Customer Reviews

Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Whatever the numerous criticisms on this current show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC (the almost total absence of Cubist works, a depression-time exhibit with no loans from other museums, a diminutive collection when compared to the unsurpassed holdings of nearby MOMA...) this is a beautiful exhibition and the book that accompanies it is up to the Met's high standards of quality.

About 300 works, the entire Picasso collection of the museum (a good part of it drawings and prints), are studied here, with a strong emphasis on pre-cubist works (a seldom-seen blue-period erotic work that Picasso once disavowed, icons such as the Gertrude Stein portrait, or the famous "Au Lapin Agile" donated by the late Walter Annenberg)and two good 1932 portraits of Marie-Thérèse. The main asset of the book, apart from the excellent reproductions, is the quality of the essays which reveal new scholarship on the artist, such as the discovery of hidden paintings behind the actual extant works (Picasso, in his early years would commonly paint over existing works, by himself or other artist friends, in order to save on the money needed to buy new canvases).

A very interesting book which I recommend to anyone interested in the most famous painter of the XXth century.

A fabulous art book must meet certain requirements, the first of which is the quality of the product. Whether it involves the quality of the paper as I flip the pages, or whether the correct font was used to make it easy on my eyes, or most importantly what is the quality of the reproduction of the pictures being portrayed? I also have issues with whether or not it is easy to work with the written text while dealing with the location of the pictures. Most art books fail with one or more of these issues, and then there is the overall issue as to whether or not this book accurately portrays the artist in question, and does it provide a great learning experience that I will refer to in the future again and again?


Picasso in the Metropolitan Museum of Art published by the quality driven Yale University Press seems to get the job done on all counts. I simply loved this book, and surprisingly, I have read it from cover to cover which I doubt more than one out of 100 readers will do. I will give you my reasons for this in a moment. The beginning of the book provides a 10 page understanding of the Met Picasso Collection by Gary Tinterow who tells you how this collection came together. The book is the Met's complete collection of its Picasso pictures, drawings, sculptures, and lithographs - all of it. This collection is second in American only to that possessed by New York's Museum of Modern Art. There are no borrowings from other museums for the Met Exhibit, however the book does have pictures of related art works from both public, and private collections which dramatically improves the reader's understanding of the art work in question.


Beginning on page 16 and going through page 258 there are 94 separate paintings, drawings, and sculptures that are portrayed, and they are in chronological order dating from 1900 until 1968. You will learn an enormous amount by reading any one of the short 1 to 2 page narratives associated with each picture. After each story there are a handful of footnotes, but just a handful. You will then find a provenance or ownership history telling you in every case, who owned this painting from the time it left Picasso's hands until it wound up in the Met Collection. Included in many cases are the purchase prices with associated dates, which is absolutely fascinating to learn about, because you can watch a picture go from $50 when it was created to $12,500 to millions.


You are also provided a short listing of every exhibition in which the art work participated, and there are the references for further research. My favorite section is the last section of each story which is called TECHNICAL NOTE. It tells you in detail technical aspects of the picture including the type of material Picasso used for each work. You will also learn about his particular technique with each picture including the types of paints, or charcoals, how he mixed his paints, and most importantly a preservation history of the art work. Was the varnish removed? What kind of research including x-rays and other techniques were employed to determine if there were pictures underneath the painting in question, or did Picasso pencil in the sketch first, or did he paint without sketching.


What amazed me is that there was nothing dry about the narratives. Usually art intellectuals are among the most boring, pompous people on the planet, but this information was somehow fascinating. There was no attempt to intimidate the reader. This is the only reason I can use to explain my willingness to read this book from beginning to end.


Commencing on page 261 through page 320 you will find the Met's collection of Picasso's lithographs, and etchings. Some are done six to a page, while others are three to a page. Here you will find very short snippets about each art work. These I found worth just glancing at individually to get an excellent feel for Picasso's work.


In summary, the pictures are excellent reproductions, the narratives are superb, and the book has a wonderful feel to it as it was printed on high gloss paper. As far as catalogues for art exhibits go, this book is just superb, and I give it five stars.


Afterthoughts:


If you are like me and you like to go to art exhibits at museums, may I suggest that you first purchase the book associated with the exhibit and spend some time with it, before going to the exhibit. Most people buy the book after viewing the exhibit while leaving. You will enhance your experience by many magnitudes by going through the book first. There is nothing like having knowledge prior to going through the actual pictures, or as one professor said in class years ago, "10 minutes of preview is worth 30 minutes of review."


Richard Stoyeck

The endless permutations of Picasso exhibitions continue unabated. This catalogue is of a showing at the Metropolitan Museum of their collection of Picasso paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics and prints. As such the exhibition does not have any unifying theme.

The undoubted standout work in this collection is the iconic "Portrait of Gertrude Stein". There certainly are other worthwhile paintings and drawings on show; these are primarily from the artist's earlier periods. It must be noted that the bulk of the works are not Picasso's most important creations. Be that as it may, they are still worth a look and I have enjoyed seeing many for the first time. At the end of the book are 400 small sized illustrations of prints by the artist.

This book is up to the usual high standard of Metropolitan Museum publications; the annotations and essays are informative and scholarly. Additionally the reproductions of the art works are of high quality. Picasso fans need not hesitate.