Artists' Lives

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Engaging encounters, personal anecdotes and jargon-free critical insights into some of the liveliest creative minds in modern art, by an international art world insider.

Michael Peppiatt has been studying, meeting and writing about artists for almost sixty years. In this brilliant selection of his biographical writing, he introduces us to some of the best-known artists of the modern age, from Vincent van Gogh and Pierre Bonnard to Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud.

We follow the writer into the studios of some of these individuals, observing their creative process at close quarters, and gaining insight into the way their personal histories have shaped and directed their work, bringing both the art and its maker alive.

Peppiatt meets an elderly but spirited Sonia Delaunay in Paris to hear her revive long-forgotten worlds; visits Catalan artist Antoni Tpies, 'the alchemist', and joins him on late-night walks around Barcelona; interviews poet Jacques Dupin, in his pyjamas, on his memories of Giacometti; makes the life-changing acquaintance of Bacon in the bars and clubs of Soho; and gives us a considered opinion on Picasso's trousers.

These essays are essential reading for anyone wanting to find out more about the lives of some of the great creative figures of modern times, from a writer who is not only an authority on art, but also one of the liveliest and most entertaining observers of artists and their worlds.

Reviews

'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

Author Bio

Michael Peppiatt is a well-known writer and curator, who began his career as an art critic in London and Paris in the 1960s. Described by the Art Newspaper as 'the best art writer of his generation', his previous books include Francis Bacon: Anatomy of an Enigma and Francis Bacon: Studies for a Portrait. He is guest curator of the Royal Academy of Arts' exhibition 'Francis Bacon: Man and Beast' (London, 2022).