Cover Design for G. Stein's Picasso 1983

This striking little cover design for Gertrude Stein’s book on Picasso, was painted by Aydin Aghdashloo. Look at how Aghdashloo’s brushstrokes dance and dart, especially around the edges of Picasso’s face, almost dissolving into abstraction. You can see the artist feeling their way through the form, correcting, adjusting, maybe even disagreeing with their earlier marks. I know that feeling! What was he thinking about as he built up these layers? Was he feeling Stein’s own complicated relationship to Picasso? I love the way Aghdashloo doesn’t just give us a likeness, he seems to be reaching for something deeper – a sense of Picasso's restless energy, his constant reinvention. Artists are always in conversation, across time, riffing on each other’s ideas, pushing the boundaries of what painting can do, and what it can reveal.