"Fernande Olivier, the first real love in the life of Pablo Picasso, left a vivid account of the years she spent with the great artist (1905-1912), which happened to coincide with the period of Picasso's most revolutionary work. Although the value and interest of her recollections from this period has been increasingly recognized by scholars, most of her writing has not been available in English until now.". "Besides the journal, Loving Picasso also includes writing from Olivier's memoir, first published in French in the 1930's and from her letters to Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, and Guillaume Apollinaire. Edited by Picasso scholar Marilyn McCully, who also provides a foreword, the book is illustrated by archival photographs of Olivier, Picasso, and their friends - Gertrude Stein, Max Jacob, Kees van Dongen, and others - as well as reproductions of her own drawings and paintings; works for which Olivier modeled before she met Picasso; and some of the superb portraits of her by Picasso himself."--BOOK JACKET.