Picasso: Style and Meaning

Book Description

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) is notorious for various forms of excess -excess in his love life, an excessive output, an excessively inconsistent style. In this groundbreaking book Elizabeth Cowling draws on her exceptional knowledge as an authority on Picasso to argue that he came to equate stylistic consistency with sterility. Abandoning the traditional use of subject matter to achieve variety and meaning, Picasso gradually reduced his to a handful of standardized motifs, and used a vast array of different styles as the principal means of communicating ideas and feelings. In short, style is meaning in Picasso's art; his notoriously mercurial nature found expression in stylistic variety and experimentation.

With rare intelligence and clarity, the author has woven biography and analysis into a compelling narrative. The 600 illustrations include all of Picasso's major works up to the beginning of World War II, and these are juxtaposed with their sources - Old Masters, contemporary artists, found objects, and Picasso's own drawings and sketches - to make a visually telling counterpoint to the arguments of the text. Scholars familiar with Picasso's work will find Cowling's fresh insights a revelation and readers new to Picasso will come away with a profound understanding of both Picasso and his art.

Customer Reviews:

With an especial emphasis on his artistic style.......2004-05-05

In Picasso: Style And Meaning, author Elizabeth Cowling (lecturer in Art History at the University of Edinburgh and curator of the "Picasso: Sculptor/Painter" exhibition held at the Tate Gallery, London, in 1994) brings her considerable expertise to a major, 704-page, illustrated (507 color, 119 b&w), in-depth examination and history of the work of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) with an especial emphasis on his artistic style. Picasso: Style And Meaning combines biography with analysis into a comprehensive and seminal work that will be of interest and benefit to scholars and enthusiasts of Picasso's seminal and ground breaking artwork for generations yet to come. No personal, professional, or academic Art History collection can be considered neither comprehensive nor complete without the seminal inclusion of Elizabeth Cowling's Picasso: Style And Meaning.

Picasso's Guernica: History, Tranformations, Meanings (California Studies in the History of Art, No 26)

Average customer rating:

Picasso's Guernica: History, Tranformations, Meanings (California Studies in the History of Art, No 26)
Herschel B. Chipp
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | History & Criticism | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Painting | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Perhaps no twentieth-century painting has captured the cruel effects of war as powerfully as Picasso's Guernica. For the first time we can understand the entire history of Guernica both as an artistic work and a document of the conflicting forces that shook the world during the 1930s. This rich account not only traces the extraordinary creation of the painting but also establishes the context in which the bombing took place and the form in which the news of it reached Picasso.
As Herschel Chipp demonstrates in his skilled analysis, Picasso initially pursued an idea for this work that had nothing to do with the struggle in Spain. When republican emissaries asked him to paint a large mural for the Spanish pavilion at the 1937 Paris Exposition, they left the subject to him. He began by sketching out a subject that had long interested him: the artist and his model in the studio, working together and engaging in amorous play.
Only after the German Condor Legion bombed the Spanish town of Guernica did Picasso turn from this highly personal theme to one that evoked the anguish of those who had endured the attack. But even as he turned to the theme of suffering, Picasso sought characters for his painting in figures familiar in his art: the women in his life and the animals, horse and bull, that fought in the corrida.
Once the bombing had begun to work on his imagination, Picasso finished Guernica in only twenty-five days. As Professor Chipp guides us through the day-by-day development of Picasso's masterpiece, he vividly conveys Picasso's transformation of all his materials into a wrenching cry against the suffering of war.
Finally, the work describes the odyssey of Picasso's canvas from its first display in the Spanish pavilion to its eventual arrival in Spain. Javier Tusell Gómez, the former director general of fine arts in Spain, contributes a chapter on the delicate negotiations that preceded the transfer of Guernica to Spain and the preparation at the Prado of a secure place to display the work.

