Guillaume Apollinaire
Peter Read, translator
Peter Read, Apollinaire and Cubism

With a grant from The Elephant Trust, London
304 pp  46 original mono plates
Published 2002  Paperback £22
ISBN 0 946311 12 9
In the USA: University of California Press, Autumn 2004

REVIEWS

Reviewed by Elizabeth Cowling in Modern Language Review April 2004:
“Apollinaire’s only book on art, Méditations esthétiques, is a title that captures well its intuitive and prophetic tone…. Peter Read’s is a sensitive and readable translation in which the recurrence of words and metaphors signifying creativity (light and fire, in particular) is pointedly reproduced. In his commentary Read discusses Apollinaire’s main ideas and sources lucidly and succinctly, drawing special attention to his deification of the ‘pure’ creative artist who has abandoned the age-old goal of naturalism…. The nice sense of Apollinaire’s book as an object in its own right extends to the design and layout of the text, which imitate that of the first edition. In this thoughtful, and loving, version, the rediscovery of The Cubist Painters is a pleasure.”

Other reviews

Que Vlo-Ve? Avril-Mai 2003 (Williard Bohn), Times Literary Supplement May 2 2003 The Art Book, Robert Short,  June 2003 (Simon Dell), et.al.