PICASSO

Pablo Picasso, undisputably one of the greatest masters of the twentieth century, is a perfect embodiment of the modern artist. Forfeiting a conventional career and scorning the artistic establishment - despite his academic training and exceptional natural talent - he fully embraced the bohemian lifestyle of the avant-garde throughout his long and productive life. In this illustrated survey of the artist's career, nearly seventy full-color plates reproduce masterpieces as well as lesser-known works, demonstrating the diversity and scope of Picasso's extraordinary artistic output. The son of a drawing teacher from Malaga, Spain, Picasso moved to Barcelona in 1895 and plunged into the cosmopolitan turn-of-the-century art scene of that city. By 1904 he was living in Paris in the legendary neighborhood of Montmartre. Over the next few years the artist became intrigued by Iberian sculpture and African masks, and incorporated their evocative imagery into his art, culminating in the famous 1907 painting, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. Along with the painter Georges Braque, Picasso then embarked on the artistic revolution known as Cubism, an abstract style that completely altered the way the world was represented in art. As the century progressed, Picasso continued to test artistic boundaries, ultimately developing a highly personal expressionistic style. This is perhaps best represented by the well-known 1937 painting Guernica, the artist's reaction to a horrific episode of civilian slaughter during the Spanish Civil War. Following World War II, Picasso settled in the south of France where he continued to work until his death in 1973.