Visiting Picasso: The Notebooks and Letters of Roland Penrose

These documents are important, exhilarating and fresh. They are uncensored, first-hand, on-the-spot observations of Picasso at home and in company.

The informal immediacy of the jottings – anecdotes, incidents, telling details and off-the-record conversations – makes for a compellingly candid read.

Penrose’s notes also include revealing accounts of the artist at work, affording insights into the making of masterpieces, such as Guernica. As well as artworks and events, photographs taken by, among others, Penrose’s wife, the celebrated photographer Lee Miller, illustrate the colourful cast of characters – from Dora Maar and Françoise Gilot to Jean Cocteau and Gary Cooper. Very good in dust jacket

This fascinating record of an era, and of a remarkable relationship, is a must for anyone with a scholarly interest in Picasso, but also for the many readers who are intrigued by the life and personality of one of the most charismatic personalities the world has ever known.