基本説明
New in paperback. Hardcover was published in 1994. Winner/inner of the 2003 British Academy Book Prize. Elizabeth Cowling was also co-curator of the 'Matisse Picasso' exhibition (Tate Modern, London; Grand Palais, Paris; McMA, New York, 2002-3.
Full Description
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) is notorious for various forms of excess - excess in his love life, an excessive output, an excessively inconsistent style. In this groundbreaking book Elizabeth Cowling draws on her exceptional knowledge as an authority on Picasso to argue that he came to equate stylistic consistency with sterility. Abandoning the traditional use of subject matter to achieve variety and meaning, Picasso gradually reduced his to a handful of standardized motifs and used 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 rare intelligence and clarity, 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.
Contents
Introduction - a painter without style. The art student 1892-1898; the Symbolist 1899-1904; ancestral voices 1904-1908; the styles of Cubism 1908-1914; times of change 1914-1918; Cubism after the War 1918-1924; in dialogue with the past 1918-1924; in Surrealist company 1924-1934; offensive and defensive weapons 1935-1940; epilogue - la comedie humaine.
