Modern matters: A blow-by-blow account of groundbreaking modernismMost art historians agree that the modern art adventure first developed in the 1860s in Paris. A circle of painters, whom we now know as Impressionists, began painting pictures with rapid, loose brushwork. They turned to everyday street life for subjects, instead of overblown heroic scenes, and they escaped the power of the Salon by organizing their own independent exhibitions.After this first assault on the artistic establishment, there was no holding back. In a constant desire to challenge, innovate, and inspire, one modernist style supplanted the next: Symbolism, Expressionism, Futurism, Dada, Abstract Art, renewed Realism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop, Minimal and conceptual practice.This indispensable overview traces the restless energy of modern art with a year-by-year succession of the groundbreaking artworks that shook standards, and broke down barriers. Introductory essays outline the most significant and influential movements alongside explanatory texts for each major work and its artist.About the series: Bibliotheca Universalis Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe at an unbeatable, democratic price!Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, the name TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible, open-minded publishing. Bibliotheca Universalis brings together nearly 100 of our all-time favorite titles in a neat new format so you can curate your own affordable library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia.Bookworm s delight never bore, always excite!"

In this magisterial book, Henri Dorra synthesizes more than fifty years of study to present a comprehensive examination of Paul Gauguin's symbolism. Drawing on his profound grasp of the artistic and social contexts in which Gauguin worked, Dorra provides new, complex insights into and interpretations of Gauguin's multilayered symbolism. "The Symbolism of Paul Gauguin" is lavishly illustrated with a major visual compendium of the artist's prodigious output. The highly readable narrative, based on a sophisticated understanding of Gauguin's oeuvre, offers a masterly interpretation of recurrent images and their interrelationships in the contemporaneous artistic and social context. Dorra discusses Gauguin's iconography and the artist's treatments of similar themes in various media, from prepatory drawings for paintings to related ceramics and wood carvings. He traces Gauguin's meanings in literary sources from classical mythology and the Bible to late ninetheenth-century literature. He also links the form and content of the artist's work to his unusual ancestry and upbringing. As the final scholarly work by an internationally recognized expert on nineteenth-century French symbolism, this book provides a profound new perspective on Gauguin and his work.

A groundbreaking new exhibition will be presented by the Het Noordbrabants Museum, focusing on the impact of Van Gogh's interpersonal relationships on his work. Part biography, part art history, the catalogue of this exhibition will dismantle the commonly-held conception that Van Gogh's genius stemmed from his mental illness and isolation. Revealing a complex, emotionally engaging picture of the man behind some of the most celebrated works in history, this catalogue includes well-known works and pieces from private collections, as well as rare documents virtually unknown to the public, such as a never-before exhibited sketchbook that Vincent gifted to Betsy Tersteeg, daughter of an art dealer at The Hague; poetry he sent to his dear brother and confidante Theo; and six rarely featured letters of condolence received by Theo after Vincent's death. Masterpieces include Still life with Bible (1885), Madame Roulin Rocking the Cradle (La berceuse) 1889, and L'Arlesienne (Madame Ginoux) (1890). The catalogue also contains numerous less well-known portraits of family and friends, revealing how they appeared through the artist's eyes. Van Gogh's Inner Circle sheds light on Vincent's often tempestuous personality, his love affairs, his eventual estrangement from many of his colleagues, and how his relationships influenced the work he produced in the years leading up to his premature death. Van Gogh's Inner Circle was curated by Sjraar van Heugten, former Head of Collections at the Van Gogh Museum. He has curated exhibitions such as Van Gogh and the Seasons in Melbourne, at the National Gallery of Victoria - the largest exhibition of Vincent van Gogh's work in Australia. He co-authored Van Gogh (Thames & Hudson, 2005) and Van Gogh in Provence: Modernizing Tradition (Actes Sud, 2016) among many more.

As an artist, Edgar Degas (1834-1917) defies easy description. Allied with the French impressionists through his commitment to portraying modern life, he also took an independent course, preferring line over color and the visible brushstroke, and working in a studio instead of out-of-doors. He is perhaps best known as a painter, but his most widely known work is a sculpture, "Little Dancer Aged Fourteen." Executed in wax, near life-sized, dressed in a ballerina's tutu, with real ballet slippers and real hair, the sculpture caused a sensation when it was exhibited in 1881. It is the only sculpture Degas ever showed publicly, though more than one hundred--of dancers, horses, and bathers--were found in his studio after he died, all dusty, some fallen apart. For almost forty years after his death, these works were known only through the bronzes his heirs had cast from the originals.Then, in 1955, the waxes themselves appeared on the art market. Thanks to the discernment and generosity of Paul Mellon, the majority are now preserved at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, most on permanent display.

