Picasso: Style and Meaning [Paperback]

Elizabeth Cowling (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2004

A ground-breaking book in Picasso scholarship in which Elizabeth Cowling presents a fresh, lucid and detailed analysis of the controversial subject of style in Picasso's work up to the outbreak of World War II. Showing how Picasso drew on the work of other artists and events in his own life and times, she reveals how Picasso consciously manipulated style to convey meaning. Well known as an authority on Picasso, the author has spent nearly ten years researching and writing this major new synthesis. Combining biography, historical background and masterful analysis into a fluent and enthralling narrative, it is full of fresh insights into Picasso's methods and motives, and destined to become the classic introduction to the study of Picasso. Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) is perhaps the outstanding figure in the history of art in the twentieth century, known for his extraordinary virtuosity and variety of style. His vast oeuvre has been divided into distinct periods: Blue, Rose, Negro, Cubist, Neoclassical, Surrealist and so on, and for his admirers this range of styles is seen as the surest sign of his unfettered genius. But for his critics this stylistic inconsistency signals a lack of artistic sincerity. In the first book to look specifically at Picasso's style, Elizabeth Cowling argues that Picasso came to equate stylistic consistency with sterility, and that in drawing freely upon the work of other artists he sought to emulate the formal and emotional range of the actor who can adopt different personae at will. Whereas traditionally artists have tended to achieve variety and meaning through their subject matter, Picasso shared his contemporaries' suspicion of literary themes and gradually reduced his subject matter to a handful of standardized motifs, such as the woman seated in a chair, the artist and his model and the still life, using a vast array of different styles as the principal means of communicating ideas and feelings. In short, style is meaning in Picasso's art; his notoriously mercurial nature found expression in stylistic variety and experimentation. With unfailing intelligence and clarity, an unobtrusive mastery of her sources and exceptional skill in marshalling her arguments, the author has woven biography and analysis into a compelling narrative. The 600 illustrations include all of Picasso's major works up to the beginning of World War II, and these are juxtaposed with their sources - Old Masters, contemporary artists, found objects, and Picasso's own drawings and sketches - to make a visually telling counterpoint to the arguments of the text. Scholars familiar with Picasso's work will find Cowling's fresh insights a revelation and readers new to Picasso will come away with a profound understanding of both Picasso and his art.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Elizabeth Cowling teaches in the Department of Fine Art at the University of Edinburgh and is the co-curator of the Matisse/Picasso exhibition (2002-3). She also co-curated the exhibition Picasso: Sculptor-Painter held at the Tate, London, in 1994. Her previous publications include the Tate exhibition catalogue, On Classic Ground (1990). Author's Residence: Edinburgh

Product Details

• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714842931
• ISBN-13: 978-0714842936
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 8.3 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,318,808 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #56 in Books > Arts & Photography > Schools, Periods & Styles > Cubism

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars With an especial emphasis on his artistic style, May 5, 2004

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Picasso: Style and Meaning (Paperback)

In Picasso: Style And Meaning, author Elizabeth Cowling (lecturer in Art History at the University of Edinburgh and curator of the "Picasso: Sculptor/Painter" exhibition held at the Tate Gallery, London, in 1994) brings her considerable expertise to a major, 704-page, illustrated (507 color, 119 b&w), in-depth examination and history of the work of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) with an especial emphasis on his artistic style. Picasso: Style And Meaning combines biography with analysis into a comprehensive and seminal work that will be of interest and benefit to scholars and enthusiasts of Picasso's seminal and ground breaking artwork for generations yet to come. No personal, professional, or academic Art History collection can be considered neither comprehensive nor complete without the seminal inclusion of Elizabeth Cowling's Picasso: Style And Meaning.