"Happy New Year! Our first book reviews of 2026 are here, beginning with critic Bridget Quinn. There's a special place in hell for Pablo Picasso, but you probably already knew that. Because the conversation tends to stop there, what you may not have known are the names of some of the women whose artistic legacies have long been overshadowed by his: Fernande Olivier, Olga Khokhlova, Marie-Thérèse Walter, Dora Maar, Françoise Gilot, and Jacqueline Roque."
"They're the subject of a new book by historian Sue Roe, Hidden Portraits: Six Women Who Shaped Picasso's Life. Well, sort of. Quinn writes that Roe's portraits are less about the partners Picasso frequently mistreated and the rich creative lives they led and more about "the love-bombing creature of conquest and control" himself. Maybe the book's subtitle is a clue after all."
""When people wear Palestinian embroidery, it's not just decorative. It's beautiful, of course, but it is saying something," says author Joanna Barakat. | Greta Rainbow ICYMI Who better to dissect the decades-long career of an art thief than art crime professor Erin L. Thompson? She's written about several heists before, but this one's a doozy: Myles Connor estimates that he has stolen from 30 museums and private collections"
Book reviews open 2026 by foregrounding six women connected to Picasso: Fernande Olivier, Olga Khokhlova, Marie-Thérèse Walter, Dora Maar, Françoise Gilot, and Jacqueline Roque. Portraits emphasize the women's agency and creative lives while noting how narratives often center Picasso's conquest and control, described as "the love-bombing creature of conquest and control." Coverage highlights surveillance-era art through photographs of a masked Arthur Rimbaud in New York that probe visibility and resistance. Features examine Palestinian embroidery as expressive cultural dress that communicates identity beyond decoration. An art-crime profile recounts a decades-long theft career with estimates of thefts from around 30 museums and private collections.
Read at Hyperallergic
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