Customer Reviews

The Sorcerer's Apprentice: Picasso, Provence, and Douglas Cooper

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John Richardson has set aside his scholarly masterpiece (A Life of Picasso: Volumes I & II completed, Volumes III & IV eagerly awaited)to produce something bubbly and light; it is not soda-pop, though, but vintage champagne. Far different from the careful and meticulous research of his Picasso oeuvre, The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a welcome intermission and a clearing of the palate.

Richardson writes about himself and his friends, and especially about his love affair with Douglas Cooper ("The Sorcerer" of the title), art collector, critic and expert on cubism from whom Richardson learned a great deal, both good and bad.The book illuminates not only the relationship between the older, impossible, Cooper and his young apprentice, but also back lights aspects of Picasso, Braque, Lèger and Juan Gris as they are reflected in the tumultuous lives of that odd couple.

The author is an inveterate gossip, as good biographers should be. He likes to tell the little details that deflate or humanize others. He does not have the malice of Capote (although sometimes he comes close), and he is obviously too amiable and forgiving to twist the knife or seek idle revenge.

One cannot be sure about the motives that led to putting out this light froth between the serious stuff; I am glad it is out there, though, and glad I read it. Being taken into Mr. Richardson's confidence and getting to know him will make the enjoyment of his next Picasso volumes all the more intense.

Readers looking for the third installment in the Picasso series should know that this wonderful book is not it -- we have another year or two to wait for that delightful experience. This is indeed an autobiographical journey with Richardson into the lives of some of the most fascinating people ever, not the least of whom is the delicious Mr. Richardson himself. Highly, highly recommended.

Richardson's fine survey of Douglas Cooper, who assembled the world's most important private cubist collection, provides an excellent consideration of both the man and his involvement in the arts and Richardson's personal involvement with Cooper's works. Chapters offer new views of Picasso based on Richardson's friendship with the artist, plus many other unusual insights on artists and works of the times. Highly recommended.

I purchased this book anticipating the pleasure with which I read Mr.Richardson's first two installments of his Picasso bio. Sadly I found this offering unconvincing. It is as much autobiographical as it is a biography of Douglas Cooper (The Sorcerer). The cast of characters is long and illustrious. Mr.Richardson devotes entire chapters to various incidents involving these players. Who cares? One's interest in them is only marginal at best.

The best of the book is reserved for Picasso. I found the chapter describing the suicide of his last mistress (Jaqueline Rocque) absolutely riveting and deeply disturbing. From beyond the grave he was still able to dominate her. Typical Picasso: total control of his women, even in death.

Douglas Cooper was obviously a clever and perceptive art dealer who built up a treasure of modern art and sadly stored it in a chateau with too many doors.

In summary I can only presume Mr.Richardson was paying off a debt to himself and others with this excercise. I am looking forward to Mr.Richardson's further episodes in the life of the true sorcerer; Pablo Picasso.

By Picasso's most distinguished biographer, this memoir of life in Provence in the 1950s with art collector Douglas Cooper mesmerizes with its cast of quirky characters. The inside glimpses of Picasso at work and play are the book's highlight, but one can't underrate other protraits of the arts intelligentsia of the time. Many great candid photos enhance the superbly written text. Why did Richardson stay with Cooper for more than a decade if Cooper, the world's first huge cubist collector, was as horrid a person as portrayed? That's unanswered, and Cooper is long dead and unable to defend himself. Both men, not quite closeted gays in the '40s and '50s, were esteemed companions for some of the era's greatest creatives, so one must temper this acidic portrait with a bit of doubt. Well worth reading even if you haven't looked into the author's Picasso bio, still in progress.

john richardson gives us snippets of a fascinating period intertwining the lives of influential artists and personas. i only wish the book was longer and more descriptive of braque,guttoso and miro. if you collect or enjoy the cubists and their relatives,you will enjoy this book

Compared with John Richardson's 'A Life of Picasso' volumes, 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' might at first seem like a lightweight gossipy airport lounge filler; the sort of publication designed to answer few questions while raising funds for the more serious endeavour. However we can rejoice for this is not the case. 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice: Picasso, Provence, and Douglas Cooper' is an important book in it's own right and should be taken quite seriously. This book will be enjoyed for all it's forthright recollections including it's pronouncements on Picasso, Cooper, Braque, de Stael and Art and Art Society in the early post war years.