This groundbreaking volume honors this extraordinary gift by linking art and science. It brings together the insights of a distinguished art historian of nineteenth-century painting and sculpture and the specialized knowledge of National Gallery conservators and scientists who have published pioneering technical studies. Including essays on Degas' life and work, his sculptural technique and materials, and the story of the sculptures after his death, it features art-historical and technical discussions of every work in the collection as well as indispensable concordances and bibliography. The richly illustrated text is intended for both art lover and specialist. Was Degas the sculptor technically inept or unusually inventive? How do we understand his sculpture in light of his paintings, prints, and photographs? These questions and many others are explored with originality and depth, adding immeasurably to our understanding of the artistic avant-garde in the late nineteenth century and to our appreciation of this controversial artist.

Collectors played an essential yet misunderstood role in the success of Impressionism. Even though they were not immune to economic and social woes, they were often engaged in defending this artistic movement that they had helped come to life, establish itself or make known, each according to their times. It is this group of committed collectors that the present work seeks to examine. From assembling a collection to donating it to a museum, from supporting artists within the borders of France to publicising the movement internationally, from the first intimate private showings to the questions raised by the presentation of these works in museums, collectors were present at every stage of the development of Impressionism, from the dawn of the movement to the middle of the 20th century. This volume aims to re-examine and reassess the importance of these collectors in the political, social and economic contexts of their times through the contributions of 16 international specialists. Depeaux, De Nittis, the Palmers, O'Hara, Buhrle, Caillebotte, Fayet: whether they are the subjects of dedicated case studies or part of a broader discourse, the multiplicity of profiles of these collectors and the paths they followed will allow readers to gain a better understanding of their importance in the history of the Impressionist movement.

Paul Cezanne was a French Post-Impressionist painter whose works inspire us all with his beautiful use of colour and light. Our Cezanne Still Lifes FlipTop Notecard set comes in a FlipTop box with magnetic closure and features 20 note cards - 4 each of 5 images - featuring gorgeously reproduced still life images. This collection of cards contains a variety of still life painting reproductions, incorporating one of them wrapping around the outside of the box, creating a lovely keepsake when the cards are done. 20 notecards and envelopes 4 each of 5 images Each card: 177 x 120mm. Flip top box with magnetic closure Box measures 139 x 196 x 8mm.

A fascinating guide to Van Gogh's itinerant life, with vibrant images and stories about the many places where he lived and worked This exciting publication familiarizes readers of all ages with the many fascinating facets of Vincent van Gogh (1853--1890)-artist, correspondent, traveler, and modern explorer of Europe's cities and countryside. Thanks to Van Gogh's wanderlust and the rapid expansion of the railway system in Europe in the late 19th century, Van Gogh covered thousands of miles in his lifetime. He lived and worked in more than twenty locations: from the peaceful countryside of the Netherlands and the south of France to the hustle and bustle of big cities such as London and Paris. Authors Nienke Denekamp and Rene van Blerk trace the artist's route across Europe "from Z to A," beginning in his birthplace of Zundert in the southern Netherlands and ending where he died, in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris. Each location is described with lively and accessible texts, comprehensive timelines, city and country maps, contemporary photographs, and related artworks by Van Gogh. Featuring an eye-catching design, captivating excerpts from Van Gogh's vast body of letters, and hundreds of color images, The Vincent van Gogh Atlas offers a truly unique version of the enduringly compelling story of Van Gogh and instills an appreciation of the many journeys-literal and figurative-that the artist made throughout his life.

With this publication a comprehensive study of Impressionism in Canada is available: from its beginnings in France, via the dissemination of the new style through artists, gallerists, dealers and collectors in North America, and its incorporation into and propagation within a hitherto conservative milieu, to the reception of Canadian Impressionism both nationally and internationally. The study culminates in the concise portrayal of the lives and works of fourteen of the most significant Canadian artists - including William Blair Bruce, Maurice Cullen, J. W. Morrice, Laura Muntz Lyall, Marc-Aurele de Foy Suzor-Cote, Helen McNicoll and Clarence Gagnon - along with several other artists who for some time also employed Impressionist techniques. In this overview not only are the sources of inspiration in French Impressionism presented but also how masterfully and with aplomb these artists found their own artistic form of expression, which has decisively shaped Canadian Impressionist painting today.