Average customer rating:

Picasso : Style and Meaning
Elizabeth Cowling
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MU4PFO

Book Description

Lee Ames, together with Warren Budd, present 50 inhabitants of the deep in step-by-step sketches. "Includes no less than 11 kinds of sharks and 13 animals of the whale family." -- School Library Journal.

Customer Reviews:

Kids Can Draw!.......2007-07-14

My 8 yr old loves drawing! This book shows you step by step how to get sea creatures to appear on the page! Fun for all of us. Great gift idea for any budding artist (or any parent who wants to draw cool things for their kids).

Wonderful, simple, and intruiging!.......2000-05-18

"Draw 50 Sharks..." is an excellent book for children and adults interested in marine life, and at the same time wish to appreciate art. I found the step-by-step sketch examples non-intimidating as some drawing books present themselves. Children will find this book useful as a template for drawing sea creatures, and can improvise from them. The book is a "must-read" for children. Teachers should incorporate this book into their curriculum as a way to spark creativity in children.

Magic School Bus Science Chapter Books Boxed Set (8):Truth About Bats, Search for the Missing Bones, Wild Whale Watch, Space Explorers, Twister Trouble, Giant Germ, Great Shark Escape, Penguin Puzzle

Average customer rating:

Magic School Bus Science Chapter Books Boxed Set (8):Truth About Bats, Search for the Missing Bones, Wild Whale Watch, Space Explorers, Twister Trouble, Giant Germ, Great Shark Escape, Penguin Puzzle
Joanna Cole , Eva Moore , Ann Schreiber , Anne Capeci , Jennifer Johnston , and Judith Bauer Stamper
Manufacturer: Scholastic Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Look Inside Children's Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 043962374X

Product Description

Includes Science Chapter Books 1-8. Penguin Puzzle, The Great Shark Escape, The Giant Germ, Twister Trouble, Space Explorers, The Wild Whale Watch, The Search for the Missing Bones and The Truth about Bats.

Shark and Whale (Ultimate Sticker Books)

Average customer rating:

Shark and Whale (Ultimate Sticker Books)
DK Publishing
Manufacturer: DK CHILDREN
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0756602378

Book Description

DK presents exciting new covers for 13 of your favorite Ultimate Sticker Books: Animal, Baby Animal, Ballet, Bug, Bulldozer, Dangerous Dinosaurs, Dinosaur, Ancient Egypt, Farm, Pony, Shark and Whale, Space, and Truck. Annotated with factual information, each book contains more than 60 full-color, reusable stickers so children can create their own fun scenes.

Whale Sharks: The Giants of Ningaloo Reef

Average customer rating:

Most elaborative book on the whale shark in print today.

Whale Sharks: The Giants of Ningaloo Reef
Geoff Taylor
Manufacturer: Harpercollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0207184984

Customer Reviews:

Most elaborative book on the whale shark in print today........1999-10-16

Geoff Taylor expresses in bold illustrative and narative dialog the study and interaction with the whale shark. Expressing the experience scientists have encountered from the 1800's to the present is most informative and enjoyable. Not only a great research publication but also, should be added to any collection of illustrative wildlife coffee table books.

I Can Draw... (Dinosaurs, On the Farm, Trucks & Cars, Sharks, Whales & Dolphins, Flying Machines, Exotic Animals, People, Creepy Crawlies)

Average customer rating:

I Can Draw... (Dinosaurs, On the Farm, Trucks & Cars, Sharks, Whales & Dolphins, Flying Machines, Exotic Animals, People, Creepy Crawlies)

Manufacturer: Paragon Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0752543717

Product Description

Step by step instructions on how to draw

I Can Draw Dinosaurs, On the Farm, Trucks & Cars, Sharks, Whales & Dol[phins, Flying Machines ...

Average customer rating:

I Can Draw Dinosaurs, On the Farm, Trucks & Cars, Sharks, Whales & Dol[phins, Flying Machines ...

