Customer Reviews

Chardin

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

 

 

I have to disagree with the above editorial. I compared the reproductions with others that I have, and although there are sometimes subtle differences they are not always to the disadvantage of this book. Some pictures are better than others, but the advantage here is that each reproduction is on a page by itself with commentary on an adjoining page-a catalogue layout that I always prefer in that it give the painting room to breathe and because I'm not reading on one page and finding the relevant painting six pages later. The book is obviously done by true lovers of the painter. Chardin is profound and a painter's painter. You can see and feel why he was adored by Cezanne, Soutine, Manet, Proust, and I'm sure many other significant artists. He has rightly been called a virtuoso of stillness. Even in reproduction, pieces of fruit, kitchenware and game animals are alive and quietly glowing from within with a warmth, compassion and a kind of subtle majesty-it's really deep in an indescribable way. In my opinion a very worthwhile purchase.

This book is simply gorgeous. I had been well acquainted with Chardin a number of years ago, and picked up this book on a whim at the store. Rediscovering this master was a true delight. His paintings are deceptively simple: behind the cool colors and the measured scenes lies a captivating energy. This particular volume is very well done. The reproductions are of superior quality and the accompanying essays by the world's most renowned Chardin expert are enjoyable and enlightening. Art books are expensive, but this is one that is well worth the investment.

This review refers to book ISBN-13: 978-1177899291, entitled "Chardin" and sold for $13.85. It is published by Nabu Public Domain Reprints.

I was led to believe from the listing on Amazon that I was ordering the paperback version of the wonderful catalog of the 1999 Chardin Exhibition authored by Pierre Rosenberg and Helene Prigent on the 300th anniversary of Chardin's birth and published in hardcover by Yale University Press in 2000 (ISBN-13: 978-0300083484). The book I received was published by Nabu Press on November 26, 2010 (the day of my order) and is related to the 1999 Chardin Exhibition Catalog ONLY by the fact that both books bear the title "Chardin".

I received the book on December 6, 2010. It is a thin print-on-demand paperback photo-reproduction of Part 65 of "Masters in Art - A Series of Illustrated Monographs" published in May, 1905. It includes pages 191 to 210 of that monograph, plus some antique advertisements and 10 black and white poor-quality reproductions of Chardin paintings. Apparently these pages were copied from a book that at one time was owned the University of California Library.

Amazon's listing for this book is very misleading. When one clicks on the "Look Inside" link for this book, one sees Rosenberg's 1999 Chardin Exhibition catalog. Further, the Editorial Reviews are for the Rosenberg book, not this one. This is obviously a mistake caused by confusing the identical titles and created by the Amazon staff in representing the book. It needs to be corrected.

I am returning the Nabu Press book for a refund.

I just wanted to add this to the review above: the 1979 catalog can still be found quite easily, but it contains mostly black and white reproductions of the works. There are only 23 colour images of the more than 400 pages in the 1979 book. The 2000 catalog is almost entirely in colour... However, I cannot properly judge the quality of the reproductions in the latter, as I have not seen one of those amazing paintings in reality yet.

Bought this primarily for the color photos of Chardin's work. If you like traditional still life
paintings, you'll love this.