Monet on the Normandy Coast: Tourism and Painting, 1867-1886 [Hardcover]

Professor Robert L. Herbert et al. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 26, 1994

In this magnificently illustrated book, Robert L. Herbert, author of the acclaimed Impressionism: Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society, presents a new interpretation of Monet's beautiful seascapes of the Normandy coast. Discussing more than fifty works, Herbert shows how these splendid pictures of Etretat and other resorts reflect the dialogue between the modern city and pre-modern nature that underlay tourism. Interweaving the colorful history of sea resorts, stylistic analysis, details of Monet's life, and reflections on the marketing of his art, this book offers a fascinating new perspective on some of the artist's most beloved works. Herbert points out that in early paintings at Sainte-Adresse and Trouville Monet represented vacationers and resort leisure, but when he returned to the Normandy coast in the early 1880s, he painted lonely views that eliminated all signs of tourism. He shows that generations of vacationers seeking these views had transformed fishing villages into resorts, even as they wished to preserve the illusions of a pre-modern seacoast. Monet's modernity lay in the production of neo-romantic myths, illusions of spontaneous responses to untouched nature that were welcomed by Parisian galleries and international collectors. At the same time, Herbert notes, modernity is also found in Monet's evocative brushwork and color and in his dramatic bird's-eye views, which speak to modern culture's search for personal release from the workplace.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An examination of the intersections between tourism and impressionism in the way they perceived nature.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Herbert (Impressionism, LJ 10/15/88) examines Monet's 1860s to 1880s paintings of Etretat on the Normandy coast, discussing the famous sea views of the Mannesport, Port d'Aval, and other points and comparing them with photographs, sketches, guidebooks, and the works of artists such as Courbet and Boudin. Linking the artist with tourists who may tread on well-traveled paths but see themselves as alone with nature, Herbert presents Monet as a neo-Romantic portraying a much-populated resort as a quaint fishing village. Herbert's analysis is insightful, and the conclusions he draws from well-documented sources are worth studying. Unfortunately, some of the details reproduced in this highly illustrated book are bled to the edge of the page; these plates give the feel of a painted surface but lack compositional structure and seem overpowering and disjointed. Aside from that, the book is beautifully produced and will appeal to specialists, travelers to Etretat, and lay readers who want to know Monet from Herbert's unique perspective.
Ellen Bates, New York
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 168 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (October 26, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300059736
• ISBN-13: 978-0300059731
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 9.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,345,512 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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