Picasso: Creator and Destroyer.

HUFFINGTON, Arianna Stassinopoulos.

$50.00

Item Number: 146871

Franklin Center, Pennsylvania: The Franklin Library, 1988.

Signed limited first edition of this ingenious biography of the prolific Cubist painter and hallmark of Surrealism, privately printed exclusively for members of The Signed First Edition Society. Octavo, bound in full top-grain leather with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in four compartments within raised bands, decorated gilt panels with designs by Martha Phillips inspired by Picasso’s hand-decorated books, gilt decoration to the front and rear panels, all edges gilt, silk ribbon laid in, marbled endpapers, frontispiece painting ‘The Old Man and Time’ by Francoise Gilot, Picasso’s companion and the mother of their children Claude and Paloma, illustrated with black and white photographs. Signed by the author on the front flyleaf. In fine condition.

Pablo Picasso, a towering figure in 20th-century art, revolutionized modern aesthetics through his innovative approaches to form, perspective, and abstraction. Renowned for co-founding the Cubist movement, Picasso deconstructed traditional perspectives, fragmenting objects into geometric forms and presenting multiple viewpoints simultaneously. His seminal work, "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" (1907), exemplifies this shift, disrupting classical representations with its bold, angular shapes and disjointed composition. Beyond Cubism, Picasso's influence extended to Surrealism and Symbolism, as he continuously explored new techniques and styles, including his Blue and Rose periods. His prolific output, spanning painting, sculpture, printmaking, and ceramics, underscores his versatility and relentless experimentation. Picasso’s legacy endures not only in his vast body of work but also in his profound impact on the trajectory of modern art, challenging conventions and inspiring subsequent generations of artists.