From Library Journal
The total graphic production of Pissarro and Renoir has been thoroughly documented in these two very fine volumes, revisions of original French catalogues raisonn?s dating back to 1923 that were part of Delteil's influential series on 19th- and early 20th-century peintres-graveurs (see, e.g., Delacroix, LJ 5/15/97). To Pissarro, prints were perhaps more a form of recreation or problem-solving than something to be sold to a collector. He routinely worked them through several states, stubbornly using techniques that made them difficult to edition. Unlike Renoir, an established artist who was nearly 50 when he first attempted printmaking, Pissarro began in his thirties. He was the most prolific Impressionist printmaker, experimented alongside Degas, and created new work up to a year before his death. Renoir's output was much smaller than Pissarro'sAaround 50 images as compared to 200Aand much of his work was published by Ambroise Vullard on a commission basis. The rest of his prints were sought after as illustrations by authors, publishers, and colleagues. Each book is in the original French, revised for the current edition, with supplemental text in English. Introductions, biographical essays, and much of the documentation is also in English, but not everything is translated. Most of the illustrations are in black and white. Scholarly contributions by Christopher Lloyd, Anne R?ver, Una Johnson, Joseph Stella, and others have improved what were already valuable research tools. The information about restrikes, edition sizes, and known locations for each image will be important to collectors, and because the various states of both Pissarro's and Renoir's prints are shown, art teachers as well as art historians will find them useful for instruction. Recommended for academic and large public libraries.ASusan M. Olcott, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., OH
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
