CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 11/18/2016

Francis Picabia: Our Heads Are Round so Our Thoughts Can Change Direction

Francis Picabia's Occupation-era "Femmes au bull-dog (Women with Bulldog)" was painted around 1941, during the "murkiest period" of the artist's career, according to art historian Michèle C. Cone. Based on French soft-core pornography of the 1930s, Picabia's figurative paintings of the war years, "have been placed under many labels: antimodernist, postmodern, 'aura-less' modernism, and… pseudo-Nazi kitsch." Regardless, they were admired in their time by Gertrude Stein, and today they look fresher than ever in the landmark retrospective opening at MoMA on Monday. An exceptional book in all ways, this Picabia exhibition catalog is one of our top Holiday Gift Staff Picks for 2016. Read Roberta Smith's review in the New York Times or listen to Deborah Solomon on WNYC.