Artists: Actually too many to list!
Author: Pedro Lapa (ed.)
Publisher: Museo Colecao Berado, Portugal
Date: 2022
Condition: Absolutely as new. Hardback, with printed dust cover
This book is a bit of a beast - it weighs nearly 4kg and has over 850 pages!
However, once you have settled it down on a solid bit of furniture, it is quite amazing. The Berado Collection covers the major themes in twentieth century art from Cubism onwards, and the scope of the artists included is enormous. Put together by a team of specialists, and with text in both English and Portuguese, we take a walk through some amazing works of art from cubism, through constructivism, Dada, surrealism, post-war figuration, op art, the CoBrA group, pop art in the US and Europe, minimalism, post-minimalism, arte povera, and on and on. It makes for quite a heady brew!
However, for the purposes of the Modern British collectors, the Berado Collection includes a lot of really great British works, from Francis Bacon to Lynn Chadwick, Patrick Caulfield, Allen Jones, Richard Hamilton, Patrick Heron, William Scott, Roger Hilton, Eduardo Paolozzi, Bridget Riley, Gilbert & George, Barry Flanagan, Richard Deacon, David Hockney and more. Set alongside the giants of the century from around Europe and America, it is good to see how well these British artists look in this context. There are areas that aren't covered, so not really much modernism but that doesn't feel a problem. To be honest, there is so much to look at, you hardly notice what isn't there.
The quality is high too, and certainly in the British works you will find several really important examples of the artists included. Berado didn't tend to collect in depth, but the examples he did acquire were mostly very good pieces.
Extensively illustrated and with a very exhaustive catalogue of the works at the back that includes lots of former exhibition history, so very useful for anyone researching the period.
