During the 1870s and 1880s, a loose group of French artists,
including Pissarro, Monet, and Renoir, adopted a style of painting
and subject matter that challenged the art prompted by the Academie
Francaise and the Salons where "official" assumptions about the
meaning of painting prevailed. What has been called "the
revolutionary nature of the Impressionist enterprise" emerged from
political radicalism, belief in science and individualism, and a
view of art true to modern life and to immediate visual perception.
In all these respects, Impressionism initiated the radical
tendencies of modern art.
Today the revolutionary aims of Impressionist artists are
generally overlooked. Impressionist art has been marketed more
successfully than any other style: the price of Impressionist
paintings surpasses that of the Old Masters, exhibitions draw
blockbuster crowds, and books and mass reproductions are
ubiquitous.
In her perceptive new survey, Belinda Thomson challenges both
sentimentalized and simplistic views of Impressionism. Drawing upon
recently discovered documents -- critical reviews and letters
between artists, writers, and dealers -- she illuminates the
thinking and the personal lives of the artists themselves,
examining the factors and experiences that allowed Impressionism to
develop when it did. She investigates the family background of the
Impressionists, the importance of the art market and collecting,
and the influence of the critical reception to their
exhibitions.
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