Origins of Impressionism

by Gary Tinterow

Book Overview

This is a catalogue of an exhibition in 1994 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. It explores the interactions and relationships among the group of painters who became known as the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810964856
• ISBN13: 9780810964853
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art New York
• Length: 486 Pages
• Weight: 6.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 9.3" x 12.5"

Customer Reviews

An art book where the essays are as good as the pictures.

Many exhibition catalogues, particularly for Impressionist exhibitions, just present a host of pretty pictures between attractive covers, and not much more. "Origins of Impressionism" is a wonderful exception to this rule. The essays by Henri Loyrette and Gary Tinterow sucessfully reconstruct the hidebound Paris art world of the mid-nineteenth century to help the reader understand just why "Impressionism" came to be. The greatest virtue of the book (and the exhibition which it accompanied) is that the familiar figures - Monet, Manet, Renoir, Bazille, Corot, and Courbet - are treated not as isolated visionaries, but as intelligent men grappling with a profound transformation in their world. The impressionist movement - so influential and so expensive - is portrayed as an advance in human consciousness brought about by a group of dedicated individuals whose goals did not necessarily include making vast sums of money. These people had an art that t! hey believed in - is this why we still flock to see the pictures they made? An essential addition to any art library.