Overview

In the early years of the twentieth century, a retired legal clerk in Montmartre named Leon Angely collected Picassos, Modiglianis, and Utrillos before any of these artists were well known. And he purchased many of these creations after his failing vision left him almost completely blind. Legend has it that Leon was assisted by a young girl who served as his ""eyes,"" and based on her description of the work he would make his selections. This homage to the 'blind man who was crazy for color' uncovers previously unknown information about this important yet largely forgotten figure who inspired one of Picasso's most powerful engravings, featuring a 'Blind Minotaur' being led by a little girl. The book is illustrated with original artwork by Picasso's model and muse, Sylvette David, who posed for the painter when she was only nineteen years old, in 1954. Now eighty-seven, Sylvette credits Picasso with inspiring her to devote her life to painting. Her work is frequently exhibited in Europe, and in 2021 she was invited to lecture at the Musee Picasso is Paris.

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9781963363005

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""Sylvette David's black-and-white and color sketches accent this colorful portrait of Léon's life, motivations, involvement in the art world, and the pieces he collected. Previously unpublished information about the blind man's passion and his influence on the art world enhances a survey that should be required reading and acquisition for any serious art history student and the libraries catering to them. Readers also receive revealing inspections of the process of interviewing artists and capturing their historical and artistic impact, adding to A Blind Man Crazy for Color's importance as a survey that goes beyond a singular biography of an art enthusiast to delve into the world of artists, art appreciation, and muses. The blend of all these elements demonstrates the interlinked potentials and importance of artists, muses, and those who appreciate, purchase, and analyze their work.... Serious art libraries should consider this extraordinary recreation of artistic ambitions against all odds a mainstay that stands out in many different ways."" - Diane Donovan, Senior Editor, Midwest Book Review.""In the lanes and alleys of Paris, at the turn of the 19th century, a nearly sightless art collector wandered on the arm of a young girl. The collector, aided by his guide, amassed a treasure trove of work by the greatest artists of the day: Modigliani, Picasso, Utrillo, and more. Yet he died poor, forced to sell the work for a fraction of its value during the dark days of World War I. Little is known about the life - or the fate - of the girl who led the blind collector through the City of Light. This is the story of Léon Angély, the myopic lover of art, and Joséphine, the 'eyes' of Angély, the girl who enabled him to visit artists and 'see' their art. The story is told with a rare grace by author Rob Couteau in his new book, A Blind Man Crazy for Color. Couteau has mined the literature for gems, and displays them with abandon, through the generous quotations and anecdotes set within his own lustrous prose.""- Witty Partition.""In his strange, fascinating new book, writer-painter Rob Couteau assembles and unearths what little can be known about the mysterious collector Léon Angély ... Adding another layer of resonance to Couteau's slim volume are the charming illustrations by Sylvette David, the pony-tailed model and muse who inspired Picasso's 'Sylvette' period.""- Scott Sublett, New Art Examiner.

Author Information

ROB COUTEAU is a Brooklyn-born author and visual artist whose work has been cited in the New York Times and whose books have been praised in Evergreen Review, Publishers Weekly, New Art Examiner, Midwest Book Review, and Witty Partition. In 1985 he won the North American Essay Award, sponsored by the American Humanist Association. His work has been cited in books such as Ghetto Images in Twentieth-Century American Literature by Tyrone Simpson, Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 'Love in the Time of Cholera' by Thomas Fahy, Conversations with Ray Bradbury edited by Steven Aggelis, and David Cohen's Forgotten Millions, a book about the homeless. His interviews include conversations with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Justin Kaplan, Last Exit to Brooklyn novelist Hubert Selby, Simon & Schuster editor Michael Korda, LSD discoverer Albert Hofmann, Picasso's model and muse Sylvette David, sci-fi author Ray Bradbury, film star and bibliophile Neil Pearson, and historian Philip Willan, author Puppetmasters: The Political Use of Terrorism in Italy. Couteau has appeared as a guest on Bob Barrett's The Best of Our Knowledge (WAMC), Len Osanic's Black Op Radio, and on Monocle 24 in Europe. Since 2020 he has devoted himself to republishing annotated texts of important but forgotten authors such as Stanley Marks, Charles Beadle, and Francis Carco. In 2023 he published Intimate Souvenirs, a memoir featuring an Introduction by Robert Roper, author of Nabokov in America: On the Road to Lolita and Now the Drum of War: Walt Whitman and His Brothers in the Civil War. In 1954 in Vallauris, France, a beautiful young woman named SYLVETTE DAVID befriended the century's greatest artist. She soon became the subject of over a hundred of Picasso's drawings, paintings, and sculptures (one towering thirty-six-feet high). After this life-changing encounter, Sylvette devoted her life to painting. In 2017 she published I Was Sylvette, a memoir co-authored with her daughter, the sculptor Isabel Coulton. Sylvette's latest series of watercolors, commissioned for this book, portray a blind art collector, Leon Angely, and his precocious guide, Josephine, who unwittingly inspired Picasso's greatest engraving.

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