Lampooned during his lifetime for his style as much as his subject matter, French painter Edouard Manet (1832-1883) is now considered a crucial figure in the history of art, bridging the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Manet's work combined a painterly technique with strikingly modern images of contemporary life, centered on the urban Paris experience. He recorded the city's parks, bars, and cabarets, often delighting in the frisson of underground or provocative content. The Paris salon rejected his Dejeuner sur l'herbe with its juxtaposition of fully dressed men and a nude woman, while the steady gaze and unabashed pose of the prostitute Olympia, a very modern reworking of Titian's Venus of Urbino, caused a society scandal. This richly illustrated book introduces Manet's work and his uniquely influential combination of Realism, Impressionism, and reworked Old Masters that would become paradigms of a brave new world for generations of modernists to come. About the series Born back in 1985, the Basic Art Series has evolved into the best-selling art book collection ever published. Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Art series features: a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance a concise biography approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions

Early in his career, as he grappled with the idea of becoming an artist, Vincent van Gogh attempted portraiture, possibly with a mission in the religious sense. His models were impoverished miners, weavers and peasants. Later, his great achievement was in still life, landscape painting and further portraits all closely related to the places where he lived. He moved from place to place, from his parents' vicarage to the homes of impoverished peasants, from seaside Ramsgate, and landmarks in London to the heights of Montmartre, from the famous Yellow House in Arles to hospital then a nearby asylum. Finally, he wandered the fields and streets of Auvers, near Paris. Wherever he lived, he drew and painted. As well as the places where he stayed, he painted the homes of others, and monuments that attracted him, such as churches or even suburban factories. These became the subject of an alternative kind of portraiture - one that did not involve people. His developing, emphatic and highly individual style suited the different character of the buildings he so carefully recorded. Each place, about which he also wrote at length, provides us with a solid framework with which to follow and understand him. Van Gogh's life will be revealed not only through the included illustrations of his art, but with much quotation from letters. The book hopes to answer the questions: Why was he there? what and who else were there? How did his vision suit the place - or vice versa?

The painting Paris Street, Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894) is an icon of Impressionism.This volume presents the work in the context of Caillebotte's innovative artistic work, introducing him as a driving force in the establishment of Impressionism and describing his intensive exchanges with his fellow-artists. With its almost life-sized figures and unconventional perspective, Paris Street, Rainy Day was presented in 1877 at the third Impressionist exhibition and is regarded as one of Caillebotte's principal works. The publication describes his personal interpretation of Impressionism, which convinces with its striking directness and bold image sections, as well as his activities as a patron of art. Caillebotte helped to finance and organize the Impressionist exhibitions and attempted as a collector to establish the works in public collections in a similar manner to that of Hugo von Tschudi with his spectacular purchases for the Nationalgalerie.

Few artists have exerted such an influence on modern art as Paul Cezanne. Picasso, Braque and Matisse all acknowledged a profound debt to his painting, and many historians regard him as the father of modernism. This new biography reexamines Cezanne's life and art, discussing the central events and people who shaped his work and placing his oeuvre in the context of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century art and culture.Jon Kear examines Cezanne's youth in Provence, a formative period which left a deep and abiding impression on the artist's painting, as well as exploring his turbulent time in Paris and the larger-than-life artistic persona he created for himself during these years. His initial style, characterized by violent and explicit subject-matter and a rugged manner of painting, gave rise to an enduring mythology of the artist. Paul Cezanne explores the personal and artistic relationships that influenced Cezanne: from his close friendship with Emile Zola to his artistic dialogue with Manet, collaboration with Camille Pissarro and association with the Impressionists. Above all, Paul Cezanne tells the story of his life as a part of the pivotal shift towards the twentieth century, illuminating how much his work and ideas helped to usher it in.

She is famous throughout the world, but how many know her name? You can admire her figure in Washington, Paris, London, New York, Dresden or Copenhagen but where is her grave? She danced as a 'petit rat' at the Paris Opera. She was also a model, she posed for painters and sculptors - among them Edgar Degas. Taking us through the underbelly of the Belle Epoque, Laurens casts a light on those who have traditionally been overlooked in the study of art, and opens a space for essential questions. She paints a compelling portrait of Marie van Goethem and the world she inhabited, in the 1880s; a time when art unsettled the hypocrisy of society.

Charles Reiffel (1862-1942) is widely regarded today as one of the foremost figures of the California plein air school of landscape painting. This book, accompanying an exhibition of the same name at The San Diego Museum of Art and San Diego History Center, aims to reevaluate Reiffel as a leading practitioner of Post-Impressionism in the United States.

Charles Reiffel trained as a lithographer and traveled, worked, and studied in Europe before establishing himself as an independent artist in Silvermine, Connecticut. He finally settled in San Diego in 1925. There, he immersed himself for the remainder of his life in the landscape of Southern California, its coast and rolling hills, discovering in its unique contours new motifs for his striking mix of Post-Impressionist and Expressionist brushwork.

