Pablo Picasso: A Biography for Beginners

By: Carl Rollyson

Narrated by: John Stamper

Picasso has often been called the greatest artist of this century. This biography defines his greatness: his accomplishment and versatility as a painter, sculptor, graphic artist, ceramicist, and designer. Most of the innovations in 20th century art are associated not only with his work but with the legend he built of himself as the quintessential modern artist. Rollyson, an experienced biographer who has taught Picasso in college classrooms, explores the artist's early years in Spain, the treatment of women in his art and his life, and the influence of contemporary French writers on his experimentation with a number of different styles. Picasso's greatest works of art, such as Les Demoiselles D'Avignon and Guernica become focal points of this biography, establishing the artist's central place in international culture. Rollyson concludes with an assessment of Picasso's importance and the qualities of his best work that are likely to continue to influence artists in the future. With a detailed timeline, annotated bibliography, videography, glossary, and listing of important websites, this biography is the place to start for an introduction to Picasso's life and work.

©2009 Carl Rollyson (P)2015 Carl Rollyson

Good Intro to Modern Historical Revisionism

This book dwelt a the toilet bowl of history, the new fad in journalism.

The book spent a lot of time on his mistreatment of women (as if he were an anomaly for his generation, he wasn't), and his other character faults, and not on his artistic impacts on the world. Sad.

So this was more of a sad psychological perspective on the toilet bowl plane, though 'revisionism' is a misperception in itself, when what is really going on is the journalistic creed of "find a fresh and new perspective", which usually devolves into looking under the toilet lid, and focusing more on how many time someone picked his nose (allegorically speaking), hence the skewed, distorted perspectives that result from such a warped journalistic creed driven more by greed and desperation than anything else.

very well worth read

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to his biography I was totally fascinated with how well disciplined he was.