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Product Description
Paul Preston, author of Franco: A Biography, A Concise History of the Spanish Civil War and Juan Carlos
‘This history of a painting is an astonishing achievement, a cornucopia of startlingly original insights’
Review
'Enthralling ... This is high-action drama, told like the rest within a huge frame of reference, theme interlocked with theme ... A painting which began its life within a particular political context has emerged as a universal statement on the ever-present horror and suffering of war. Van Hensbergen has treated an extraordinary subject admirably' Evening Standard 'Brilliant' Observer 'Hensbergen shows how the history of art, world events and the drama of Picasso's own life came together on the canvas ... This is a fascinating biography, very gracefully handled' Miranda France, Daily Telegraph 'This is a dramatic story with all the twists and turns of a political thriller, all the danger of an action adventure, and all the sexual intrigue of a romantic novel. A racy narrative is combined with the fruits of encyclopaedic research' Sunday Herald
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Guernica is probably the iconic painting of the 20th century, revered as an artistic masterpiece and as a ringing political statement. A tapestry copy appositely hangs in the UN building in New York, to remind delegates of the nightmares their decisions may produce.
Van Hensbergen starts with Picasso's increasingly troubled life and work in the early 1930s and his last visit to Spain in 1934, revealing the genesis and mutations of Guernica, Picasso's most potent mythological work. The news of the bombing of Guernica filled Picasso, until then suffering from artist's block, with passionate creative fury. Hensbergen is very perceptive about the demons that drove Picasso at the time, and the myths and images that this self-confessed artistic 'kleptomaniac' drew on when creating his vast work.
The book traces the painting's progress from its first, not very favourable reception at the Paris World Fair in 1937, through peripatetic showings in Europe, to the United States, where it had a tremendous impact on artists such as Gorky and other Abstract Expressionists. (It was also often damned by the unsympathetic as Communist and degenerate, in terms Nazis might have used). The book ends with Guernica's triumphant installment in Reina Sofia in Madrid, a home-coming denied Picasso himself. As half the world's artists, curators and critics seem to have been involved at some stage with Guernica, the book also provides vivid snapshots of the mid-20th century art world in Europe and the USA.
The illustrations are excellent, the overall lack of colour (there are just four colour plates) presenting no problem because Guernica itself and the many photographs do not need it.
Van Hensbergen starts with Picasso's increasingly troubled life and work in the early 1930s and his last visit to Spain in 1934, revealing the genesis and mutations of Guernica, Picasso's most potent mythological work. The news of the bombing of Guernica filled Picasso, until then suffering from artist's block, with passionate creative fury. Hensbergen is very perceptive about the demons that drove Picasso at the time, and the myths and images that this self-confessed artistic 'kleptomaniac' drew on when creating his vast work.
The book traces the painting's progress from its first, not very favourable reception at the Paris World Fair in 1937, through peripatetic showings in Europe, to the United States, where it had a tremendous impact on artists such as Gorky and other Abstract Expressionists. (It was also often damned by the unsympathetic as Communist and degenerate, in terms Nazis might have used). The book ends with Guernica's triumphant installment in Reina Sofia in Madrid, a home-coming denied Picasso himself. As half the world's artists, curators and critics seem to have been involved at some stage with Guernica, the book also provides vivid snapshots of the mid-20th century art world in Europe and the USA.
The illustrations are excellent, the overall lack of colour (there are just four colour plates) presenting no problem because Guernica itself and the many photographs do not need it.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A full account of Picasso's finest painting. The story of the painting has been approached at all levels. It is not an 'arty' book, full of incomprehensible jargon, but as the line says 'a biograpy' It tells a story and encourages the reader to pay the Queen Sofia gallery a visit to see it. In fact, you have no choice, but to visit Picasso's Guernica, even if only to be stunned by its size and audacity. But hopefully more than that, to remember. A book worthy as a gift.
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