Customer Reviews

DE LA'SZLO': A Brush with Grandeur

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

From 6th-22nd January 2004, a exhibition took place at Christie's, London. The exhibition was about Philip de László (1869-1937), one of the most successful society portrait painter of European Royalty and aristocracy, took place at. Befitting, the exhibition was opened by The Princess Royal. The exhibition comprised over 90 oil paintings, mostly portraits of many members of the British and European Royal families, politicians and other leading personalities of the day. It is the first retrospective of de László to be staged since his death in 1937.
This is the catalogue accompanying this exhibition, done by Sandra de Laszlo, a granddaughter-in-law of the artist.It contains essays by Gábor Bellák, Christopher Lloyd, Richard Ormond, Christopher Wooand Suzanne Bailey. It illustrates a rich and representative selection of de László' s work and, aided by stunning colour plates,contains biographical as well as art historical information.
Philip de Lászlo, following a meteoric rise from humble origins to recognition in his native Hungary, settled in Britain in 1907 and became the leading portrait-painter in the country - taking over from Sargent. Marrying into the Guiness family, he painted members of almost every royal family in Europe and very many more of the upper crust of society. His pictures hold up a mirror to the Indian summer of the aristocrats of Europe in the Edwardian era, through 1st World War and through to the 1930's. He followed a tradition of catching and enhancing a likeness with due grandeur and majesty. Seeing his pictures names like Titian, Van Dyck, Velázquez and Franz Xaver Winterhalter come into one' s mind. However, as since his era photography has taken over the perfect likeness from painting one has re-introduces this well-known but little studied artist to a wider public. Too often his best-loved portraits hang in ancestral corridors and are rarely coming up for sale.
The catalogue is perfect and is the next best thing for all who missed the exhibition.

I must warn you that this book is a let down. The quality of the photography is very, very low. I would say embarrassingly low. Most of the pictures in this book are out of focus. The resolution is so low in some of them that it looks like the graphic designer of the book downloaded pictures from the web for the book. I have done that a lot, and you can actually get better pictures from the web than some of the pictures featured in this book. Lets face it, we buy art books like this one mostly for the pictures, and the pictures in this book are of the worst quality.

A beautiful and well done book covering deLaszlo. A great addition to my library of portrait painters.
I hope an additional book is forthcoming for many of the other portraits not covered in this book? Would recommend for those who enjoy John Singer Sargent portrait books.

I got this book and I am very happy of the reproduction and the quality. If I wanted to add to this book I would go with the Hardcover. A must have for De Laiszlo lovers.