"The Essential Artists" series from Tate Publishing are authoritative reference guides to the world's major artists, providing the essential information on each artist's work and career in an attractive, accessible and affordable format. Pablo Ruiz Picasso was the most prolific artist in the history of Western art. Born in 1881 in Malaga, southern Spain, he spent almost all of his productive life in France, dying in Mougins in 1973. In more than seven decades as an artist, Picasso finished two thousand oil paintings alone, along with sculptures, ceramics, collages, prints, photographs, drawings and jewellery designs. This new book, drawing extensively on recent research, will provide an overview of the whole range of Picasso's art and career. Uniquely, it takes a thematic approach, examining Picasso and poetry, Picasso and war, Picasso and 'disfigurement' - the fragmentation of the human form in his work - Picasso and play and Picasso's ruminations on the figure of the artist. The introduction looks at Picasso himself, and the myths that surround him, concluding that it is impossible to disentangle the man from his legend. Separate sections include extracts from Picasso's poetry and writings and from critics both contemporary and historic. Functioning both as an introduction for those coming fresh to Picasso's work and bringing new insights to those already familiar with his career, this important and at the same time accessible book is one of the most significant additions to Picasso literature in recent years. Neil Cox is Senior Lecturer in Art History and Theory at the University of Essex. He curated an exhibition called A Picasso Bestiary in 1995 and is the co-author of "Marcel Duchamp and Cubism".