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Anonymous
Posted May 23, 2002
A journal of Fernande Olivier's experiences with Picasso and the world of art
Loving Picasso caputures one woman's unique experiences as she ventures into adulthood. The book is soley composed of Fernande Olivier's journel entries and letters but it reads easily like a compelling novel. Even at a young age Fernande's writing is witty and capitivating. The story begins with her life as an unwanted child and her dreadful entanglements with the men she encounters. She heroicly escapes to freedom and finds a home in Paris while supporting herself as artist's model. Through modeling she is introduced to the art world and the radical painter, Pablo Picasso. Fernande becomes Picasso first true love and a continous inspiration during the time when Picasso was defining cubism and creating some of his most memorable pieces. I would reccomend this book to anyone who is intersted in art history or is simplying looking for a romatic story of two great lovers. I gained a new apprecation of the arts as well as a newfound understaning of the time period(the early 1900's)and the struggle artists had to endure. After reading Loving Picasso I will never look at a Picasso painting the same and will always wonder if the piece was inspired or protrays Fernande Olivier.
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Anonymous
Posted November 9, 2001
A Challenging Life!
A Challenging Life! Loving Picasso is a book that will touch your heart, and my moisten your eyes. When we visit a museum and see wonderful paintings of striking women, seldom do we think about the conditions under which the art was created. Did the artists and the model have a relationship? If so, what was it? Did they have enough to eat while the work was done? Were they considerate of one another? Was the studio warm or cold? What was the model thinking about as she posed? How had the woman come to model? And so on. I will never look at another painting or sculpture again of a human model without being filled with such questions, as a result of reaching about the life of Fernande Olivier from her private journal, letters, and memoir as presented in Loving Picasso. This beautiful, charming woman lived an extremely difficult life. It was so challenging that few could have emerged from such awful circumstances without being distorted in mind and personality. Yet, Ms. Olivier seems to have avoided both, and been a light in the life of her many male admirers, female friends, and an inspiration to Picasso in his most innovative years. From the book¿s title, you will think that the material is mostly about the years when Ms. Olivier and Picasso lived together, but that¿s only about half the book. The book is really an autobiography through the time when the two split up for the final time in 1912. Readers will be rewarded with many intriguing views of the lives of ¿starving¿ artists in Paris, the many distinguished friends of Picasso and Ms. Olivier, and how Picasso changed as he went from an unknown to one of the recognized leaders of avant-garde art along with Matisse. Having read about Picasso¿s troubled relationships with other women, I was surprised to see that his relationship with Ms. Olivier was one of the most pleasant and productive connections he had in his life. Certainly, he often chose her as a model for his work, and we will always see her as the young person she was then. Many other details in here will either surprise or shock you about Picasso, and expand your understanding of his creative methods and personality. One of the most charming parts of the book can be found in the many images of places where she lived, the people she knew, the paintings and sculptures for which she was the model, and her own drawings. For those who have enjoyed Gertrude Stein¿s, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, you will probably be interested to know that Ms. Olivier¿s writing is considered to be a more accurate and complete version of many of the same events. In fact, there is an interesting view of Ms. Stein¿s apparent efforts to keep Ms. Olivier¿s writing away from an American audience to preserve the market for Ms. Stein¿s own writing on this subject. After you finish this rewarding memoir of a most unique person, I suggest that you think about what the purpose of life is. That¿s a question with which Ms. Olivier had trouble coming to grips. Follow your purpose! Donald Mitchell, co-author of The 2,000 Percent Solution and The Irresistible Growth Enterprise
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