This book, published to accompany a major exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, opening in April 1996, no doubt will long remain the definitive work on its subject.

This book explores the challenge of the modernist portrait through the multiple solutions proposes by its foremost protagonist and, in so doing, becomes the first volume ever published on the subject of Picasso and portraiture. Reproducing hundreds of works in oil, gouache, pastel, charcoal and other media this handsome volume demonstrates the remarkable range of Picasso's experimentation in all its stylistic and psychological diversity. Different periods and aspects of Picasso's career are examined and personal relationships between Picasso and his subjects are clarified. Many photographs, some never before published and many by outstanding photographers, present the subjects of the portraits as seen by the camera.

From first to last, Picasso's prime subject was the human figure and portraiture remained a favourite genre. His earliest portraits were done from life and reveal a precocious ability to catch likeness and suggest character and state of mind. B y 1900 Picasso was producing portraits of astonishing variety and thereafter they reflected the full range of his innovative styles - symbolist, cubist, neoclassica l, surrealist, expressionist. B ut however extreme his departur e from representational conventions, Picasso never wholly abandoned drawing from the sitter or ceased producing portraits of classic beauty and naturalism. For all his radical originality, Picasso remained in constant dialogue with the art of the past and his portraits often alluded to canonical masterpieces, chosen for their appropriateness to the looks and personality of his subject. Treating favourite Old Masters as indecorously as his intimate friends, he enjoyed caricaturing them and indulging in fant asies about their sex lives that mirrored his own obsession with the interaction of eroticism and creativity. His late suites of free ' variations ' after Vel�zquez's Las Meninas and Rembrandt's The Prodigal Son , both of which involve self - portraiture, allow ed him to ruminate on the complex psychological relationship of artist and sitter, and continu ities between past and present. When Picasso depicted people in his intimate circle, the nature of his bond with them inevitably influenced his interpretation. T he focus of this book is not, however, Picasso's life story but his creative process, and, although following a broadly chronological path, its chapters are structured thematically. Issues addressed in depth include Picasso's exploitation of familiar pose s and formats, his sources of inspiration and identification with favourite Old Masters, the role of caricature in his expressive conception of portraiture, the relationship between observation, memory and fantasy, critical differences between his portray al of men and women, and the motivation behind his defiance of decorum and the extreme transformation of his sitter's appearance.

Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth 17 June to 16 September 2007.

Portraiture, the most popular genre of painting, occupies a central position in the history of Western art. Despite this, its status within academic art theory is uncertain. This volume provides an introduction to major issues in its history.

This book, published to accompany a major exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, opening in April 1996, no doubt will long remain the definitive work on its subject.