Volume 3, Number 8 · December 3, 1964
Trompe l'Oeil
By John Richardson
Life with Picasso
by Françoise Gilot, by Carlton Lake
McGraw-Hill, 373 pp., $6.95
Everything about Picasso is interesting. Even the most trifling facts of his personal life turn out to be valuable clues which explain his unpredictable changes of subject, style, or mood. If, for instance, he is prevented from going to the bull-fight of a Sunday, he will console himself by doing drawings of a corrida. If he acquires a new mistress, her presence will at once be reflected in his work—in still lifes as well as figure paintings. If he acquires a new dog, there will be pictorial repercussions. All this puts the student of Picasso's art in an embarrassing dilemma. His understanding of what goes on in the studio will inevitably depend on his knowledge of what is happening elsewhere—not just in the house but on the street and out in the world. For this information he has to rely on books by Picasso's intimate friends. Some are most useful, others are not always reliable. Take the present volume.
Review, 1831 words
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