Pablo Picasso: The Communist Years

by Gertje R. Utley

In 1944 Picasso joined the French Communist Party, and he remained a loyal member to the end of his long life. This book examines for the first time Picasso's puzzling political commitment to a repressive organization that maintained an authoritarian hold on its artistic community. Gertje R. Utley offers new insights into the impact communism had on the artist's life and on his artistic production.

280 pages, Hardcover

First published October 11, 2000

Reviews

[JerryDeanHalleck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting book that analyzes Picasso's art from October 1944 onwards in light of his communist party membership. It seems getting Picasso to publically join the Party was a real coup for the PCF. Strangely, I thought Picasso had joined in the 1930s, since he was a massive supporter of the Loyalist side in Spain. Book is full of analysis, so if you're looking for Picasso's human interactions with the Party, you need to look elsewhere.

[Nativeabuse · Rating 3 out of 5]

A big long marxist political analysis of Picasso's work in conjunction with some background on the history of Picasso with the communist party. I felt like there was way to much analysis(which I didn't want at all) and way to little information of Picasso's interactions with the communist party. Which was disappointing.