Book Cover
Book
Author Baldassari, Anne.

Title Picasso and photography : the dark mirror / Anne Baldassari ; translated from the French by Deke Dusinberre
Published Paris : Flammarion ; Houston : Museum of Fine Arts, [1997]
©1997

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  779.092 Picass Bal/Pap  AVAILABLE
 WATERFT ART&ARCH  779.092 Picass Bal/Pap  AVAILABLE
Description 263 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 32 cm
Contents Tools for the Eye -- 1900-1906: Monochrome as Paradigm. Photography's Dark Mirror. A "Modern Masterpiece" Photographic Incarnations -- 1906-1909: Grasping the Visible. An African Source for Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. The Bateau-Lavoir Lab. A Summer in Horta -- 1910-1914: "Discovering" Photography. Studio Portraits. Photographic Staging and Compositions -- 1914-1923: Figurative Disorders. The Artist and his Model. Light and Line - Drawings "Based on a Photograph" Pictorial Variations -- 1925-1945: Metamorphoses. Autoscopy. "A Profound Sculpture Out of Nothing..." "Faster than Images..." Charnel Houses -- 1950-1960: Beyond Appearances. "Space Drawings" Photographic Cutouts. "Someone is Scrawling..." Graffiti
Summary The extent to which photography influenced the work of Pablo Picasso is now considered by scholars to be of great importance in the understanding of the artist's entire oeuvre. Linked to a major exhibition, this beautifully illustrated books present a unique view into Picasso's relationship with the photographic arts. The presence in his personal estate of several thousand photographic images, donated to the French government upon his death, prompted this study and bears powerful witness to the artist's versatility and imaginative depth. The collection featured here includes nineteenth-century portraits, postcards featuring colonial themes or ethnic groups in regional dress, as well as portraits, self-portraits and studio views taken by Picasso himself. Already at the turn of the century, they contributed to the artist's figurative expression as well as to his major cubist interpretations. The artist commanded a wealth of themes, styles, and media over his long and productive career, and he explored drawing, painting, and sculpture. His voracious appetite for experimentation led him to push the medium to unorthodox extremes, both stylistically and technically. The range of Picasso's photographic production comprises a variety of forms and techniques and resulted in independent works of art: superimposed photographs, clich-verres, photo-based engravings, photograms and original drawings on photographs, slides, collages, and photographic cutouts. His collaborations with other artists such as Dora Maar, Brassa, Gjon Mili, and Andr Villers reveal a playful inventiveness, and demonstrate his ability to push photography in unexpected directions. The works featured in this study provide new insight into Picasso's creative world. An outstanding text by Anne Baldassari makes a major contribution to Picasso scholarship by examining what could be the last unknown area of the artist's work
Notes Based on three exhibition catalogs written by the author: Picasso photographe, 1901-1916 (1994), "À plus grande vitesse que les images": Picasso et la photographie (1995), and Le miroir noir: Picasso, sources photographiques, 1900-1928 (1997)
Catalog of a traveling exhibition first held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Nov. 16, 1997-Feb. 1, 1998; subsequently held at various European museums
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 258-263)
Notes Translated from the French
Subject Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973 -- Exhibitions.
Art and photography -- Exhibitions.
Photography, Artistic -- Exhibitions.
Genre/Form Exhibition catalogs.
Author Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
LC no. 97034000
ISBN 2080136461 (hardback)
2080136496 (paperback)
Other Titles Dark mirror