'Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers' - Charles W.Eliot
Artist: Pablo Picasso Author: Helene Parmelin, Douglas Cooper (preface) Publisher: Weidenfeld and Nicholson Date: 1965 Condition: The first English edition, complete with original unclipped printed dust wrapper over linen boards with the artist-designed colour design. The rear board a little damp-stained and the wrapper showing signs of handling marks and a little fading and tanning, but otherwise in good condition consistent with age. The wrapper now protected by a clear acetate wrap. Internally the book is in very good condition, with extensive illustrations in colour and black and white, including many tipped-in colour plates and the two lithographic plates at p.7 and opposite p.46
A beautifully produced and imaginative book, now quite scarce in good condition, which focusses on Picasso in the 1954-63 period and his images of the female figures in paintings, drawings, sculptures and printed media produced in those years.
Written by the novelist, journalist and art critic Helene Parmelin, this is one of many writings on Picasso she produced and it takes a very wide-ranging and imaginative approach to the work, both in the placement of images within the text of the book as well as setting them alongside short poems.
Filled with a feast of images, many of which will be unfamiliar to all but the Picasso specialists, this is a superb book to peruse and absorb the incredible facility of the artist.
