A walk with geniuses

Georges Braque. (French, 1882-1963). Still Life with Tenora. (summer or fall 1913). Cut-and-pasted printed and painted paper, charcoal, chalk, and pencil on gessoed canvas, 37 1/2 x 47 3/8" (95.2 x 120.3 cm).

I am currently reading The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, written by Gertrude Stein. I must admit that Ms. Stein is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. She has a way with words that is intriguing and captivating. Her arrangement of words to complete sentences sometimes throws one off, requires a second view but always conveys the point, the moment, in a new way. Alice B. Toklas was Gertrude Stein's companion for many years. The book begins with their early days. Both women, originally from California, end up in Europe and arrive promptly at a time when some of the greatest artists in modern art are putting their thinking caps on. Stein invites you to the table where Pablo and Fernande just arrive, late because she was shopping for a new dress. She brings you into a world where cubism is coming about (the Spanish note cards she claims, had been designed in the ways of cubism for years and years before its arrival). She allows you to sit with Matisse and enjoy fried eggs, the only thing Stein's housekeeper would serve him when he would show up at the house unexpectedly. It is a fabulous world and makes one long for the simplicity and intellectualism that is at its heart.