Although Mailer relies heavily on previous Picasso biographies and memoirs, from which he quotes extensively, this inspired, lavishly illustrated biography offers an uncanny psychological portrait of Picasso’s inner development as man and artist.
Commenting on 250 black-and-white and 55 colour reproductions woven throughout the text. The prolific author presents Picasso as a painter who was wholly derivative until his Blue Period, and who then harnessed his inner terrors, his dread of mental and physical destruction, as a stimulus to his work.
Mailer considers Cubism, and Picasso’s related discoveries between 1907 and 1917, as his creative peak.
The narrative, which closes on the eve of WWI.
The author pays special attention to Picasso’s relationships with his mistress, Fernande Olivier and quotes liberally from her memoirs.
A fascinating study of a truly great artist.