Picasso - Challenging the Past

A ground-breaking book in Picasso scholarship in which Elizabeth Cowling presents a fresh, lucid and detailed analysis of the controversial subject of style in Picasso's work up to the outbreak of World War II. Showing how Picasso drew on the work of other artists and events in his own life and times, she reveals how Picasso consciously manipulated style to convey meaning. Well known as an authority on Picasso, the author has spent nearly ten years researching and writing this major new synthesis. Combining biography, historical background and masterful analysis into a fluent and enthralling narrative, it is full of fresh insights into Picasso's methods and motives, and destined to become the classic introduction to the study of Picasso.