When Harry Met Pablo

 

When Harry Met Pablo: Truman, Picasso, and the Cold War Politics of Modern Art by Matthew Algeo  256 pp.

From the time of the creation of "Modern Art" it has created controversy. Many spoke out against it calling it "garbage, untalented, ugly, subversive, and Communist." There were movements among the art world against it. There were also movements by government officials who came just short of wanting it banned. Harry Truman was admittedly one of those who didn't like it. But at least he agreed artists had the right to create what they pleased. After Truman was no longer in office, Alfred H. Barr, one of the founders of New York's MOMA managed to engineer a meeting between Truman and Picasso that included a photo op. It all took place during a tour of the Mediterranean by Harry & Bess Truman and his former advisor, Sam Rosenman, and his wife Dorothy. The President who was responsible for the use of the atomic bomb and the Communist artist who created the anti-war masterpiece Guernica had a amicable  meeting. Picasso showed the Trumans his studio and the pottery where he also created art. While there is no recordings of their conversations, it was a civil meeting. However, it didn't change Truman's opinion of Picasso's art. I listened to the audiobook which drove me slightly crazy because of mispronunciations of artist's names, locations, and other words that should have been corrected in editing.