Picasso and Apollinaire: The Persistence of Memory - Tapa dura

"This is a remarkable account of one of the most fascinating and fruitful artistic friendships of the twentieth century. Peter Read writes with great knowledge and sympathy about the complex ways in which Apollinaire and Picasso provoked and inspired each other, and how Apollinaire's presence continued to resonate in Picasso's work long after the poet's death in 1918. Carefully researched and gracefully written, this book will satisfy the general reader as well as the specialist: it is both deeply informative and a pleasure to read."—Jack Flam, author of Matisse: The Man and His Art, 1869-1918

"Full of scintillating historical detail and written with a vivid sense of the cultural scene in which Picasso and Apollinaire formed their friendship, this brilliant book is a must for anyone who wants to understand the dialogue between poetry and the visual arts in modernity. Read constructs an original path through the most important years of Picasso's career, and also provides us with a profound glimpse of the artist's many memorial gestures to his lost friend, including the fascinating story of the eventual inauguration of a sculptural monument in honor of the poet, its disappearance and reappearance."—Neil Cox, author of Cubism

“Picasso and Apollinaire were the founding fathers of the modern movement: virtually every innovation in modern art and literature can be traced to them. Using his unrivaled knowledge of French poetry, literature, and art criticism, Peter Read explores the friendship that bound these two giants together. His brilliant and revelatory book is written with a lightness of touch that belies more than twenty years of painstaking research.”—Patrick Elliott, author of Picasso on Paper