Forever Picasso : An intimate look at his last years

Roberto Otero


Harry N. Abrams Inc. Publishers, hardcover with dustjacket, illustrated.
Some handwritten text on endpaper.

What was Pablo Picasso really like, this giant who dominated painting, sculpture, and the graphic. arts for more than half a century, whose tempestuous personal life and self-imposed political exile filled the headlines of the world press?

Forever Picasso provides the answer. An intimate document, it is suffused with the flavor of Picasso's personality during his last golden years. The author, Roberto Otero, is a renowned photographer and a poetqualifications uniquely suited to his task. From 1965 to 1973, he was one of the handful of friends who were always welcome in the Picasso household. During this period Otero's camera and diaries captured the essence of Picasso's daily life and tireless artistic activity. The cream of this extraordinary archive is presented in Forever Picasso.

The book begins with a series of events that occurred during the late summer of 1966, each illustrated with marvelous photographs. The king of art collectors, Joseph H. Hirshhorn, visits Picasso and is dazzled by the riches of the artist's legendary collection. Behind-the-scenes negotiations concerning the famous Chicago monument are carried out subtly—and nervously—by a Chicago architect anxious not to ruffle the quixotic Picasso temperament. Edward Steichen, a very old and very special friend of Picasso's, comes to visit after a long absence. Jacqueline Picasso delicately maneuvers her beloved husband into authorizing a vast homage exhibition despite his initial objections, emerging as a personality in her own right—sensitive to the moods of the people around her, quietly protective of her volatile husband, and blessed with an observant eye and a dry wit. The aging artist lets out the raucous young boy inside him as Picasso enthusiastically watches his last bullfight. These and other poignant and amusing anecdotes make an irresistible memoir.

The second part of the book is devoted to con‘ ersations with Picasso. Culled from twenty-eight diaries that Otero filled over the years, they vividly detail Picasso's thoughts on painting, poetry, the bullfight, friends, Spain, dreams and nightmares, women, and many other subjects. The superb pictures add another dimension. Taken together, text and pictures create an unforgettable portrait of a universally acknowledged genius. His personality—generous, shy, whimsical, passionate, at times crude and brusque but always overwhelmingly human—emerges indelibly from the pages of this remarkable book.