A Life of Picasso Volume III

The magisterial third volume in John Richardson's prize-winning life of the great artistDrawing on exhaustive research from interviews and unpublished archival material, John Richardson has produced the long-awaited third volume of the definitive biography, full of original, groundbreaking new insights into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.

“The latest instalment of the finest artistic biography ever written”

-- Waldemar Januszczak Sunday Times
No man is better qualified to write the biography of Picasso...he writes with such fluency, simplicity and clarity that his knowledge and illuminating wisdom are very lightly borne... A marvellous book -- Brian Sewell Evening Standard
Unmissably good -- Tim Martin 'Christmas Biography Choice' Daily Telegraph
Every page provides some insightful and fascinating information -- William Boyd 'Books of the Year', Sunday Herald
I love this tumultuous, mercurial, idiosyncratic cavalcade of a book... It is a book that manages to be simultaneously individual and authoritative, and makes one impatient for the next volume -- Philip Hensher Daily Telegraph

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.

'Out of the detail the man Picasso emerges, as startling as a character in any good novel...it is glorious to read the story of an artist which does not make the sins count for more than the paintings, does not forget the life while theorising the paintings to dust. Richardson is writing the life of Picasso without ever forgetting the point of him' Michael Pye, Scotsman ' No man is better qualified to write the biography of Picasso...he writes with such fluency, simplicity and clarity that his knowledge and illuminating wisdom are very lightly borne...a marvellous book' Brian Sewell, Evening Standard 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 sculptures and paintings. These are tumultuous years with Picasso torn between marital respectability with Olga, the Russian ballerina who was his first wife, and the erotic passion of his mistress Marie-Thrse. 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 . 'Gossipy, profound, insightful and non-judgmental, Richardson is terrific company. This volume joins its predecessors as unrivalled among artists' biographies' Financial Times 'Monumental' Independent on Sunday

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