Artists' Lives

Praised by the Art Newspaper as the best art writer of his generation , Michael Peppiatt has encountered many European modern artists over more than fifty years. This selection of some of his best biographical writing covers a wide spectrum of modern art, from Van Gogh and Pierre Bonnard, to personal conversations with painter Sonia Delaunay, artist Dora Maar, who was Picasso s lover in the 1930s and 1940s, and Francis Bacon, perhaps the most famous of the many artists with whom Peppiatt has formed personal friendships. Michael Peppiatt s lively, engaging writing takes us into the company of many notable art-world personalities, such as the Catalan painter Antoni Tàpies, whom he visits in his studio, and moments of disillusion, such as his meeting with the self-mythologizing artist Balthus. Art criticism blends with anecdote: riding with Lucian Freud in his Bentley, drinking with Bacon in Soho, discussing Picasso s trousers with David Hockney... This collection of Peppiatt s most perceptive texts includes under-recognized artists, such as Dachau survivor Zoran Music, or Montenegrin artist Dado, whose retrospective Peppiatt curated at the 2009 Venice Biennale. Remarkably varied in their scope and lucidly written for a general reader, these selected essays not only provide us with perceptive commentary and acute critical judgment, they also give a unique personal insight into some of the greatest creative minds of the modern era. > 'Beautifully written, suavely informative and thoughtfully inflected there is > much to cherish and enjoy' - Andrew Lambirth, The Spectator > 'Scans the landscape of modern European painting and sculpture, giving us > sketches of notable figures' - Arthur Hoyle, New York Journal of Books > 'Remarkably varied in their scope and lucidly written for a general reader a > unique personal insight into some of the greatest creative minds of the modern > era' - Book Therapy