Chardin [Hardcover]

Professor Pierre Rosenberg (Author), Pierre Rosenberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2000

Widely acknowledged in his time as a premier painter of still-life and genre scenes, Jean-Baptiste-Simion Chardin (1699-1779) created unsentimentalised works that appeal to viewers today for their richness of feeling and simplicity of composition. This sumptuously illustrated book reproduces in full colour 99 of Chardin's works and arranges them around five themes: Chardin's Beginnings and His First Still-lifes, Utensils and Household Objects, Genre Scenes, Chardin's Return to Still-life, and Pastels. The contributors to the volume explore Chardin's work from many different angles, including the latest thinking on such lesser-known facets of his life and work as his use of ceramics and glass, his financial and property affairs, and the complex history of engravings of his paintings. Each of the five sections of the book has an introduction and a selection of Chardin's paintings accompanied on facing pages by complete provenance, exhibition, and bibliographic information. The book also offers an extensive Chardin biography, an index of names and places, and an index of works. This book is the catalogue of an international exhibition of Chardin's work, timed to coincide with the tercentenary of his birth. The exhibition opens at the Galeries nationales du Grand Palais in Paris from 7 September to 22 November 1999, and then travels to the Kunstmuseum and Kunsthalle in D|sseldorf from 5 December 1999 to 20 February 2000, the Royal Academy in London from 9 March to 28 May 2000 and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from 19 June to 17 September 2000.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Pierre Rosenberg, the Chardin scholar and President-Director of the Musée du Louvre, had one overriding goal in mind when assembling the exhibition of which Chardin is the catalog: "to present the artist's finest paintings, the most perfect, the most harmonious, the paintings that leave nothing to be desired." The 99 paintings reproduced in this book are a testimony to the success of that endeavor. There are also six essays by Chardin experts and an extensively researched chronology.

Chardin's still lifes and genre scenes have been deeply appreciated for centuries for what Rosenberg calls "the grave, silent quality that encourages the onlooker to silent reverie." He is incapable of untruth: his subjects--jugs and bowls, glasses, cherries, housemaids, boys at play, dogs and cats--are painted without a touch of irony, embellishment, or drama.

It is painful to report that this volume is extremely disappointing visually, with plates that are either poorly reproduced or reproduced from poor transparencies and are slightly greenish or washed out. Except for details, which do show Chardin's close harmonies and painterly touch, the pictures look flat and dull. Art historians, of course, will see the paintings in the flesh and use this book as only an aide-memoire, but for ordinary, nonprofessional art lovers, the 20-year-old catalog of the great 1979 Chardin exhibition gives a far better sense of the quiet perfection of this subtle artist. Even a pocket book from Abrams' Discoveries series, Chardin: An Intimate Art, by Helene Prigent and Pierre Rosenberg, is far superior. Although its reproductions are minuscule by comparison, they are at least clear and clean, with colors that appear to be close to those of the original works. The little book may be only an hors d'oeuvre, but it has all the flavor that is missing in the full-course meal. --Peggy Moorman

From Publishers Weekly

Rosenberg's concise pk analysis of the 18th-century Parisian painter Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin, known predominantly for his harmonious still lifes, is appreciative yet fair-minded. Chardin, born in 1699, apprenticed at the studios of the artists Cazes and Coypel, beginning in 1718. Admitted to the Royal Academy in 1728 on the basis of his highly regarded still lifes The Skate and The Sideboard , the painter owed little, according to Rosenberg, to the Academy's "official precepts," showing "small inclination to be trained as one of those painters of historical scenes then considered to be the only real artists." The author touches upon Chardin's "special contribution" to the genre of still life--"a subtle interplay of light and shade, a softening of the outlines," and the famous "thick and clotted brushwork"--and examines the painter's "incapacity to paint from the imagination,"p. 47 relying instead on keeping his subject right before his eyes. Rosenberg's informative text is accompanied by handsome illustrations of Chardin's work, including many of his figure paintings. The author also includes critical comments from artists and writers, such as Diderot, van Gogh and Malraux. Rosenberg ( Laurent de la Hyre ) is head curator of the Department of Painting for the Louvre.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 360 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; 1St Edition edition (May 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300083483
• ISBN-13: 978-0300083484
• Product Dimensions: 12.4 x 9.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #874,121 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very satisfying book, January 29, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Chardin (Hardcover)

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.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful!, July 26, 2000

By 

"susanandrews" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chardin (Hardcover)

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.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Amazon mistake, December 7, 2010

By 

John Cramer "Physics Professor" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Chardin (Paperback)

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.