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Picasso's Demoiselles, the untold origins of a modern masterpiece Suzanne Preston Blier

Catalog Data

Author:
Blier, Suzanne Preston  Search this
Physical description:
xvi, 432 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates illustrations (some color) 23 cm
Type:
Books
Criticism, interpretation, etc
Place:
France
Date:
2019
Notes:
Reviewed by Helena Cantone in African arts (Los Angeles) 54 (2) summer 2021, pages 95-96.
Contents:
Setting, sources, titles, and time -- The making of a painting -- Art in the flesh -- The sorcerer's apprentice -- L'oiseau du BeĢnin -- The global brothel -- Le bordel philosophique
Summary:
In 'Picasso's Demoiselles', eminent art historian Suzanne Preston Blier uncovers the previously unknown history of Pablo Picasso's 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon', one of the twentieth century's most important, celebrated, and studied paintings. Drawing on her expertise in African art and newly discovered sources, Blier reads the painting not as a simple bordello scene but as Picasso's interpretation of the diversity of representations of women from around the world that he encountered in photographs and sculptures. These representations are central to understanding the painting's creation and help identify the demoiselles as global figures, mothers, grandmothers, lovers, and sisters, as well as part of the colonial world Picasso inhabited. Simply put, Blier fundamentally transforms what we know about this revolutionary and iconic work
Topic:
Women in art  Search this
Prostitution in art  Search this
Cubism  Search this
ART--General  Search this
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_1116060