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Picasso. Kindheit u. Jugend eines Genies (Childhood and Youth of a Genius) 1881-1907
Testo di Josep Palau I Fabre. Con 1557 illustrazioni a colori e in bianco e nero. Biografia . 4to (cm 31,5x30) pp. 560 Rilegato tela (cloth) Manca la sovracoperta (No DJ) Ottimo (Fine)
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1981
About the author
Josep Palau i Fabre
64 books7 followersJosep Palau i Fabre (Barcelona, 21 d'abril de 1917 – 23 de febrer de 2008) fou, essencialment, un poeta però que conreà diferents disciplines artístiques com ara la poesia, el teatre, l'assaig i la narrativa i, a més, fou un dels màxims especialistes en l'obra del pintor Pablo Picasso amb qui mantingué una bona relació durant els darrers anys de la vida de l'artista malagueny.
L'any 2017, amb motiu del centenari del naixement del poeta, es commemorà l'Any Palau i Fabre. L'efemèride se celebrà del 21 d'abril del 2017 al 21 d'abril del 2018.
L'any 2017, amb motiu del centenari del naixement del poeta, es commemorà l'Any Palau i Fabre. L'efemèride se celebrà del 21 d'abril del 2017 al 21 d'abril del 2018.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 11, 2025
Passionate about Pablo? Then you ought to check out this superb monograph on his early years.
Having just got home from a coffee and chat with a pal who's recently taken up oil painting, I pulled this massive weighty old tome off the bookshelves for a trip down memory lane. This hefty book was my first significant big-fancy-art-book purchase, way back before I myself went to art college.
As a youngster who already knew and loved quite a broad range of Picasso's more famed adult periods/styles/works, when I stumbled across this in a second-hand bookshop in my home town, Cambridge (UK), all those years ago, I was totally mesmerised and blown away by the richness of its contents. Looking through it again today I can still see why.
I must confess I've never read that much of the text. I did read a little about his very early childhood, and his tragic suicidal pal, Casagemas (of whom there are many portraits included here), and from what I recall the text was alright. But it's undeniably Picasso's art that makes this book such a desirable object, this being both large format and lavishly illustrated. With nigh on 1600 illustrations, over 350 of which are in colour, this is a veritable treasure trove of the young Pablo Ruiz's work, starting with his first extant doodles, and running right up to the Demoiselles D'Avignon.
His sheer energy, manifest both in his prolific output and the variety and range of all the phases he went through, from the academic drawings and paintings of his youth, to the late C19th works that show an already bewildering range of influences, right up to beginnings of his brutalist, tribal art influenced Desmoiselles, where one glimpses the roots of Cubism to come... it's truly astonishing. No wonder he went on to succeed. He was just SO driven! It was/is his energy and appetite that were and still are huge inspiration to me, as a budding artist, and they leap out of the pages of this lavish book.
Plush art books printed more recently benefit from advances in both photography and printing, and in this respect this book is showing its age a little. But, despite this, the art here is well enough reproduced for that to remain, for me at any rate, a minor gripe. Perhaps, what with the show currently on at the Courtald - at the time of writing this review there's an exhibition at the Courtauld called 'Becoming Picasso: Paris 1901' - the time for a new and improved edition of this magnificent book is ripe?
Whatever, as folk say nowadays, this book remains a fantastic way to get to grips with Picasso the young and developing artist. When I got my copy (circa mid/late 1980s) it was already a second-hand collectible item, but cost approx half - I think I paid £40? - what I see lower price asks for it demanding now. If you can get it for under £100, I’d say just do it. Even if it were to cost more, I'd say it's still worth the investment, particularly - naturellement, as Basil Fawlty would say - if you're passionate about Pablo.
Having just got home from a coffee and chat with a pal who's recently taken up oil painting, I pulled this massive weighty old tome off the bookshelves for a trip down memory lane. This hefty book was my first significant big-fancy-art-book purchase, way back before I myself went to art college.
As a youngster who already knew and loved quite a broad range of Picasso's more famed adult periods/styles/works, when I stumbled across this in a second-hand bookshop in my home town, Cambridge (UK), all those years ago, I was totally mesmerised and blown away by the richness of its contents. Looking through it again today I can still see why.
I must confess I've never read that much of the text. I did read a little about his very early childhood, and his tragic suicidal pal, Casagemas (of whom there are many portraits included here), and from what I recall the text was alright. But it's undeniably Picasso's art that makes this book such a desirable object, this being both large format and lavishly illustrated. With nigh on 1600 illustrations, over 350 of which are in colour, this is a veritable treasure trove of the young Pablo Ruiz's work, starting with his first extant doodles, and running right up to the Demoiselles D'Avignon.
His sheer energy, manifest both in his prolific output and the variety and range of all the phases he went through, from the academic drawings and paintings of his youth, to the late C19th works that show an already bewildering range of influences, right up to beginnings of his brutalist, tribal art influenced Desmoiselles, where one glimpses the roots of Cubism to come... it's truly astonishing. No wonder he went on to succeed. He was just SO driven! It was/is his energy and appetite that were and still are huge inspiration to me, as a budding artist, and they leap out of the pages of this lavish book.
Plush art books printed more recently benefit from advances in both photography and printing, and in this respect this book is showing its age a little. But, despite this, the art here is well enough reproduced for that to remain, for me at any rate, a minor gripe. Perhaps, what with the show currently on at the Courtald - at the time of writing this review there's an exhibition at the Courtauld called 'Becoming Picasso: Paris 1901' - the time for a new and improved edition of this magnificent book is ripe?
Whatever, as folk say nowadays, this book remains a fantastic way to get to grips with Picasso the young and developing artist. When I got my copy (circa mid/late 1980s) it was already a second-hand collectible item, but cost approx half - I think I paid £40? - what I see lower price asks for it demanding now. If you can get it for under £100, I’d say just do it. Even if it were to cost more, I'd say it's still worth the investment, particularly - naturellement, as Basil Fawlty would say - if you're passionate about Pablo.
Displaying 1 of 1 review