"Charles Reiffel: An American Post-Impressionist" proposes a fresh assessment of the artist, firmly reestablishing his place as a national figure in the canon of American painting and shedding light on a splendid page in the history of American Post-Impressionism and Expressionism.

Ariel Plotek is assistant curator at the San Diego Museum of Art. Other contributors include Bram Dijkstra and Keith Colestock.

Paul Cezanne, whom Pablo Picasso called `the father of us all', is widely considered to be 20th-century modernism's presiding genius. Cezanne's pioneering synthesis of a theory of form with the visual immediacy of Impressionism in the late 19th century inspired Henri Matisse and the Fauves and led to the development of Cubism by Picasso and Georges Braque. This latest volume in the MoMA Artist Series guides readers through ten of Cezanne's most memorable achievements, selected fromThe Museum of Modern Art's substantial collection of his work. His iconic figure paintings The Bather and Boy in a Red Vest are featured, along with emblematic still lifes and landscapes from earlier and later years. A lively essay by Carolyn Lanchner accompanies each work, illuminating its significance and placing it in its historical moment in the development of modern art.

A fascinating look at the genesis and meaning of Van Gogh's famed paintings of his bedroom Vincent van Gogh's The Bedroom, a painting of his room in Arles, is arguably the most famous depiction of a bedroom in the history of art. The artist made three versions of the work, now in the collections of the Van Gogh Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Musee d'Orsay. This book is the first in-depth study of their making and their meaning to the artist. In Van Gogh's Bedrooms, an international team of art historians, scientists, and conservators investigates the psychological and emotional significance of the bedroom in Van Gogh's oeuvre, surveying dwellings as a motif that appears throughout his work. Essays address the context in which the bedroom was first conceived, the uniqueness of the subject, and the similarities and differences among the three works both on and below the painted surface. The publication reproduces more than 50 paintings, drawings, and illustrated letters by the artist, along with other objects that evoke his peripatetic life and relentless quest for "home." Distributed for the Art Institute of Chicago Exhibition Schedule: Art Institute of Chicago (02/14/16-05/10/16)

Claude Monet (1840-1926) is one of the best-known and most beloved painters in the history of art, with myriad publications and exhibitions devoted to his oeuvre. And yet there remains a previously undiscovered aspect of his career: his surprisingly significant role as a draftsman. This book is the first to focus on Monet's pastels, drawings, and sketchbooks, offering a revolutionary new interpretation of the artist's life and work. Monet has long been seen as an anti-draftsman, an artist who painted his subjects directly and whose rarely seen graphic works were marginal to his artistic process. In an effort to develop his public image, Monet denied the role of drawing in his working method. In actuality, Monet began his career as a caricaturist and as a teenager developed a passion for drawing that was never extinguished. He went on to master the medium of pastel and included seven in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. Citing recently discovered, unpublished documents that overturn the accepted image of the artist, The Unknown Monet reveals an extensive group of graphic works created over the course of the artist's career, many of which are unknown to the general public and to scholars: beautiful pastels, stunning black chalk drawings, and fascinating sketchbooks, which include pencil studies that relate to many of his paintings. The book also shows how Monet exploited the print media to promote his art. The most important publication on Monet to appear in a generation, this illuminating volume is essential to anyone interested in his work, Impressionism, and nineteenth-century French culture. Distributed for the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts Exhibition Schedule: Royal Academy of Arts, London (March 17 - June 10, 2007) Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts (June 24 - September 16, 2007)

Hailed the "Prince of the Impressionists", Claude Monet (1840-1926) transformed expectations for the purpose of paint on canvas. Defying the precedent of centuries, Monet did not seek to render only reality, but the act of perception itself. Working "en plein air" with rapid, impetuous brush strokes, he interrogated the play of light on the hues, patterns, and contours and the way in which these visual impressions fall upon the eye. Monet's interest in this space "between the motif and the artist" encompassed too the ephemeral nature of each image we see. In his beloved water lily series, as well as in paintings of poplars, grain stacks, and the Rouen cathedral, he returned to the same motif in different seasons, different weather conditions, and at different times of the day, to explore the constant mutability of our visual environment. This book offers the essential introduction to an artist whose works simultaneously reflected upon the purpose of a picture and the passage of time, and in so doing transformed irrevocably the story of art. About the series Born back in 1985, the Basic Art Series has evolved into the best-selling art book collection ever published. Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Art series features: a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance a concise biography approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions

Anyone studying a Van Gogh painting with its heavily articulated brushstrokes, dazzling color, and hypnotic perspective will wonder about the artist who created such masterpieces. Although some details of the Dutch artist's brief and tragic life have been mythologized into popular culture, this book takes a deeper look at Van Gogh's personal history and oeuvre. Drawing on Van Gogh's personal correspondence, this book allows readers to experience the artist's life and work simultaneously, with brilliant reproductions of his most famous and lesser-known works. In addition, it provides valuable information about where readers can view Van Gogh's work in museums throughout the world. Art lovers will find much to discover in this appealing and accessible overview of one of the world's most compelling figures.