Manufacturer: Parragon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 075258801X

Average customer rating:

Whale Sharks (Whale Discovery Library)
Sarah Palmer
Manufacturer: Rourke Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

Zoology | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Baby-3 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Now You Can Read About Sharks and Whales

Average customer rating:

Now You Can Read About Sharks and Whales
Hoffman
Manufacturer: Willowisp Press/Pages Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0874062217

Whale Sharks (Weird Wonders of the Deep)

Average customer rating:

Whale Sharks (Weird Wonders of the Deep)
Valerie J. Weber
Manufacturer: Gareth Stevens Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Whale Sharks (Creatures of the Sea)

ASIN: 083684565X

Average customer rating:

I Can Draw Sharks, Whales & Dolphins

Manufacturer: Parragon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0752556134

Book Description

Starved for the whole truth, man?

Take a bite out of this bitsy but beefy package, brimming with morsels of wit, wisdom and worldly knowledge brought to you by the one and only Bartholomew J. Simpson. Get the hard–knocks facts of life from the guy who's seen it all, heard it all, done it all and denies it all.

(The "J" stands for "Jo–Jo"...)

Customer Reviews:

A Little Bit Dated, But Still Fun Read for Any Simpson's Fan.......2007-07-09

This book was first published in 1993 and like with all Simpsons' merchandise and books back then changes to the show over time have left these items a bit dated. Published three years after Do the Bartman swept to the top of the charts this book represents The Simpsons' in the early 90s, when the show was more about Bart rather than Homer. Bart had a lot of catchphrases which have not continued onto modern times which are in this book for example in the first lines Bart speaks to the reader as he introduces forgery he tell us "Okay, Listen up man!" Obviously he no longer talks like this so the vocabulary of Bart is a bit dated but the Matt Groening humour isn't.

Bart teachers the reader about personal enrichment through his eyes teaching us how to cope with the different aspects of life such as School, Food, Health, Money, Work, Parents, Art, Culture, Science, Psychology to name but a few of the vast topics covered. Like the vocabulary a lot of other characters hadn't become mainstream or even created in the first few seasons when this book came out so in the school yard there are a lot of illustrations of kid characters we are unfamiliar with but these are little things in no way retract from the overall enjoyment of this book. With the book being so old too, like I did you'll probably find it for a cheap price in many a second hand book shop.

PCE student review.......2007-04-16

Bart Simpson's Guide to life is a wee handbook for the perplexed to learn how to get through life the way Bart does it. It includes scenes with other family members too like Lisa, Homer, Marge, Maggie, and of course Bart. It has different subjects including school, love, money, food, and after hours. The funniest scenes are forgery, how to cheat in school, and Bart's Dream Bedroom. My personal favorite scene is Bart's Dream Bedroom because it has a bunch of stuff in it that I like including an observatory with an intergalactic telescope, a wrestling celebrity bedtime reader, a personal fridge stocked with junk food, a giant comic book collection along the walls, a Spinal Tap World Tour poster, an electronic automatic wardrobe selector, a private basketball court, an E=MC2 snooze time sleep helper, a heavy metal band alarm clock, an alien life form chart, a Tinkle-Matic TM bed wetting sheet absorber, a waterbed with piranhas in it, a 50" thick lead door with a giant ant farm in it, two guard dogs in front of it, a little sister early warning detection system, and a thumbprint identifying lock.

This helped me become the responsible adult I am today........2007-03-09

Not really. In addition to MAD magazine, this book was integral in my life as a kid through high school. It was given to me by my mom many years ago and I still keep it on the shelf next to my "big kid" books. It is fun to pull out and read a few pages from time to time. Heaven vs. Hell, Sex, Money, School, and everything in between.

This book taught me what auf Wiedersehen means. Go ahead, wiki it.

If you are a Simpsons fan, this is an important addition to your collection especially if you are like me and grew up watching the show.

Hilarious Read.......2006-06-21

Bart Simpson's Guide to Life is undoubtadly one of the best books to be based on The Simpsons that I have read.

