Customer Reviews

Matisse and Picasso: The Story of their Rivalry and Friendship

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Imagine one tightly written book that can tell you what the art world was like for much of the 20th Century! Jack Flam is the man who did just that in "Matisse Picaso." Then imagine learning all about the lives of Matisse and Picasso and their loves along with their push-pull friendship and competition. After that get the skinny on the paintings both men painted. I never even saw all the -------- in Picasso's paintings. Now, it is hard to see anything else.

I found this book to be much more exciting then typical biographies that include all the boring parts of people's lives. Here you get all the interesting parts with all the boring parts left out. I read every word and recommend the book without reservation. In fact, I believe every art student needs to read this book, every artist, every art affictionado.

Before there was Andy Warhol, the ultimate in art cool, there was Picasso. And before there was Picasso, there was Matisse. Picasso and his cronies used to make fun of Matisse's primitive style and threw fake darts at Matisse's portrait of his daughter, and people laughed in the salons at Matisse's Joy of Life but no artist influenced Picasso more than Matisse, from his works to his introduction to African and Iberian art, Matisse was one of the few constants in Picasso's life, always keeping the paintings that he had of Matisse. These two heavyweights, more than anybody, have influenced the way we make art today. This books does a great job fleshing out the relationship between these two artists and how they affected each other in a well written and highly accesible format. An excellent book worthy of the excellent artists.

This is an excellent work for art history enthusiasts. It depicts
many famous works of art by Matisse and Picasso. Classically,
Matisse is known for the artful use of color; whereas, Picasso
is credited with the unique form of Cubism which pervades
his artwork. Flam depicts important works by both artists.
For instance, Matisse's "The Woman With The Hat" is shown in
full color. Picasso's "The Acrobat's Family" is depicted
together with "The Two Nudes". These pictures show the emotional side of Picasso's work in contradistinction to
Matisse's exercise of restraint. This book would make a
perfect gift for a friend, relative or art buff.

I completely agree with other reviewers. This book made me change the way I view their works and how I see art generally. It is one of the best non-fiction books I have read.

If this be gossip, then it is the best kind. Engaging account of the rivalry/synergy of Matisse and Picasso and the interactions over half a century, with a Gertrude Stein introit at the beginning. This competition is fairly lightweight stuff as far as I can see although throwing rubber suction darts at a Matisse painting gets close to borderline rascalian--Picasso probably loses points on adolescent misdemeanours, but the art of both leaves us unable to judge, save that a third here could not be found.

I am using iPad version of Kindle that can display colors.
This book is also an art book, and displaying the arts in black and white
is meaningless. While I understand Amazon's black and white only Kindle
for low battery consumption and cheap price, I will never buy such device
(that can handle only black and white).
Even though Kindle device is itself black and white, I hope that
the contents be in color, since there are Kindle readers that can display
colors, like iPad Kindle (Mac Kindle, PC Kindle) and so on.