Olivier Widmaier-Picasso, a grandson of the famous artist, offers a measured blend of research and interpretation and works to counter certain darker, scandal-driven portrayals of his grandfather, including two books by his cousin, Marina Picasso. Olivier's Picasso is a generous humanist and a "multicolored alternative to a world of gray certitudes." Because his mother, Maya, was born to Picasso and longtime lover Marie-Therese Walter, Olivier, a lawyer and media producer, spends much time detailing the evolution of French laws of paternity and inheritance, the seven-year proceedings to settle the artist's $840 million estate, and the efforts since to promote and protect the Picasso brand. His thematic structure-- chapters on women, politics, family, money--leads to inevitable backtracking but allows him to focus at length on the private entanglements of a most public man. The Bohemian poverty, the uneasy days in Vichy France, the communism, the worldwide fame: it's all told with a sense of family pride. Steve Paul
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