Edouard Manet: Rebel in a Frock Coat [Hardcover]

Beth Archer Brombert (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1996

"Richly detailed and informative, (this biography) exposes the character of an artist who maintained a sharply defined duality between his public and private personas" ("Philadelphia Inquirer" and "grants us a far deeper understanding of why (Manet's) paintings outraged so many of his peers" ("Booklist", starred review). 70 halftones.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Edouard Manet (1832-1883), whose paintings depict noncommunication between intimates, unspoken secrets and the pretense of bourgeois propriety, led a life of camouflage and deception, according to this compelling, if often conjectural, biography. When the French painter turned 20, his 22-year-old mistress, Dutch piano teacher Suzanne Leenhoff, gave birth to a son whom she named Leon-Edouard Koella. Throughout her life, Leenhoff bizarrely insisted that Leon was her brother; she and Manet (who lived with Leon and his mistress) married in 1863, and the painter became the boy's godfather, yet Brombert builds a plausible case that Leon was actually Manet's unacknowledged biological son. She is less convincing in arguing that Manet and his sister-in-law, painter Berthe Morisot, held mutual unfulfilled romantic longings for each other, or that Manet, often criticized as a neutral, apolitical observer, was in fact a "political animal" with center/left sympathies. Even so, her startling, intimate biography brilliantly links Manet's complex personality and hidden personal life to his art. Brombert is author of Christina: Portrait of a Princess and translator of Francis Ponge. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This is the first full-length biography of painter Edouard Manet in English since the translation of Henri Perruchot's Manet in 1962. Manet's importance to the development of art, both as an early, if reluctant, leader of the impressionist movement and his interactions with a wide range of writers, most importantly Zola and Baudelaire, are explored in great detail here. Brombert, a cultural historian, provides extensive information about Manet's world and the importance of 19th-century Paris to the formation of Manet's personal and artistic life. Unfortunately, Brombert's telling of Manet's life is often slow-moving and chronologically confusing. Manet's paintings and his relationship with his sister-in-law Berthe Morisot are examined with a piercing Freudian eye, sometimes to the detriment of a careful art-historical analysis as is provided in works like Harry Rand's Manet's Contemplation at the Gare Saint-Lazare (Univ. of California, 1987). Recommended with reservations for most collections.?Martin R. Kalfatovic, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington,
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 505 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co (T); 1st edition (March 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316109479
• ISBN-13: 978-0316109475
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.9 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,157,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have for Manet lovers!!!, September 25, 2001

By 

lady bix (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Edouard Manet: Rebel in a Frock Coat (Paperback)

Beth Archer Brombert's Edouard Manet: Rebel in a Frock Coat is a must-have for anyone who loves 19th century art, especially that of the great Manet. Brombert has clearly done her research; not only does she critically examine the works of past art historians, she also analyses primary documents. Brombert writes well, clean and concise. The book is fresh and intriguing. I am a graduate student working on Manet's art and this book was a delight to read.

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Edouard Manet Fan, October 9, 2002

By 

historybooklady (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Edouard Manet: Rebel in a Frock Coat (Hardcover)

In my opinion...one of the best books written on Edouard Manet. Well researched and enjoyable to read. Any Manet reader cannot pass this book up!!

3 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars hype, September 9, 2002

By 

"k92" (vista, ca United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Edouard Manet: Rebel in a Frock Coat (Hardcover)

a disappointing read.

if you like speculation unsupported by the facts, then this is the book for you.