Book description
Drawing on exhaustive research from interviews and unpublished
archival material, John Richardson has produced the long-awaited third
volume of the definitive biography, full of original, groundbreaking
new insights into Picasso's life and work. His lively and incisive
analysis of the work meshes seamlessly with the rich and detailed
narrative of this complex and sensual life.
The Triumphant Years reveals Picasso at the height of his
powers, producing not only the costumes and sets for such Diaghilev
Ballets Russes productions as Parade and Tricorne but
some of his most important sculpture and paintings. These are
tumultuous years, Picasso torn between marital respectability with
Olga, the Russian ballerina who was his first wife, and the erotic
passion of his mistress, Marie-Therese.
This extraordinary biography ends with the completion of a dramatic
series of drawings of the crucifixion. From then on the horrors of war
would replace any private horrors, leading ultimately to Picasso's
masterpiece, Guernica.
John Richardson worked for Christie's in New York, has written books
on Manet and Braque, and has been a contributor to
The New York
Review of Books, The New Yorker
and
Vanity Fair
. The first volume of his
Life of
Picasso
won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award in 1991. In 1993 he was made a
Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. In 1994-95 he served as the
Slade Professor of Art at Oxford University. He lives between
Connecticut and New York City.
