From Publishers Weekly
The author of biographies of Joseph Conrad and Somerset Maugham, Meyers highlights here the intertwined lives of four Impressionist painters. Commencing with Edouard Manet (1832–1883), Meyers chronicles the artist's angst-ridden life as a bohemian and social rebel whose paintings were repeatedly rejected by the French art establishment. Berthe Morisot (1841–1895) is chiefly investigated in relation to Manet, with whom Meyers suggests she was romantically involved; she ultimately married Manet's brother (Manet was already married). Meyers's discussions of Morisot's paintings are engaging and unpretentious, as are his interpretations of all of the artists' works. The author pays more attention to Edgar Degas (1834–1917) than he does to American-born expat Mary Cassatt (1844–1926), whom he characterizes as a prickly, self-effacing woman with "a formidable array of off-putting qualities" who painted overly hygienic children. While Degas valued Cassatt as an artist and friend, Meyers says, he found her physically unappealing. As a glimpse into the context and dramas surrounding some of the world's most famous paintings, Meyers's book is lively and subjective, but not always entirely convincing.
(May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The nineteenth-century rebel painters known as the impressionists, often reviled in their time, remain perennial art-world stars. Meyers, author of a formidable list of literary biographies of the likes of Hemingway, Orwell, and Lawrence, now considers four impressionists. Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt are often seen as lesser lights in their male-dominated world, but Meyers gives them their due in relation to the dapper Manet and the overlord Degas. They inspired, admired, taught, harangued, envied, loved, challenged, and competed with one another. Each developed a singular style in breaking with tradition. Each was lovable and unlovable in his or her own way. Meyers treats them singly and in pairs, and looks closely at many of their paintings to discuss creativity, politics, class, and sex as well as suppressed love and longing. Meyers' title hints at his musical structure: the book is less linear biography than four suites of essays, with themes and variations that often double back and revisit moments through each artist's experience. Risky, but mostly engaging.
Steve PaulCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
