The Age of the Impressionists

Fülszöveg

The Impressionists are among the most celebrated and popular groups of artists who have ever lived. Less well known are the social and political conditions in which they struggled for recognition, their relations with one another, the nature of their conflict with the art establishment of the time, and their influence on the movements that were to follow. As this fresh assessment shows, the age of the Impressionists saw a radical change in subject matter, away from studio set-pieces towards scenes of everyday life painted or originated in the open air - outings with friends, strolls in the suburban countryside, sailing trips on the river. It was the növel realism of such subjects, as much as the dashing touch with which they were set down, that at first disconcerted the critics and public - but which was alsó destined to ensure their world-wide success. Monet, Renoir, Sisley - who all set out together - along with two older members of the group, Pissarro and Degas, remain the... Tovább

Fülszöveg

The Impressionists are among the most celebrated and popular groups of artists who have ever lived. Less well known are the social and political conditions in which they struggled for recognition, their relations with one another, the nature of their conflict with the art establishment of the time, and their influence on the movements that were to follow. As this fresh assessment shows, the age of the Impressionists saw a radical change in subject matter, away from studio set-pieces towards scenes of everyday life painted or originated in the open air - outings with friends, strolls in the suburban countryside, sailing trips on the river. It was the növel realism of such subjects, as much as the dashing touch with which they were set down, that at first disconcerted the critics and public - but which was alsó destined to ensure their world-wide success. Monet, Renoir, Sisley - who all set out together - along with two older members of the group, Pissarro and Degas, remain the accepted masters, with Manet as their support and inspiration. All are handsomely represented in the 275 colour plates in this well-researched book, along with such forerunners as Boudin and Jongkind; the two women members of the group, Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt; sympathetic contemporaries like Whistler, Sargent and Töulouse-Lautrec; and the painters who carried the revolution forward: Cézanne, Seurat, Gauguin, and Van Gogh. Two painters who lived well into the present century, Bonnard and Vuillard, carry the totál span covered to somé 70 years. With its lavish illustrations and stimulating text, The Age of the Impressionists is an invaluable survey of one of the great epochs in European art. Vissza