Customer Reviews

Cecilia Beaux: A Modern Painter in the Gilded Age

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was thrilled to learn that this book about Cecilia Beaux was being published. Previously, I had been unable to find a quality, hardbound, affordable collection of her artwork to purchase.

If you are unfamiliar with Cecilia Beaux, her painting style is similar to that of her contemporaries, Like John Singer Sargent and William Merritt Chase. In my opinion she is as good an artist as them and adds an emotional touch that her male counterparts often lacked.

This book includes nicely reproduced paintings and drawings--mostly in color. I haven't read the text, so I can't comment on its quality. The pictures were the reason that I bought this book. I definitely recommend it.

Aside a wide range of reproductions of Beaux's work, this book also contains a compelling narrative arc. Rarely do you see such well-done storytelling in an artist's biography. The author doesn't simply rehash data in order to paint a portrait of Beaux, she uses beautiful images and diary excerpts to portray Beaux arduous rise to prominence. In reading this book, it becomes clear that despite the sheer brilliance of Beaux's artwork, the artist was full of self-doubt like the rest of us. The author, Carter, makes her subject gloriously human, and this makes for a good read.

I joined the Cecilia Beaux Society,Portrait Society of America, and I was interested in reading her life story and seeing some of her many paintings. This book has been an inspiration to me as an artist, and last week-end I was able to visit her exibition at the High Museum , in Atlanta, Ga.
What a thrill, and even more so because I had this book. The gift shop had some other books about her,but they did not compare with this copy.
As you can see I have given it 5 stars, as I would recommend it to any artist interested in her style of painting.

Until now there was not much in print about Cecilia Beaux. At least there was not much printed in full color of her work. This book is well written and it has many full color, quality printed, plates of her work to view and study. I was thrilled to find it. Thank you Alice Carter for putting this book and these images out into the world.

This is a nice book, but you need all the paintings if that is what you want. The colours are slightly off, and not as RICH as the other book.
I did a master copy painting class, and used this book, and found out that it was not true to the color of the original painting.

Too much life story for my use, but im sure if you want to know about her, this will be just as good as any. She was quite a painter!

This well written book covers the life and work of Cecilia Beaux. All of her best know works are well illustrated with good color accuracy. The text is highly readable and provides solid insight to the artist's aesthetic goals and struggles. If Cecilia Beaux is of interest to you, this book is likely your best bet.

This book left me hungry for more! Yes, there are some nice reproductions. However, the text is boring and lacking in content. I had the notion that the author simply culled insignificant passages from the artist's personal diary, focusing on interpersonal relationships with family and friends, and a few notable artists of her day. Unfortunately, the story reveals little about Beaux's deeper concerns as an artist.

If you're looking for some insight into the artist's particular philosophy of art, or of Beaux's creative issues and processes, and her motivation to paint, sadly, you won't find it here.

Given the fact that so little is in print about this great artist, it's probably worth a read ... but borrow it.

This is an excellent book for people who don't want to buy the pricier versions. It provides sensitive insights into this great painter's life.

Many Americans are familiar with the endearing artwork (principally of mothers and their children) by nineteenth-century painter Mary Cassatt. Unfortunately, Cassatt's recent popularity with the general public has overshadowed the many achievements of her contemporary, portrait artist Cecilia Beaux (1855-1942). Nevertheless, William Merritt Chase, one of America's most noted nineteenth-century portrait painters, concluded that, "Miss Beaux is not only the greatest woman painter, but the best that has ever lived." In examining Beaux's prolific artwork, one cannot help but agree with Chase's estimation!

Beaux, who came from a well-to-do family, studied at the prestigious Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and soon became a favorite among the Eastern elite, who desired to immortalize their persons and lifestyle in art. With consummate skill, Beaux created sensitive, intimate, and often lush portraits of the members of the Gilded-Age establishment. Additionally, her paintings of children are often more penetrating and revealing than those of her contemporary Mary Cassatt! Due to her longevity, Beaux's artistic output spans a number of historical periods and artistic styles in American history; nevertheless, I believe, her portraits dating from the Gilded Age (c. 1867-1901) are her most accomplished, alluring, and beautiful!

In Cecilia Beaux: A Modern Painter in the Gilded Age, artist and historian Alice A. Carter provides a stunning and sumptuous introduction to the artwork of America's "greatest" woman painter. This book, published by Rizzoli - a specialist in art publications, is richly endowed with outstanding reproductions of Beaux's most famous portraits, especially those of children and young adults. My favorites are "A Little Girl" (1887), a sensitive painting of a young girl sitting for her portrait; "The Dreamer" (1894), a wistful portrait of a young woman lost in a personal reverie; and "Dorothea and Francesca" (1898), an intimate portrayal of sibling love and camaraderie. (All of these paintings -- and more -- are available on Google Images.) Alice A. Carter's text is engaging and highly readable, providing a good overview of Beaux's life and artistic influences. Additionally, the text contains a number of contemporary and revealing photographs of Beaux, her family and friends, and even some of the subjects of her famous portraits. I highly recommend Cecilia Beaux: A Modern Painter of the Gilded Age to all students of art history, historians of the Gilded Age, as well as the general public with an interest in aesthetics.

Like most people who bought this book, I did so for the reproductions of Cecelia Beaux's paintings. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find a pretty darn fascinating and well written biography.
If you're not familiar with Beaux's work, she's often compared to Sargent; while Sargent might have developed that particular style (which is NOT 'impressionism') Beaux is not a mere copycat, but developed her own unique "signature".