. He also labored with the talented Jacques Costeau with whom he had a difficult artistic relationship.
Picasso met his first wife Olga who was a ballerina with Diaghilev. She was a Russian woman who had many gynelogical and psychological problems throughout their marriage of almost twenty years. The couple would have one child the dysfunctional Paola. Olga wanted to live well as the couple inhabited nice apartments in Paris most of the year with jaunts to the Cote d'Azur in the summer. During the summers Olga and Picasso socialized with the rich businessman Gerald Murphy and his lovely wife Sara. It was also during these summers that he became acquainted with F. Scott Fitzgerald, the Cole Porters and the cultural elite of Europe. He even met Marcel Proust the reclusive and eccentric author.He was also friendly with Ernest Hemingway.
This long book is a very detailed microhistory of how Picasso fashioned his great art. We see the artist crafting the masterpieces that made him famous. Richardson does not get too technical but he does use some art terms which were unfamiliar to me as an art layman (such as "sanguine" and "goauche".
A large color section of plates is included exhibiting such art works as
"Olga in an Armchair", "Harlequin with Violin","The Bathers", "Table, Guitar and Bottle",and countless others. The book has dozens of black and white illustrations of his art as well as photos of Picasso and his family and social set.
Picasso's marriage to Olga would lead to a divorce in the late 30s. In his work he often portrayed her in abstract figures displaying savagery. He took up in 1827 with a 17 year old mistress Marie-Therese Walter. They would never wed as the sybaritic womanizer moved on to serial adultery with all types of women.He would eventually wed three times.
Picasso is a complex genius who is a paradoxical figure who could be very cruel and kind, generous and greedy, friendly and aloof. He was a monumental egotist who in the last line of this book is quotedas saying he was God!
Picasso was a genius in art but a very mediocre man in his behavior to others.
This was the first volume in the series I have read. I plan on reading the rest to learn more about Picasso, fellow artists such as his archrival Matisse and the life and times of a genius who must be encountered if one is to have a knowledge of twentieth century art.

What a delightful book--love the paper, the photos of paintings, the breezy and insightful text. Gives a blow by blow account of Picasso's painting, sculpture, loves, houses, friends and enemies and much more during these years. Never boring, very easy and enjoyable to read.

Reading John Richardson's biography of Picasso, I was struck by the fact that Carl Jung labeled Picasso "schizophrenic."
Art publisher, Christian Zervos, dealing with Picasso in 1932, wrote that "I know the pleasure he gets from seeing someone suffer physically or mentally. For instance, when he is at his chateau, he takes great pleasure in having his Saint Bernard dog attack the cats and watching them agonize as their backbones crack."...
Richardson dismisses this characterization of Picasso as sadistic toward animals, but it seems to ring true.
I feel most sorry for Marie-Therese, taken as a child and molded to his sexual aberrations.