Many writers have already put forward their devoted recollections of Picasso (as if he were a demi-god on first name basis) - There are few of them still alive (excepting Gilot and Laporte) who have been able to convincingly portray the less godly side of the artist. Richardson is now stepping into memoir territory and he does so with a good deal of respect, admiration (not too much) and above all pragmatism. Where others have told of a universe controlled by Picasso, existing only for Picasso, Richardson remains soberly objective. This euphoria free examination of the networks which revolve around their sun makes it clear how Picasso was very a much a subject within his own principality.

Importantly the book opens a very generous window into the world of the seemingly decadent post war progressive upper class. These people are aware that the Art-world, as well as society in general, will awaken from it's long dormancy (or torpor) and finally embrace modernism through modern Art. Who is Cooper but a talented art critic, collector and well heeled mentor/lover - who gives us Richardson. Richardson in turn gives us Picasso - the man and not the legend. Could this all have been foreseen by Picasso? Possibly. We know Picasso had a soft spot for posterity and as he himself pushed seventy, meeting an earnest twenty five year old Richardson, he may have recognised an opportunity.

Richardson has noted everything in a judgement free and diplomatic frame of respect to Cooper, Picasso and the whole band of devotees. There is the feeling that this 'tertulia' (a newly created group of devoted friend/followers) exist only to stroke the ego of superstar Picasso during the time of his late oeuvre. Oddly, by not drawing attention to many of Picasso's insecurities (death, impotence, irrelevance) they may have inadvertently made matters worse. Typically, Picasso the pope of paradox, reserves his worse venom for himself.

While Picasso rages harder against the tides of nature, the mercurial and even scurrilous Cooper realistically bows, softening in time. Richardson affectionately commends his old chum Cooper to our consciousness, as he relates to us the man who was his conduit to the stars. Cooper's serious writings may have been superseded but there was one last bitchy critique (concerning Picasso's sometimes patchy late works) that refuses to sink from view - The incomprehensible smearing of a man on death's doorstep. Was it revenge or plain honesty that caused him to make such a deliberate break of faith? As we come to know Cooper, we could even believe it was both.

And what of Richardson himself. His ever varied and charming life is without doubt a fascinating read. In 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' we meet Richardson the apprentice as he overtakes his mentor (the sorcerer Cooper) and breaks free from a futureless relationship with him. Richardson has his own moment of truth re Picasso. Jacqueline had kept stating "Pablo is not dead"- Picasso is still very much alive. The entire Art world (particularly the art market) will concur. Richardson is speaking after all about the inheritors when he pointedly states," the old shaman's shadow..continues to bedevil his heirs" which seems particularly amusing. After all, isn't John Richardson one of them.

I became aware of Mr Richardson by watching his interview on Charlie Rose years ago when the book first published. He is extremely well spoken with a detailed memory of his subject matter. I would suspect that part of the reason that the Picasso pictures have held their value for so long is in part becuase of Mr Richardson's sterling representation that brings the buyers of his work into a circle of distinguished characters that include the author himself. This book is not about Picasso but Mr Richardson and his partners travels across europe and their occasional visits with the artist.

John Richardson's book-The Sorcerer's Apprentice-reveals fascinating details and anecdotes on Picasso and other artists he met through Douglas Cooper, his long time lover.Those chapters are well written, deep, interesting and amusing.The rest of the book is less amusing:Richardson draws a mercyless portrait of Douglas Cooper, which might have served his author as a cathartic exercise, but adds nothing to the reader's knowledge.

Bill Owens captured the great American Migration to the suburbia of the early seventies. Amidst the conformity suggested by social critics and our owm memories of having lived there, he found that which was uniquely human and individual. This loving document, now published in an improved second edition, brings to us a classic in documentary photography.

These are not the photographs of a cultural tourist. These views were secured through the trust reserved for the insider that he was. Lives of his friends and neighbors are captured in a time and place that no other photographer had the insight to document in such a dedicated and revealing fashion. Through these photographs we see and remember the awkward growth and construction of the sense of culture and neighborhood created from scratch. We are reminded that we were living life "in the local," free from the burden of ordained histories, in a place where everything was new and unused.

See and remember the life you thought everyone might want to forget. From the sinister implications of conformity, to the humorous recollections of the rituals of the middle class, Bill saw and recorded it all....a classic not to be forgotten.