The laughs keep on coming all the way through to the last page thanks to Matt Groening's pointed wit and satirical look at modern life.

A must for every Simpsons fan.

Funny Book.......2006-01-20

Not only is Bart Simpson's guide to life funny it also has great drawings, and comical jokes, such as the ingredient list on the back of the book. Buy it and you'll be reading it over and over again!

Average customer rating:

A picturesque description of American upper-middle class life (though a bit exaggerated!)

Hilarious Because Its True!

Entertaining Read

Not all poseurs

Bobos has helped me define my world

Bobos In Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There
David Brooks
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense

Class: A Guide Through the American Status System

Snobbery: The American Version

The Natural History of the Rich: A Field Guide

Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life

ASIN: 0684853787

Amazon.com

You've seen them: They sip double-tall, nonfat lattes, chat on cell phones, and listen to NPR while driving their immaculate SUVs to Pottery Barn to shop for $48 titanium spatulas. They tread down specialty cheese aisles in top-of-the-line hiking boots and think nothing of laying down $5 for an olive-wheatgrass muffin. They're the bourgeois bohemians--"Bobos"--an unlikely blend of mainstream culture and 1960s-era counterculture that, according to David Brooks, represents both America's present and future: "These Bobos define our age. They are the new establishment. Their hybrid culture is the atmosphere we all breathe. Their status codes now govern social life." Amusing stereotypes aside, they're an "elite based on brainpower" and merit rather than pedigree or lineage: "Dumb good-looking people with great parents have been displaced by smart, ambitious, educated, and antiestablishment people with scuffed shoes."

Bobos in Paradise is a brilliant, breezy, and often hilarious study of the "cultural consequences of the information age." Large and influential (especially in terms of their buying power), the Bobos have reformed society through culture rather than politics, and Brooks clearly outlines this passing of the high-class torch by analyzing nearly all aspects of life: consumption habits, business and lifestyle choices, entertainment, spirituality, politics, and education. Employing a method he calls "comic sociology," Brooks relies on keen observations, wit, and intelligence rather than statistics and hard theory to make his points. And by copping to his own Bobo status, he comes across as revealing rather than spiteful in his dead-on humor. Take his description of a typical grocery store catering to discriminating Bobos: "The visitor to Fresh Fields is confronted with a big sign that says 'Organic Items today: 130.' This is like a barometer of virtue. If you came in on a day when only 60 items were organic, you'd feel cheated. But when the number hits the three figures, you can walk through the aisles with moral confidence."

Like any self-respecting Bobo, Brooks wears his erudition lightly and comfortably (not unlike, say, an expedition-weight triple-layer Gore-Tex jacket suitable for a Mount Everest assault but more often seen in the gym). But just because he's funny doesn't mean this is not a serious book. On the contrary, it is one of the more insightful works of social commentary in recent memory. His ideas are sharp, his writing crisp, and he even offers pointed suggestions for putting the considerable Bobo political clout to work. And, unlike the classes that spawned them--the hippies and the yuppies--Brooks insists the Bobos are here to stay: "Today the culture war is over, at least in the realm of the affluent. The centuries-old conflict has been reconciled." All the more reason to pay attention. --Shawn Carkonen

Book Description

Do you believe that spending $15,000 on a media center is vulgar, but that spending $15,000 on a slate shower stall is a sign that you are at one with the Zenlike rhythms of nature? Do you work for one of those visionary software companies where people come to work wearing hiking boots and glacier glasses, as if a wall of ice were about to come sliding through the parking lot? If so, you might be a Bobo.

In his bestselling work of "comic sociology," David Brooks coins a new word, Bobo, to describe today's upper class -- those who have wed the bourgeois world of capitalist enterprise to the hippie values of the bohemian counterculture. Their hybrid lifestyle is the atmosphere we breathe, and in this witty and serious look at the cultural consequences of the information age, Brooks has defined a new generation.

