From Publishers Weekly
For artists active in Paris between 1880 and 1914, surviving by one's art was exceedingly difficult, while financial success was denied to all but a few. This engaging study spotlights scores of unfamiliar as well as celebrated Parisian painters and sculptors who got by through their wits and talent. Nearly all of them strived to exhibit at the official Salon, as this conferred respectability; some artists sold their own works at auction, a nerve-racking and potentially disastrous ploy; others were lucky enough to have their pictures displayed at the Moulin Rouge, where Toulouse-Lautrec loitered to sketch the nightlife. For women, the job of painter's model was no less arduousan exhausting and boring task even at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Milner, author of Vladimir Tatlin and the Russian Avant Garde, explores romantic myths as he documents the stark realities of the City of Light. This wonderfully illustrated chronicle teems with paintings, drawings and period photographs of artists and their haunts.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
From the lofty institutionsthe Louvre and Ecole des Beaux Artsto the alleys and byways of Montmartre and Montparnasse, Milner describes the Parisian 19th-century art world. He considers salon stars and hopefuls, expositions, public monuments, painters painting other painters, and neighborhood attractions and distractions. The well-informed text combines a tour guide approach with historical narrative using quoted source material. There is some similarity of intent to Philippe Julian's Montmartre (1977), though this work was oriented more to personality and intimate description. Color plates include city scenes by Tissot, Jean Beraud, Caillebotte, and John Singer Sargent. While attractive, this book will be of interest mostly to students and scholars. Hara Seltzer, NYPL
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
