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Bodies of Tow and Paraffin

  • Maite Méndez Baiges

“Bodies of tow and paraffin” is the phrase used by Georges Braque, pioneer with Picasso of Cubism, to describe the alarm that he felt at his first sight of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon when he paid Picasso a visit as he was painting it in the Bateau Lavoir in 1907. This sums up well the reactions the work produced among the friends of the Spanish painter who first saw it. This chapter summarises these first reactions of horror, disgust and disappointment felt among Picasso's friends and acquaintances. It also provides a host of comments and quotes made by Picasso himself, remarkable for their contradictions and high dosages of irony.

  • Keywords:
  • Modernism,
  • Demoiselles d'Avignon,
  • Braque,
  • Derain Kahnweiler,
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Maite Méndez Baiges

University of Malaga, Spain - ORCID: 0000-0002-0762-7004

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  2. Bohm-Duchen, Monica. 2001. The Private Life of a Masterpice. London: BBC.
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  4. Dupuis-Labbé, Dominique. 2007. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. Paris: Bartillat.
  5. Elderfield, John, ed. 1994. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. New York: The MoMA.
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  7. González, Ángel. 2000. “Beber petróleo para escupir fuego.” In El resto, 321–30. Madrid-Bilbao: MNCARS-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao.
  8. Kahnweiler, Daniel-Henry. 1916. Der Kubismus. Zurich and Leipzig: Die Weissen Blätter.
  9. Malraux, André. 1974. La Tête d’obsidienne. Paris: Gallimard.
  10. Markov, Vladimir. 2003. “Negro Art. 1913.” In Primitivism and XXth Century Art. A Documentary History, edited by Jack Flam and Miriam Deutch, 61–6. Berkeley-Los Angeles-London: University of California Press.
  11. Olivier, Fernande. 2001. Picasso et ses amis. Paris: Pygmalion / Gérard Watelet.
  12. Parmelin, Hélène. 1966. Picasso dit… Paris: Gonthier.
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  14. Stein, Gertrude. 1984. Picasso. U.S.A.: Dover Publications.
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  • Publication Year: 2022
  • Pages: 23-28
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2022 Author(s)

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  • Publication Year: 2022
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
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Chapter Information

Chapter Title

Bodies of Tow and Paraffin

Authors

Maite Méndez Baiges

Language

English

DOI

10.36253/978-88-5518-656-8.03

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2022

Copyright Information

© 2022 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

Book Title

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and Modernism

Authors

Maite Méndez Baiges

Peer Reviewed

Number of Pages

148

Publication Year

2022

Copyright Information

© 2022 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/978-88-5518-656-8

ISBN Print

978-88-5518-655-1

eISBN (pdf)

978-88-5518-656-8

eISBN (epub)

978-88-5518-657-5

Series Title

Studi e saggi

Series ISSN

2704-6478

Series E-ISSN

2704-5919

211

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