The book I chose
to describe was Picasso by Wilhelm
Boeck and Jaime Sabartés.
The book’s cover is eight by 8 x 11 ½ inches and it is 1 ½ inches thick,
consisting of 524 pages, including a biographical summary and bibliography. The
book, as can be expected from the title, describes Pablo Picasso’s life as an
artist. The covers, front and back, were both made by Picasso himself for the
book. The front cover has no title, and is a black and white image of two overlapping
faces, one with a dashed line one with a solid line, which are facing opposite
directions. There are also designs with horizontal stripes. The back cover is
of a similar style as the front, but consists of one circle, again with two
overlapping faces in black and white. There are horizontal black stripes as
well as stripes coming from the circle in a ray-like pattern. The spine has
Picasso’s signature in solid black, as well as the call number, ND 553 .P5 B64.
The cover is very appealing, with its contrasting colors and Cubist style. The
book is obviously old, as can be seen by the foxing along the edges of the
cardboard binding and yellowing pages. In some places along the edges, the
print on the covers is simply peeling off. The print itself is fairly small,
but the margins are very wide, over two inches wide, so that directions to
referenced paintings and pieces of art can be placed, so a reader might easily
flip to the works being mentioned. Although it does not list the font used, it
appears to be quite similar to the Times New Roman or Georgia fonts that are
commonly used today. The first part of the book covers Sabartés’s own view
on Picasso, and the second part is Boeck’s summary of Picasso’s life and works.
The third is a compilation of photos of his paintings, sculptures and ceramics
in both black and white and color.
It would seem that the book is for readers looking for an in-depth
history on Pablo Picasso, so perhaps historians or music and arts students. The
book chronicles Picasso’s entire history of creation, and gives detailed
explanations of his pieces and the hidden meaning behind them. The density of
the text is also a clue that this is a serious book meant for studious
purposes. There are multiple breaks in the text, but these are only for the
addition of pictures of the pieces being interpreted, analyzed and described,
not for aesthetic reasons. Due to the high level nature of the text, it can be
assumed that undergraduate level college students or higher would be using this
text. It is an interpretive analysis of a very specific artist and his work
within the context of his time period, and would most likely be much too
specific Although the cover is very interesting, I believe that it only is this
way because the artist himself was asked to design the image specifically for
the book, and so it was used for that purpose. There are two contributors, one
of whom – Jaime Sabartés – is only cited to have anything to do with
the part of the book simply describing his feelings about Picasso. This means
that the source is rather limited to what Wilhelm Boeck has to say in light of
interpretation, and could bring the audience to question some of his analyses,
especially if they are using Picasso as
a source for a critical paper. One can, however, conclude that both authors are
both incredibly well-versed in the world of the arts and the history of
Picasso, especially if they were in contact with him – as they had to have been
to commission the book cover from him. In short, this book would most likely
best serve someone in the arts who has a high reading comprehension, and an at
least basic understanding of Picasso and his work.
Boeck, Wilhelm and Sabartés, Jaime. Picasso. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York: 1957. Print.
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