A quiet, satisfying ending to a masterful accomplishment.
The final chapter of a magisterial biography.
It has been 30 years since Richardson (1924-2019) published his first volume in this grand, highly detailed, and intimate four-volume biography of his close friend. Though this volume ends in 1943, Picasso would go on to create for another three decades. The author’s unique, extensive knowledge and insider information about Picasso—both the man and artist—informs insightful explications of the nuances and symbolism in Picasso’s works; his personal relationships with other artists, writers, and women; and his work habits. By the early 1930s, Picasso’s marriage with Olga was broken, and he was deeply enmeshed with a new, young mistress and model, Marie-Thérèse Walter. That year, he created one of his finest sculptures, Woman With a Lamp (aka Woman With Vase), which graces his gravesite. Richardson believes that sculpture represents Picasso’s long-dead sister, Conchita. The artist’s 1934 Blind Minotaur “commemorates Picasso’s lifelong obsession with his eyesight.” When the surrealists launched a new magazine, Minotaure, Picasso contributed an engraving of a minotaur for the magazine’s cover, thus securing his place within the controversial movement. During lengthy divorce proceedings, he turned to poetry, “painting with words.” Busy juggling multiple mistresses, he settled on a relationship with Dora Maar, “a striking and sophisticated twenty-nine-year-old surrealistic photographer.” During the Spanish Civil War, Richardson notes, Picasso’s works took on a “potent political symbolism” that would inspire one of his greatest paintings, Guernica, which vividly captures his loathing for fascism. He had already done some pieces indicting Franco, but the bombing of the Basque town inspired a massive mural. First exhibited at the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris, “Guernica would establish Picasso as the world’s most celebrated modern artist.” Richardson notes that Picasso’s pieces during this period reflect the substantial influence of Vincent van Gogh, “enthroned in his visual memory.” This final, lavishly illustrated volume softly slips away with Richardson continuing to chronicle Picasso obsessively creating.
A quiet, satisfying ending to a masterful accomplishment.Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-307-26666-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2021
Suffering unfathomable anguish, a mother memorializes her murdered son with great tenderness.
Remembering “Hershy.”
Three hundred and twenty-eight days. That’s how long Hersh Goldberg-Polin was held in captivity—tortured and starved by his captors in underground tunnels—before he was executed. He was 23 years old. In this unvarnished and heartrending account, Goldberg-Polin’s mother, Rachel, writes of the unending torment that she and her husband, Jon, endured after learning that their son had been kidnapped by Hamas terrorists during the attacks of October 7, 2023. Like so many other young people on that day, Hersh was attending a music festival in Israel—a celebration of love and unity. As Goldberg-Polin writes, her son was “the only American citizen kidnapped alive on October 7th who did not return alive.” In direct, plainspoken language that steers clear of politics, the author, a Jewish educator, recounts “being in a daze of the most indescribably sickening horror and fear, like nothing I had ever felt in my life. I remember my heart racing and feeling like I was in a permanent state of someone scaring me.” In addition to “shovel[ing] out my pain in the form of words,” she shares reminiscences of her son, as well as details that only a parent could notice. “His eyes were cookies,” she says of her “Hershy.” “I couldn’t find the pupils within the dark chocolate-brown irises.…He had a raspy voice, even when he was a baby.” And: “I thought he was hilarious; his sarcasm and humor were similar to mine.” Hersh and his sisters, Leebie and Orly, adapted well to life in Israel after the family moved from Richmond, Virginia. (Hersh was born in the Bay Area.) After being discharged from his service in the Israeli army as a combat medic, he was planning to journey around the world—a longtime dream of his. “So many people have come to love you, Hersh,” Jon Polin writes in the book’s afterword. And with one simple word that has the power to touch any heart, he signs off: “Dada.”
Suffering unfathomable anguish, a mother memorializes her murdered son with great tenderness.Pub Date: April 21, 2026
ISBN: 9798217198009
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: April 21, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2026
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