A novel look at the relationship between Impressionist painting and photography and the forging of a national identity in France between 1850 and 1880 Between 1850 and 1880, Impressionist landscape painting and early forms of photography flourished within the arts in France. In the context of massive social and political change that also marked this era, painters and photographers composed competing visions of France as modern and industrialized or as rural and anti-modern. Impressionist France explores the resonances between landscape art and national identity as reflected in the paintings and photographs made during this period, examining and illustrating in particular the works of key artists such as Edouard Baldus, Gustave Le Gray, the Bisson Freres, Edouard Manet, Jean-Francois Millet, Claude Monet, Charles Negre, and Camille Pissarro. This ambitious premise focuses on the whole of France, exploring the relationship between landscape art and the notion of French nationhood across the country's varied and spectacular landscapes in seven geographical sections and four scholarly essays, which provide new information regarding the production and impact of French Impressionism. Distributed for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Saint Louis Museum of Art Exhibition Schedule: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (10/19/13-02/09/14) Saint Louis Art Museum (03/16/14-07/06/14)

No artistic education is complete without a healthy dose of Impressionism. Here fifty of the most important works from the early nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries are gorgeously reproduced, including the best of Monet, Degas, van Gogh, Renoir, Cezanne, Cassatt, Manet, Seurat, and Pisarro. Each piece is given a brief overview establishing its place in the Impressionist pantheon as well as in its artist's oeuvre. An introductory text explains the Impressionistic style, tracing the movement's development, while an appendix offers biographies of the artists. The result is a veritable tour on Impressionism, offering an enjoyable and practical art history lesson that everyone can enjoy.

This generously illustrated volume on the work of Monet makes the world's greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. Monet's dazzling depictions of flowers, sunsets, fields, and oceans, in which line and shape are suggested through pure color, changed the way we perceive our natural surroundings. His numerous series, in which he depicts the same object at varying times of the day and in different seasons, pushed the limits of representational art. His final series of water lilies are considered to have ushered in the abstract movement of the twentieth century. Overflowing with images, this book offers full-page spreads of masterpieces as well as highlights of smaller details, allowing every aspect of the artist's technique and oeuvre to be appreciated. Chronologically arranged, the book covers important biographical and historic events that reflect the latest scholarship. Additional information includes a list of works, timeline, and suggestions for further reading.

Paul Cezanne, Georges Seurat, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and others began as Impressionists but soon extended their explorations of the world around them to create highly personal work. With their foundations in the bright colours of Impressionism and the break from traditional representational art, the Post-Impressionists worked alone but collectively created the bridge into the expressionism of the 20th Century. Their delightful and evocative masterpieces are celebrated in this gorgeous new book.

A perfect gift for art lovers or anyone interested in Impressionism, this collection of 365 pictures gathers the best of the genre's masterpieces from around the world. Covering a wide range of artists and countries associated with the movement, the book features double-page spreads with an Impressionist painting on one side and a blank page on the other, offering space for notes and reminders of significant events. The vibrant colors and dynamic brush strokes that characterize Impressionist art come fully to life in these beautifully reproduced pictures. Each day readers will encounter renowned works by Renoir, Gauguin, Degas, Cezanne, Monet, and Seurat as well as paintings by lesser- known practitioners such as Lovis Corinth, Childe Hassam, Lesser Ury, Peder Severin Kroyer, and Dame Laura Knight. Perfect for work, home, or studio this beautiful volume will brighten any room and offer inspiration every day.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party (1880-81) is the jewel of The Phillips Collection. This volume reveals the fascinating characters in the painting and explores Renoir's technique. Eliza Rathbone is chief curator emerita at The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. Mary Morton is curator and head of the Department of French Paintings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Sylvie Patry is deputy director of Collections & Exhibitions and Gund Family Chief Curator at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, PA. Aileen Ribeiro is Professor Emeritus of the University of London. Elizabeth Steele is head of conservation at The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. Sara Tas is a curator at the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam.