Picasso: The Man and His Work - Part 1 (1881-1937) [VHS]

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VHS Movie Reviews of Picasso: The Man and His Work - Part 1 (1881-1937) [VHS]

Movie Review: a comprehensive and fascinating look at the life and art of
Summary: 5 Stars

Movie Review: Disappointing re-cycling of overused home movie material.
Summary: 1 Stars

We have odd glimpses of his life in the "midi" and in his various Paris haunts, including the famous Bateu Lavoir, but the latter (indeed all the earlier images) come via slowly-panned still photographs, almost all of them inferior to those in John Richardson's definitive biography (which see).

One thing that film could and should of done, which no emanuensis ever did, or tried: capture the man at work. Such footage is rare, though no doubt it exists. Problems with the estate meant that Anthony Hopkins (Life with Picasso) could not even use reasonable facsimiles of PP's work for his dramatic re-enactment of his turbulent relationship with Francoise Gilot - so no such records, fictional or factual, exist. That is the gap I was hoping the video might fill, and it fails miserably. Any hope that it might compensate with rich insight, or interesting biographical detail, is dashed in the first five minutes: it is clear that this is a tourist's accompaniment to the Picasso career: rushed, rudimentary and finally insulting. Pricey, too.

Summary of Picasso: The Man and His Work - Part 1 (1881-1937) [VHS]

A video anthology that is a stroke of genius. The life and work of Pablo Picasso, the greatest painter of our time, are captured in this incredible film by director Edward Quinn. Taking advantage of having complete access to Picasso during the last 22 years of the artist's life, Quinn filmed him at work in his studio and at home with his family, creating a living scrapbook of the painter's achievements while revealing unknown aspects of Picasso's creativity and personality.

This priceless program contains over 600 of the artist's works -- many never before seen in public. With sequences showing the evolution of works-in-progress, we chronologically follow his artistic evolution, while witnessing episodes in his personal life in parallel.

Part 1: 1881-1937: Picasso's artistic development starting from his Blue and Pink periods through cubism, the Chryteline and Neoclassical periods, culminating in Guernica.

General Video

• Genres > Documentary
• Special Interests > Art & Artists > Art History
• Documentary
• Special Interests - Art & Artists - General