Monet in the 20th Century [Paperback]

Professor Paul Hayes Tucker (Author), George Shackleford (Author), MaryAnne Stevens (Author, Contributor), George T. M. Shackelford (Contributor), Romy Golan (Contributor), John House (Contributor), Prof. Michael Leja (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 2000

By the beginning of the twentieth century, Claude Monet was a figure of national importance in France, the "patriarch" of impressionism and the country's foremost landscape painter. This richly illustrated book examines for the first time the rich body of work that Monet completed from 1900 until his death in 1926, a period during which he was enormously productive, increasingly wealthy and ever more venerated. The paintings which crowned Monet's career included over 500 views of London, Venice and his gardens at Giverny. These paintings are almost signature canvases, especially the famous Water Lilies. However, they also presented him with enormous challenges: his London pictures took almost four years to complete, as did his Venice views, and his garden paintings, much more diverse than is generally known, became a persistent obsession. This book sets Monet's challenges and achievements within personal and historical contexts and carefully reconstructs his painting campaigns. It also assesses his public persona and considers his personal and professional strategies. What unfolds is a complicated story of an ageing artist determined to create a new art. This book is the catalogue for a new exhibition that celebrates the achievement of Claude Monet after 1900. It includes essays on the evolution of Monet's work after 1900, its relationship both to his earlier work and to contemporary critical and artistic developments, and the subsequent cultural and critical concerns which have shaped the more recent reception of his late work. It will open at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston on 23rd September, 1998 and run to 3rd January, 1999, before opening at the Royal Academy of Arts in London on 21st January 1999.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

After the scores of beautiful Monet books that have been published over the last two decades, it is hard to imagine that a new one could be indispensable. But this volume, the catalog of an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (fall 1998, then travels to the Royal Academy of Arts in London) is more than just lovely. The main essay, by Paul Hayes Tucker, is a spellbinding history that ably places Monet and his late works in the context of the shattering political upheavals of his time. Tucker demonstrates the patriotic ideal of La France, which for Monet and his public was the ur-subject of his entire oeuvre up to the end of the 19th century, from the crashing waves at Étretat to the shimmering facades of Chartres. Then came the Dreyfus affair, with the Catholic Church and French conservatives united in an anti-Semitic attack against the innocent Jewish army captain accused of treason. Monet passionately and actively joined the writer Émile Zola, who was arrested for defending Dreyfus in his famous article, "J'Accuse." Tucker traces the rift in Monet's use of imagery from this time forward, as he turns his back on quintessentially French scenes to focus instead on the closely observed gardens in his own back yard. Tucker also subtly evokes Monet's despair during the long years of World War I, and his often heroic efforts to be of use, despite his age. This sumptuous volume, with its 12 fold-out plates of the Water Lilies, is very, very beautiful, but its story of an aging artist deeply engaged in his art and his times is something even better. --Peggy Moorman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This catalog for a show at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, which is traveling to the Royal Academy in London, is the first to consider Monet as a 20th-century artist. In four focused, critical essays by specialists, it chronicles the still-powerful older painter, who was not involved with formulae but with seeing and redefining 19th-century art with experience, color, feeling, refraction, and multiplicity while freeing painting from perspective and spatial observation. His work later influenced American abstract expressionists and color field artists of the mid-20th century. The second part of the book contains resplendent full-color reproductions, including 12 four-page foldouts of the water lily murals, hinting at their huge scale. Tucker (art, Univ. of Massachusetts, Boston), who authored Claude Monet: Life and Art (Yale Univ., 1995), has made a thought-provoking and important contribution. Highly recommended for special, academic, and public collections.?Ellen Bates, New York
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 310 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (August 11, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300079443
• ISBN-13: 978-0300079449
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 9.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,058,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #66 in Books > Arts & Photography > Schools, Periods & Styles > Impressionism

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must, for anyone looking to expand an art library!, December 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Monet in the 20th Century (Hardcover)

This book is a perfect addition to any art library. Having seen "Monet in the 20th Century" in Boston at the Museum of Fine Arts, I was well prepared for the exhibit by having read the book first. I found the exhibit to be an extraordinary example of Monet's achievment in his later years. This book focuses on the works of Monet starting at the start of this century right up to his death in 1928. All through this period of Monet's life and including the representation of the body of work produced within those years, this book never skips a beat. Although not an all-encompassing look at his complete works of that period, this book offers the best look out there of his paintings as well as his development throughout the last quarter-century of his life. I found it to be in keeping with what is already known about Monet's later years, but certainly not devoid of interesting insights. The quality of the book, it's contents, including all of the color plates reproduced within is very good. I would not have an art library without Monet representation, and this is the ideal book for an addition or a starter.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A wonderfull look at Monet, December 5, 1999

By 

SPC Byers, Mary K (US Solider in Brcko, Bosnia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monet in the 20th Century (Hardcover)

I found this book not only to be filled with the wonderfull works of Claude Monete but it also has a great insight to his life and the imprssion he left on modern art today. This book also contains full fold-out pictures of some of the artists best works. For anyone who has ever enjoyed any of Monets work you will love this book.

4.0 out of 5 stars preservation nightmare, December 6, 2010

By 

anonymous - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monet in the 20th Century (Paperback)

This beautiful and informative book is, unfortunately, a preservation nightmare. I advise librarians to reinforce the folded edges of the plates before use. I had to piece our copy back together after it was returned with most of the folded plates completely split apart along their edges.