Customer Reviews:

A picturesque description of American upper-middle class life (though a bit exaggerated!).......2007-06-16

The perfect book to read in a long flight. Come to think about it, if you happen to be flying abroad and this is not your first time, you'll probably find a lot of yourself described in this book. And that is regardless of your nationality! Easy to read and amusing though a bit exaggerated as the people they describe in the book are not upper-class but upper-middle class. Yet, I would definitely recommend it.
PS: Read "Class" by Paul Fussel if you really want to understand the American Class System.

Hilarious Because Its True!.......2007-03-30

Go to any college campus, resort town, or urban-chic hotspot in America today and David Brooks' "Bobos In Paradise," could act as an incredibly detailed and relevant tour guide. Everyone knows a Bobo whether they realize it or not...in fact they may be one themselves, though they would never admit it. After reading this book I realized that I am in fact a Bobo. Brooks cracked the code for me on things I had always noticed, but never been able to put into words regarding the new class of society forming in America; the exotic coffee drinking, urban outfitter/anthropologie wearing, mutual fund owning, I go climb Himalayan ranges barefoot and drink yak's milk tea with the sherpas over Spring Break for fun because all the "tourists" stay in Kathmandu, class of society. The people that will not like this book are the ones that take themselves way too seriously...most likely because they are probably Bobos too, but too proud to admit it. Entertaining to say the least!

Entertaining Read.......2007-03-29

I had to read this book for a freshman level economics class, and wasn't looking forward to it. However, it was good. It tends to drag on toward the middle, but overall is entertaining and you will find yourself recognizing people you know or even yourself.

Not all poseurs.......2006-11-06

Intermingling witty observations with a fluid expository style, the author paints a multifaceted picture of the hybrid gypsy/ conventional trappings of many of today's upscale professionals. He even coins a term bobo, a contraction of the phrase bohemian - bourgouisie to categorize this demographic.

What I find troubling in Brooks' thesis is his interpretation that adaptations of the aesthetic motifs and insignia from any cultural or economic group other than of one's own heritage is necessarily an act of pretension. His view seems to be that the bobo lifestyle is predicated on an "I'm more globally and ecologically conscious than you" one upmanship which basically boils down to consumerism and display on a grand scale. Any lifestyle could be a pretension. A well-meaning attempt at synthesizing appealing aspects of other heritages need not brand one as a poseur. After all, there is much evidence to show that cultural intermingling (not always of benign impetus) has been more the rule than the exception in human history.

Brooks does not explore the "why's" of boboism. The ease and frequency of international travel, as well as the massive influx to the USA of immigrants, the acceptance of marriage outside one's demographic and the diversity promoted by institutes of higher education could well be contributing factors. Also, the very traits that helped bobos rise to their economic level - innovativeness and creativity - could themselves motivate bobos to explore the kinds of novelty Brooks describes in their personal lives.

Bobos has helped me define my world.......2006-10-28

This is one of the most useful books I have read in the past year.

I live immersed in a Burning Man, neo-hippies-with-money world, and so many things about my friends, my culture and my own life made no sense until I read this book. I found particularly compelling the story about the clash between the old WASP elites and the rising technocratic, bohemian elite in the 1960s. The "Sixties" is, I believe, much better understood as a clash between elites.

I believe the next great clash of elites will be between national elites and global elites. Watch for it.

I am Bobo. Hear me Roar.

Thank you, Mr. Brooks, for giving me a context for my culture.

Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There

Average customer rating:

Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There
David Brooks
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NXTU4Q

Average customer rating:

Bobos in paradise: the new upper class and how they got there
David Brooks
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster c2000
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ON3MEO

Bobos In Paradise - The New Upper Class And How They Got There (bobos = Bourgeois Bohemians)

Average customer rating:

Bobos In Paradise - The New Upper Class And How They Got There (bobos = Bourgeois Bohemians)
David Brooks
Manufacturer: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K09DMG

Average customer rating:

Bobos In Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There

Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000E7RX40

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books