Engaging encounters, personal anecdotes and jargon-free critical insights into some of the liveliest creative minds in modern art, by an international art world insider. Praised by the Art Newspaper as `the best art writer of his generation´, Michael Peppiatt has encountered many European modern artists over more than fifty years.

This selection of some of his best biographical writing covers a wide spectrum of modern art, from Van Gogh and Pierre Bonnard, to personal conversations with painter Sonia Delaunay, artist Dora Maar, who was Picasso´s lover in the 1930s and 1940s, and Francis Bacon, perhaps the most famous of the many artists with whom Peppiatt has formed personal friendships.

Michael Peppiatt´s lively, engaging writing takes us into the company of many notable art-world personalities, such as the Catalan painter Antoni TÃ pies, whom he visits in his studio, and moments of disillusion, such as his meeting with the self-mythologizing artist Balthus.

Art criticism blends with anecdote: riding with Lucian Freud in his Bentley, drinking with Bacon in Soho, discussing Picasso´s trousers with David Hockney... This collection of Peppiatt´s most perceptive texts includes under-recognized artists, such as Dachau survivor Zoran Music, or Montenegrin artist Dado, whose retrospective Peppiatt curated at the 2009 Venice Biennale.

Remarkably varied in their scope and lucidly written for a general reader, these selected essays not only provide us with perceptive commentary and acute critical judgment, they also give a unique personal insight into some of the greatest creative minds of the modern era.


Format Inbunden Omfång 304 sidor Språk Engelska Förlag Thames & Hudson Ltd Utgivningsdatum 2023-04-06 ISBN 9780500021965