The career of the greatest painter of the 20th century was played out in the shadow of Eros - and of Thanatos. At the age of eight Picasso's drawings already displayed a precocious interest in the female form, and in the days leading up to his death he was still working obsessively on sketches of the female sex. At the turn of the century the young Picasso created drawings and watercolours inspired by the bordellos of Barcelona which he frequented. These works mix desire, fascination, but also comedy and the grotesque alongside the ever-present fear of disease. They would result, seven years later, in his masterpiece, "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon". The works in this book include erotic drawings formal and informal, sketches in notebooks hidden in drawers and private collections, and occasionally paintings and sculptures. Through all these works the essays by an interational team of scholars analyze the primeval notion of desire in Picasso's work, as well as his relation to voyeurism and exhibitionism, to artist and model. Whether through playful or hallucinatory forms, Picasso's representation of the desiring and desired body has become a pivotal moment in the history of 20th-century art. Produced to accompany a major exhibition in Paris, Montreal and Barcelona, "Picasso Erotique" is a unique examination of the central theme of Picasso's work.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Readers who are inured to the late, comically lewd work will find plenty of it in Picasso Erotique, but there's also plenty of the early, more ephemeral erotic work here that will prove less familiar, and even revelatory. Jean Clair, Director of the Mus‚e Picasso in Paris and author of numerous art historical books in French, has gathered 317 color and 143 b&w illustrations covering all periods of Picasso's incessant output, fleshed out with excellent essays by Annie Le Brun, Robert Rosenblum and others. Placed next to Fernande Olivier's Loving Picasso (Forecasts, Apr. 9), the two books make for some serious high art thrills.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From the Publisher
At the turn of the century, the young Picasso created drawings and watercolors inspired by the bordellos of Barcelona which he frequented. These works mix desire, fascination, but also comedy and the grotesque alongside the ever-present fear of disease. They would result, seven years later, in his masterpiece, "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon".
The works in this ground-breaking book include erotic drawings - formal and informal - sketches in notebooks hidden in drawers and private collections, and occasionally paintings and sculptures. Essays by an international team of scholars analyze the primeval notion of desire in Picasso's work, of artist to model, as well as his relation to voyeurism and exhibitionism. Whether through playful or hallucinatory forms, Picasso's representations of the desiring and desired body have become a pivotal moment in the history of twentieth century art.
Produced to accompany a major exhibition in Paris, Montreal and Barcelona, "Picasso Erotique" is a unique examination of the central theme in Picasso's work.
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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Picasso as life force,
By
This review is from: Picasso Erotique (Art & Design) (Hardcover)
In their Preface to this remarkable book (published to accompany exhibitions in Paris, Montreal, and Barcelona) Guy Cogeval, Jean Clair, and Maria Teresa Ocana assert that all of the art of Pablo Picasso - whether visual or literary - was "guided by a specifically Spanish eroticism, a medley of sensuality and tenderness, of scatology and gluttony." Curator and editor Clair has assembled a group of erudite and sometimes thrilling essayists, and 350 or so plates of Picasso's most obviously erotic topics, whether sketches, paintings, sculpture - from his entire art-producing life (beginning at age 9!). Mythology, religion, linguistics, classical influences, and Picasso's upbringing and circumstances and adult life (among many other things) are all explored in the dozen essays that make this book such great reading.Clair's own "The School of Darkness" is a heady and passionate appreciation of Picasso. He contributes right off to the decades-old debate regarding Picasso's view and treatment of women. He defends the artist and the man, rejecting portrayals of Picasso as " the ogre, the dark demon, the wife-eating Minotaur," quoting writer Micheline Sauvage's words on Don Juan: "Not the profaner of love, but the hero of profane love." Picasso possessed energy and drive that included prodigious eating, drinking, sexual expression, writing, the production of art, and more art. Housekeeping out of the way, Clair's essay grows into something remarkable: part biography, part chant. If you read it aloud you might well amaze and delight yourself and your listener. Annie Le Brun's "Painting in the Bedroom" successfully places Picasso's erotic sensibilities and drive in context and in comparison to other painters, whom she asserts (and proves) shared traits with Picasso. 'Diamond Made of All the Love of the Loves of Blood,' (the title comes from a diary entry of the artist) by Marie-Noelle Delorme is a fabulous compilation, effectively and subtlely organized, that shows Picasso the energetic and larger-than-life diarist - a passionate and powerful writer on love, bodies, intimate landscapes, and much more. The illustrations - a "Chronological Catalogue of Exhibited Works," fill over 200 pages. The layout and the colors are good and the plates are big enough. There are oil paintings, etchings, drawings in pencil, colored pencil, chalk, ink, and charcoal; aquatint, drypoint, etchings; sculptures in wood, plaster, clay and bronze - and more. The earliest drawing is a copulation scene, "Donkey and She-Ass," done by a nine-year old Picasso - who as a schoolboy was already drawing confidently and well and, it can be argued, had already found his voice. The works are of men, women, animals together, animals with people, blind men, lovers, voyeurs, brothel scenes, outsized genitalia, mythological beasts and people, nudes in classical poses, Cubist paintings on erotic themes, sketches of solicitude and tenderness and caring, playfully altered pin-ups from the 50's, visions of sexuality altered but undimmed by old age, and much more. By virtue of its twelve strong, smart, passionate essays, and its 300 plates, this book becomes much more than the sum of its parts. Very worthwhile, and a great read.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Investigating Picasso's Obsessions with Erotica,
By Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Picasso Erotique (Art & Design) (Hardcover)
The fine book from Prestel serves as a significant addition to the burgeoning library on Pablo Picasso, the most popular 20th Century artist in the world. While much of his output (and his output was gargantuan!) is secondary to his acknowledged masterpieces, when grouped as in the manner in which Jean Clair, Director of the Muse Picasso in Paris has done for the purposes of a traveling exhibition, the ingenuity as well as the personal psychosocial issues of the artist become far more focused.
That Picasso was a slave to Eros is well known: that he lived a second life in the bordellos of Barcelona is less well known until now! The book abounds in over 450 images in color and in black and white of his voyeuristic tendencies and his celebration of the female form. These sketches and finished works span his early periods, his cubism, and his later life return to representation. They are a joy to view and review in this beautifully presented book. Accompanying the images are informative and enjoyably readable essays by Jean Clair himself, Annie Le Brun, Marie-Noelle Delorme, Pascal Quignard, Jean-Jacques Lebel, Patrick Roegiers, and Malen Gual. PICASSO EROTIQUE is one of those art books that actually merits careful reading s well as being entertained by the wonderful visuals. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, October 05
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