PICASSO'S MASK. Translated And Annotated By June Guicharnaud With Jacques Guicharnaud

Malraux, Andre'

ISBN 10: 0030137519 / ISBN 13: 9780030137518

Published by NY. 1976. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1976

About this Item

olive & black 1/2 cloth hardcover 8vo. (octavo). dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. fine cond.binding square & tight. covers clean. top edge has faint fox spots, other edges clean. contents free of markings. dustwrapper in vg cond. 1" tear on front misssing small piece, corners rubbed. not price clipped. nice clean copy. no library markings, store stamps, stickers, bookplates, no names, inking, underlining, remainder markings etc~. first american edition. first printing (FPuUSA & NAP). 273p. 46 b&w illustrations. biography. memoirs. art history. philosophy. psychology ~Following Pablo Picasso's death in 1973, Andre Malraux was summoned by Jacqueline Picasso, the artist's widow, to her home at Mougins in the South of France. There, surrounded by Picasso's powerful last paintings "painted face to face with death," and his art collection destined for the Louvre, Malraux recollected Picasso's rebellious life and the metamorphosis of his art. Malraux's memories, at once personal and historical, evoke Picasso the private man and the near~legendary artistic genius. Three months later, Malraux returned to southern France to attend the opening of the exhibition "Andre Malraux and the Museum Without Walls" at the Fondation Maeght in Saint~Paul~de~Vence. Although Malraux had insisted that "the Museum Without Walls is by definition a place of the mind," the Fondation, in mounting the exhibit, had given tangible shape to Malraux's concept. The exhibit contained "a profusion of famous paintings . an El Greco next to a Tintoretto . Sculpture from India, China, Cambodia, and Sumer . masks from Africa, initiation helmets from Oceania." These art works from such widely disparate periods and places confirmed for Malraux that all "art is a manifestation of what are unable to see: the sacred, the supernatural, the unreal~of that which they can see only through art." In a speech at a dinner that evening, Malraux articulated his most deeply held beliefs about the place of art~"the revolt against man's fate"~in the modern world and the significance of the Museum Without Walls. Malraux's pilgrimage the next day to Picasso's tomb at nearby Vauvenargues provides a coda to this provocative and profoundly moving memoir. At the grave site, Malraux confronted the essential enigma of artistic creation for "it is from there that Picasso calls upon us, more violently than any of his predecessors, to understand that creation is as mysterious as death.".

Seller Inventory # 8312001

Bibliographic Details

• Title: PICASSO'S MASK. Translated And Annotated By June Guicharnaud With Jacques Guicharnaud
• Publisher: NY. 1976. Holt, Rinehart & Winston
• Publication Date: 1976
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0030137519
• ISBN 13: 9780030137518
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • art history
  • philosophy
  • biography

About this title

Synopsis

Following Pablo Picasso's death in 1973, André Malraux was summoned by Jacqueline Picasso, the artist's widow, to her home at Mougins in the South of France. There, surrounded by Picasso's powerful last paintings "painted face to face with death," and his art collection destined for the Louvre, Malraux recollected Picasso's rebellious life and the metamorphosis of his art. In Picasso's Mask, Malraux's memories, at once personal and historical, evoke Picasso as a private man and as a legendary artistic genius. For over half a century, André Malraux (1901-1976) was intimately involved in French intellectual life, as philosopher, novelist, soldier, statesman, and secretary for cultural affairs. Malraux knew Picasso well, and here recollects a number of his conversations with the painter. In rich, evocative, and memory-filled prose, he has written an inspiring and moving reminiscence. Picasso's Mask is one of the most profound works in Malraux's remarkable oeuvre.

About the Author

André Malraux's many books include Man's Fate, Man's Hope, The Voices of Silence, The Conquerors, The Temptation of the West, and The Walnut Trees of Altenburg.