Picasso's Demoiselles: The Untold Origins of a Modern Masterpiece

Suzanne Preston Blier

Published by Duke University Press 2019

Picasso's Demoiselles

The Untold Origins of a Modern Masterpiece

Suzanne Preston Blier

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478002048

Overview
Contents

About this book

Eminent art historian Suzanne Preston Blier uncovers a previously unknown history of the influences and creative process of Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, one of the twentieth century's most important, celebrated, and studied paintings.

Author / Editor information

Suzanne Preston Blier is Allen Whitehill Clowes Professor of Fine Arts and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University and the author and editor of numerous books, including Art and Risk in Ancient Yoruba: Ife History, Power, and Identity c. 1300.

Reviews

"Blier uses a host of techniques including formal analysis, textual analysis, and broader global image culture to dig deep into this one painting. Most exciting is when she points out obvious but overlooked information in widely known documentation, including period photographs of Demoiselles in process that show how Picasso developed the composition. Ultimately, Blier offers a reading thoroughly of our time—one in which women are empowered and time and space compressed."

-- Maggie Taft Booklist

"Blier offers a wide-ranging account of the genesis, sources, and context for Picasso’s influential masterpiece. In both cases it is especially timely and meaningful to have women shaping the conversation. . . . Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals."

-- E. Baden Choice

"The book, which features hundreds of illustrations . . . is full of a vast and intriguing array of highways and forays into every possible connection that might suggest itself to construct this argument. As a Black feminist, I found most persuasive Blier’s proposition to table the idea of Les demoiselles as a brothel scene and see it, rather, as a reference to the turn-of-the-century fascination with the portrayal of racial types."

-- Michele Wallace Artforum

“Every age has had its own interpretation of the Demoiselles d’Avignon and with it, its own narrative of Modernism.... Blier's interpretation is doubly interesting, directed as it is at cultural and gender identities and is, without doubt, the one which corresponds ... to our present.”

-- Maite Méndez Baiges (translated by Diana Mathieson) African Studies Quarterly

“What makes Blier’s book truly remarkable is not only its attention to the details surrounding Picasso’s life and work in the years when he painted Les Demoiselles but also her forensic approach to the subject.”

-- Simon Gikandi Art Journal

“Picasso’s Demoiselles is ... a lighthearted, even playful, book.... Blier is an extraordinary writer; her scholarly production is legendary, and her publications have shaped the field of African studies.”

-- Monica Blackmun Visonà Art Journal

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
ONE Setting, Sources, Titles, and Time Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
TWO The Making of a Painting Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	52
THREE Art in the Flesh Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
FOUR The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
FIVE L’Oiseau du Bénin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
SIX The Global Brothel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
SEVEN Le Bordel Philosophique Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	222
CONCLUSIONS The Creative Nexus Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	264
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	297
Sketchbooks: New Dating Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	300
Chronology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	305
List of Illustrations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	312
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	333
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	365
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	415

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 368
Illustrations
- Other: 353 illustrations, incl. 8 page color insert

eBook

Published: December 13, 2019
ISBN: 9781478002048