The Ultimate Trophy: How the Impressionist Painting Conquered the World Hardcover – March 1, 2009

The impressionist artists created a revolution in the art world. As with many new things, the change did not go down well with many people. It took quite a while for impressionists works to catch on and develop a place in the art market. Interestingly, the buyers who stepped forward to purchase this new style were not traditional art buyers. Rather, they were new money types. The aristocrats in their English country houses weren't buying Impressionist works, but the newly wealthy folks in New York were. The author, Philip Hook, takes us through this history of the art world's reaction to these works. Along the way we learn much about how art is appreciated in various countries, how the auction houses and dealers create demand, what happens in economic down turns, and what it is about Impressionism that makes it appeal to new money, whether that is new American money, new Japanese money, or new Arabic wealth. One interesting part was about Hitler's disdain for impressionists, but how some impressionist works still ended up in Nazi hands, and eventually in Soviet hands. Also, of interest was the price fixing scandal that damaged the reputations of Christies and Sothebys. Philip Hook's writing is always a delight to read. He is wickedly funny, in a subtle, droll British way. Hook was an expert on the UK version of Antiques Roadshow for many years, and was a favorite because of his sophisticated wit.

A pleasant, well-written tale of how the art of the Impressionists first came about; then how it migrated and came to be appreciated across national borders; and finally why it became--and remains--so prized by the world's richest collectors.

While the author is deeply informed on his subject, this is not an academic's book. It is neither encumbered by detailed footnotes nor marred by the over-generous use of words such as "didactical".

One can well imagine Mr. Hook telling his interesting and quietly humorous story over a post-dinner glass of port to a small clutch of enthralled guests at the manor.

I appreciate an author actually informing his or her readers and not insulting their intelligence. The impressonists created a new way to see the world.

When considering schools of painting, we know the Old Masters, or the Pre-Raphaelites, but we don't think of the Intransigents, or the Naturalists, a school of painting that was new when it began exhibiting in Paris in the 1870s. That's because they didn't keep those labels long, but adopted the name Impressionists, and boy, do we know that name now. The Impressionists are popular, and they are accessible (if by that you mean "able to be appreciated" rather than "able to be purchased"). They didn't become that way overnight, but the changes they brought to art and to the trade in art were the biggest revolution in painting history. In _The Ultimate Trophy: How the Impressionist Painting Conquered the World_ (Prestel), Philip Hook has given a history of Impressionism and its attendant commercialism. He is perfectly placed to do this; he is Senior Director of Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern Art Department. He also writes thrillers, and though there is little suspense in the story here, his command of the revealing anecdote (and he has numerous personal ones to tell) brings an immediacy to a delightfully readable history.

The Impressionists were shocking to their contemporaries, but are now familiar and companionable to us. It is enormous fun to read the withering attacks on the new art form. One critic wrote in 1875, "The impression which the Impressionists achieve is that of a cat walking on the keyboard of a piano or of a monkey who might have got hold of a box of paints." During the 1880s, however, the acceptance of the new art grew. One of Hook's heroes is a dealer who helped the change happen, Paul Durand-Ruel, whom he calls the first champion of the avant-garde, the first modern art dealer. Of course he was interested in making a profit, but he sincerely promoted his artists, pioneering one-man shows for Monet, Renoir, and others. He wrote as a critic about the art, taking on the duty of interpreting the mysteries of the new art for potential buyers. Besides Durand-Ruel's resourcefulness and persuasiveness, the Impressionists benefited from the enthusiasm of Americans for things French.

The main point of Hook's work is to show how eventually the style came to be embraced by the whole world. Part of the reason is the paintings' simple appeal - they are colorful, often optimistic, and they show familiar subjects. Hook points out also that for those with money, investing in an Impressionist work was likely to mean investing in the genuine article. Dealers like Durand-Ruel kept records, even photographs, of the canvasses sold, so that provenance and authenticity was indubitable. This was in contrast to investing in, say, a Rembrandt, only to find that some academics somewhere had determined it was no such thing. There is now a general international uniformity of artistic taste, because of globalization and rapid communication, and when a big auction happens, it can make world news. Hook's insights are valuable: "You could show off in an auction room. In fact, it was a double pleasure - you got to show off by outbidding all the other rich in the auction room, and you acquired something that you could then show off to your friends on the wall of your drawing room." The Impressionists have consistently been the auction record-breakers. Hook predicts this will always be so. The paintings can be used as badges of wealth, they please the eye, and they congratulate us for being able to appreciate them when so many of the contemporaries of their creators could not. As Hook says, everyone loves a happy ending.

I am an avid fan of Impressionist Paintings and it was interesting to learn and understand how this style came to be.

Why people hated it so much at first and how through American influence it became widely accepted.

In a sense the book also gives you a better understanding of why people don't tolerate each other.