Customer Reviews

Impressionism: Origins, Practice, Reception (World of Art)

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Belinda Thomson's contribution to the Thames & Hudson World of Art series is one of the best that I have encountered yet. One of the things that I most like about this series is the way that they have attempted over time to introduce new volumes are subjects that have more or less been covered before in order to provide a new treatment of the subject in attune with the latest critical scholarship. While some older World of Art titles touching upon the Impressionists preceded the period of influence and work of scholars like T. J. Clark, Robert L. Herbert, Ruth Berson, Patricia Mainardi, and many other contemporary art critics, Thomson carries out a complete reevaluation of the work of the Impressionists by pulling on the work of the recent scholarship. As a result, I believe that this volume is now the finest short introduction to the Impressionists now in print. It doesn't supercede larger, more in depth studies like Herbert's IMPRESSIONISM: ART, LEISURE, AND PARISIAN SOCIETY or John Rewald's older, almost encyclopedic history, but anyone wanting to gain an overview of Impressionism is unlikely to find a better brief study.

Although Thomson discusses many of the lesser Impressionists as well, she concentrates on a relatively small number of central figures, some who have only recently begun to receive the degree of attention that they deserve. She deals with Manet (and Bazille) as the crucial precursor and early collaborators, and then focuses on Monet, Degas, Renoir, Morisot, Sisley, Pissaro, Caillebotte, Cassatt, Gaugin, Fatin-Latour, and Guillaumin, and also Cézanne, whose relationship with the group was less clear. Each chapter tends to deal with most or all of these figures. These chapters she arranges around specific topics and themes. Thus, her study is driven more by ideas and themes than by chronology or biography, though neither of these elements is entirely missing. I found this thematic approach to be extremely effective, and some of the chapters shed a great deal of new light upon the Impressionists for me. For instance, I especially profited from the discussion of what light the marriages of the various Impressionists shed upon their social assumptions and their art. She also does a splendid job throughout of explaining the connection between their audiences, the avenues available to them for displaying their work, and the role of the art dealers in making their works available to the buying public.

A book of this size will of necessity have limitations placed upon it. Thomson has chosen to focus more upon the larger context of the work of the Impressionists, and has perhaps less discussion of specific works of art than other books on the subject. Some may find this a weakness, but in my opinion most of the other books have neglected context for discussion of specific paintings. Thus, sometimes a mildly ahistorical (in some cases a profoundly ahistorical) approach is taken. I loved the very concrete picture of the Impressionists' world that Thomson draws.

In short, one can hardly hope for a better introduction to the Impressionists than this one. I should mention one further improvement Thames and Hudson has been making in its most recent additions to the series: a greatly increased use of color reproduction. In the past, a few illustrations would be in color, but most would be in black and white. Now, over half of the illustrations are in color.

I guess I'm the only reviewer who is annoyed by the writing style featured in this book. The relevant facts and concepts could have been presented with so much more concision. I found the book to be a bit of a slog. Much of the material does not seem to stay on point. It reads rather like a PhD thesis, with the author intent upon demonstrating her complete breadth and depth of knowledge, rather than like a book intended for general readership. That is to say, not much thought was given to the narrative aspect. The author had quite a challenge to meet, in that the French impressionist painters were visually chronicling tumultous changes throughout every aspect of French society in the 1870s and 1880s. Nevertheless, the artfulness of a literary work can sometimes be enhanced as much by what is left out, as by what is included. There is much useful information in this book, but it could benefit from a skillful editing.

An even-handed, well-written, and detailed account of Impressionism. I liked that the author places Impressionism in its political, historical, and sociological context.

This book was a good introduction into art for me. The book had many color pictures with short but illuminative descriptions. For $15 it was a bargain. The book described not only the techniques and philosophy of the artists but also the surrounding circumstances.