Binge-Reading Picasso

I find myself so overwhelmed by the task of reducing Volume I of John Richardson’s epic 4-part biography A Life of Picasso, to a small blog post that I can’t imagine how Richardson himself faced the enormity of his subject, one that he has been working on for decades: Volume I was originally published in 1991; Volume II in 1996; Volume III in 2007; and the unpublished Volume IV is more than two years behind schedule. Richardson, who is now 92, said in an interview with Alain Elkann earlier this year: “I am up to 1939 and I want to go through the war.” However, according to Wikipedia, the fourth volume may now close at 1940, versus 1944 (Picasso died in 1973). We’ll just have to wait and see.

Much more than a compelling biography, A Life of Picasso is an essential book for anyone interested in twentieth-century art. The Knopf paperback reprint edition of Volume I: The Prodigy, 1881-1906 is 560 pages long, weighs in at two pounds, contains 800 black & white illustrations printed in broad columns alongside the text – and I couldn’t put it down.

Drawing on his close friendship with Picasso and unprecedented access to Picasso's studio and papers, Richardson presents a detailed and compelling account of Picasso’s early years. At every stage of his development from birth to the creation of his art-history changing masterpiece, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, there are mini-biographies of family members, ancestors, friends, muses, poets, writers and rivals, all meticulously researched and seamlessly woven into the narrative of Picasso’s life and work.

The well-known and life changing events in Picasso’s early life are covered: the relationship with his failed artist father; the moves to Barcelona, Madrid and Paris; and the suicide of his friend Carles Casegemas. Equally covered are the lesser known, quieter moments, such as Picasso’s need to embellish his impoverished top floor studio in Barcelona that he shared with Casegemas:

“Visitors panting from the climb would find the walls on the final flight of stairs ‘frescoed’ with a running frieze of caricatural figures. Inside the loft Picasso had used his brush to conjure up an embarrass de richesse. Console tables groaned with fruit and flowers and piles of gold coins, bookcases with shelves of richly bound volumes. The walls were lined with a suite of grand furniture, an elaborate bed and even a safe for valuables. There was also a page to run errands and a voluptuous maid with mammoth breasts to look after the maîtres de maison.”

We learn the stories behind the saltambiques, harlequins, absinthe drinkers, prostitutes, models, waifs, children and circus performers who populate Picasso’s early work. We visit the places we know from legend: the Quatre Gats, the Bateau Lavoir, the Cirque Médrano, and the Lapin Agile. We meet the illuminaries in Picasso’s circle: Max Jacob, Gertrude and Leo Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Apollinaire, and the rival who spurred him on, Matisse.

There’s so much rich material here that I already feel the need to read Volume I again. But first I’m going to read Volumes II and III. Maybe by the time I’m done, Volume IV will have been published.

Now it’s your turn to click.

Click here to purchase Volume I: The Prodigy, 1881-1906 from Amazon.com

Click here to purchase Volume II: The Cubist Rebel, 1907-1916 from Amazon.com

Click here to purchase Volume III: The Triumphant Years, 1917-1932 from Amazon.com