The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays (Arts & Letters) [Paperback]

Charles Baudelaire (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 24, 1995

Charles Baudelaire (1821-67) was a leading poet and novelist in nineteenth who also devoted a considerable amount of his time to criticism. Indeed it was with a Salon review that he made his literary debut: and it is significant that even at this early stage - in 1845 - he was already articulating the need for a painter who could depict the heroism of modern life. This he was to find in Constantin Guys, whom he later celebrated in the famous essay which provides the title-piece for this collection. Other material in this volume includes important and extended studies of three of Baudelaire's contemporary heroes - Delacroix, Poe and Wagner - and some more general articles, such as those on the theory and practice of caricature, and on what Baudelaire, with intentional scorn, called philosophic art. This last article develops views only touched on in Baudelaire's other writings. This volume is extensively illustrated with reproductions of works referred to in the text and otherwise relevant to it. It provides a survey of some of the most important ideas and individuals in the critical world of the great poet who has been called the father of modern art criticism.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 310 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press; 2 edition (August 24, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714833657
• ISBN-13: 978-0714833651
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Much-needed content in ill-suited printing, January 1, 2010

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Mike (Iowa) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays (Arts & Letters) (Paperback)

It's convenient to have several key texts of Baudelaire's aesthetic criticism collated in one place rather than as scattered translations printed here and there over the last 40 years. It is especially nice to have so many attractive monochrome plates of Guys's work -- perhaps more than strictly necessary. It's unfortunate that the remarkably thin pages make it distracting at best and challenging at worst to read what Baudelaire was actually writing.

Before I come off as a ranting, blind curmudgeon, let me say that this is -- I believe -- the first time in 12 years of dedicated Amazon purchasing that I have returned a book. My eyes are not what they were when I began buying books from Amazon, of course, but I read for a living and it's not as though my eyes are accustomed to 16-point type. I teach out of Norton anthologies at least once a year and have no problem with Norton's thin pages and small type, but what's happening in this edition is just too intense for me: the dark type bleeds through the onionskin pages; the margins can be measured in millimeters (no marginal notetaking is possible unless you write with a needle dipped in ink); the trim size is pleasantly small, but the font is so reduced that I have to hold the text about a foot from my eyes in order to read it. This would make the experience uncomfortable enough if Baudelaire were writing casual, easy stuff; if you would like the opportunity to concentrate on what he's writing and, ideally, to take some notes here and there, then the formatting of this edition makes that unnecessarily difficult to do.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Modern versus Contemporary critical reflections/debates on the Arts, February 20, 2007

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D. Powell (Amsterdam) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays (Arts & Letters) (Paperback)

This book was a historical landmark in the beginnings of modern criticism, and is seen as a pioneering benchmark for artistic reference. Its relevance today is that its poetic language or vernacular manages to engage the reader in a strange relationship with contemporary art criticism, opening up all kinds of possiblities for the artist(s)/curator who wishes to broaden their historical frames of reference. It is then a specialists book that equally throws light onto our times, it is up to the reader of course on how far their imagination can accomodate this. I recommend this book to anyone with an open mind who is curious about how past and present times are constructed, viewed and discussed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommend, February 6, 2010

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Charles C. Daly "Charles Daly" (Windsor, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays (Arts & Letters) (Paperback)

Have been reading this dreamlike book for years. My recent purchase was as a Christmas present.

Baudelaire orchestrates the debut of an anonymous (but real) cartoonist in this series of reviews. So, he introduces the sensibility of the artist, rather than the man. He argues that art is on the street beside you, in the room with you, in the mirror. Then why isn't every person an artist? What thing do people connect to the reporting senses? Why are so many who call themselves artists not artists; what makes some others, who have not chosen to make art, artists? If you want to understand the meaning of words like "dilettante," "artificial," "professional," "curiosity," "inspiration," and the tired vocabulary of the plastic sphere re-invigored at its origin, read this book. Usable handbook. Knowing Baudelaire will reveal further the horrible and ragged side of the aesthetic here espoused.

Enthused essays and aphorisms--insight into a vocation which remains mysterious. Not from ivory tower; Baudelaire a "gentleman" explorer. Look out for volatile friendship with book.