The Steins formed virtually a cultural partnership in Paris before the first World War, when French Modernism was there ready to be discovered by discerning collectors, and struggling painters - including Picasso and Matisse - were glad to find monied patrons. While Gertrude is the one remembered by history (she was determined from the start to be famous, at whatever cost) Leo was the introvert who backed away and ended living as a virtual recluse. He and his sister did not meet or communicate with each other for entire decades, after the closeness of their earlier years (it is probable that the advent of Alice B. Toklas had something to do with this estrangement, but Gertrude was always ruthless about dropping people who had ceased to be of use to her). Leo had genuine taste in art, and he seems also to have had some talent himself as a painter. This slightly over-long book is handicapped by an irritatingly small typeface and by blurry photographs.
B.F.