Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0847820963, Hardcover)

Pablo Picasso went to Italy in 1917 to work on a curtain design for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes production of Parade and returned to France with a prima ballerina, Olga Koklova, who became his first wife. He also brought back enough memories to affect his imagery for several decades, as readers discover in this 367-page book. There are 13 essays here, such as Jean Clair's "Notes on the Iconography of Harlequin," Anne Baldassari's "Pompeian Fantasy: a Photographic Source of Picasso's Neoclassicism," and Ornella Volta's "Picasso and Italy: the Last Memories of His Journey." These are unfortunately set in unindented paragraphs and small type, so general readers and art lovers may find them rough going. But the book is filled with large color plates reproducing Picasso's paintings, drawings, and prints, including many that are only rarely seen, such as a group of caricatures of his companions, including Diaghilev and Léon Bakst. The book also includes dozens of reproductions of period photographs, mementos Picasso collected on his travels, and art that affected him--Pompeiian wall paintings, ballet dancers, and classical painting. Readers who brave the text will find much food for thought, as well as some priceless quotes from the master. When Picasso went to the Sistine Chapel, for example, he found the Raphaels wanting. "Good, very good," he remarked, "but it can be done, don't you think?" Then, turning to the Michaelangelo's Last Judgment: "Now this is more difficult." --Peggy Moorman