Depths of Glory: A Biographical Novel of Camille Pisarro (Signet) (Paperback)

by Irving Stone (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
This 28th book and 12th biographical novel by the apparently tireless author is dedicated to its editor, Jean Stone, "for the several years of her devoted righting of this manuscript." Perhaps the most interesting side to the novel's subject, the French Impressionist painter, is not his talent but his long liaison with and eventual marriage to Julie, a strong peasant woman who loved and helped him and was the mother of his children. Also the kindly Pissarro had a gift for getting to know all the best artists (Corot, Cezanne, Manet, Monet, Degas, and on and on) of his time. The story chiseled out here in 14 chunky chapters is a tale of making it - finally - through perseverance and loyalty to a modest talent. Born on the island of St. Thomas to a middle-class French-Jewish family, the would-be artist, as the novel opens, returns to France, where he had gotten a lycee education, secretly burning to paint despite his parents' wishes. Camille should join his father's chandlering business, but, no - "His mind was as filled with clashing and disparate emotions as any trunk checked with the porter at the Boulogne station."At length he makes his way to the studio of "Papa Corot," who is "sitting near the door, singing an aria from Gluck, a large meerschaum pipe, which he called Pipette, in his mouth." One by one, Pissarro meets the to-be giants of 19th-century French art. Manet is a wit, sort of. Degas, an anti-Semite, but not really. Cezanne, "a sad and lonely man fighting desperately to remain aloof. . ." The psychological insight is nonexistent, but the focus on success, however tortuously gained, never wavers. For much of his life, Pissaro was under the financial and, evidently, emotional sway of his unbending Maman, a figure whom Freud would have relished (Stone wrote his ninth biographical novel, The Passions of the Mind, about Freud). The artist as careerist and Oedipal victim may never before have had a longer (631 pages) - or more unintended - portrait. Too bad the picture is hopelessly clouded by endless, aimless obligatory detail. In the end Pissarro never emerges as any sort of singular figure - a sad truth in its way, perhaps. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
A fictional biography of Camille Pissarro, a central figure of the Impressionist movement. It explores the artist's relationship with other great painters of the time, including Degas, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Cezanne and Van Gogh. By the author of "Lust for Life" and "The Agony and the Ecstasy". --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: Signet (March 3, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451164970
• ISBN-13: 978-0451164971
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 3.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,134,471 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Stone "artist" bio, June 21, 1998

By A Customer

Of the three books about artists by Irving Stone, this was my favorite (and Pissaro is my favorite artist as well). Stone kept me interested through-out.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars my review, February 28, 2000

By	Ana Maria Barrenechea (Westboro, Ma United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Depths of Glory (Hardcover)

This book made me understand the real struggles all impressionist artists had to live with to have their work accepted by the people, and how much they helped each other in their time of need. The author has brought real-life meaning to a story told many times! Brilliantly written. I enjoyed once again his hard facts and real characters. Irving Stone definitely is a master.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pissaro makes impressionism happen!, January 2, 2006

By	Reading Fan "Romans 8:1" (Baltimore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Depths of Glory (Hardcover)

This is another good book by Irving Stone, who also gave us Michelangelo in The Agony and the Ecstasy and Van Gogh in Lust for Life, both of which were made into major movies a half-century ago. The movies were good and had great actors, but the books were even better. This book would make a pretty good movie too, probably a psychological drama.

Stone's books are a chance to see great artists up close and behind the scenes. Since he is doing historical fiction, Stone takes you right into Pissaro's home and right up to his canvas as he is working, and right into his conversations with Monet, Renoir, and the rest at the local pubs. You are even in his head as he creates his art, which is a bit risky, but seems to work. You are there at the birth of Impressionism. It was exciting, at least for me, to get close to these legends.

Surprisingly, it was Pissaro who was the prime mover for the Impressionists exhibitions as a means to expose and educate the hostile audience of that day. The word Impressionism was like a dirty word in those days when the public only wanted clearly executed, classical or romantic paintings of such artists as Delacroix or Courbet. It's really hard to imagine today what made the critics and the public so angry in those days. Was it a bad idea to be innovative? Was it worth almost rioting over? What was the deal with being creative or a little different with your expression?

Organizing anything among this wild group of Impressionist bohemians was almost miraculous, but Pissaro possessed exceptional people skills (always a rare quality, then as now) that made it happen. It is very unlikely that anyone else at the time could have done it. At the same time he and his family were living hand-to-mouth, and you have to wonder how his wife put up with him (just barely, I think).

Almost a century after his time, Pissaro finally gets his due, at least in this book.