Picabia Inside Out

In the 1950s, American painter Philip Pearlstein completed his MA thesis, The Paintings of Francis Picabia 19081930. When his research coincided with Picabias death in 1953, Pearlstein became the authority on the work of Picabia and his influence in European modernism that set the stage for modern art in America. Of course, it is impossible to discuss Picabia without also considering the work of Marcel Duchamp. At different intervals in his career, Pearlstein wrote three subsequent essays on Picabia for major arts journals: The Symbolic Language of Francis Picabia for Arts magazine, 1956; Hello & Goodbye, Francis Picabia for Art News, 1970, and When the Dada Daddies Got Real; Or, How I Turned Picabia Inside Out for Brooklyn Rail, 2017. Pearlsteins articles present a fascinating comparison between Picabia, Duchamp and Pearlstein himself. Picabia Inside Out brings together Pearlsteins articles in full, published in an illustrated paperback book with a facsimile of the 1955 MA thesis presented as an historical document showing all the nuances of his typewriter. A foreword by Robert Storr highlights the broader art historical context and Pearlsteins importance as a precursor to what became known as postmodernism.