Guernica exhibition catalog

The Guernica exhibition catalog introduces the genesis of one of Picasso’s masterpiece through the links that unite the painting to its painter all along his life, and the way the piece drawn into culture up to becoming a popular icon. Painted in 1937, this monumental artwork is both a synthesis of the plastic research conducted by Picasso for 40 years and a popular icon. Exhibited, replicated all over the world, it has been at the same time an anti-franco, an anti-fascist and a pacific symbol. It is also an abundantly quoted, commented and taken up artwork, theorized by art historians and artists.

The in-house designers at Gallimard set the book with Minotaur, a typeface that was originally conceived for (but eventually never used by) the Musée Picasso where the exhibition takes place. Minotaur’s name is a reference to Picasso’s obsession for this creature and its no surprise that in such a book, the name would eventually appear and be set with the typeface! Body text is typeset with Louize, a revival of Perrin’s Augustaux by Matthieu Cortat (see also Alice Savoie’s review).

Éditions Gallimard / 320 pages / 25 × 32,5 cm