Anne Distel Boeken

Caillebotte's vivid representations of Parisian life bridged the gap between Realism and Impressionism during the late 1870s and early 1880s. His Paris Street: Rainy Day and Floorscrapers - each the subject of a fascinating, extensively illustrated analysis in this book - have become icons of the Impressionists' devotion to scenes of modern urban life. Prepared by an international team of scholars to accompany the major 1994-95 retrospective organized by the Reunion des Musees Nationaux/Musee d'Orsay, Paris, and The Art Institute of Chicago, Gustave Caillebotte: Urban Impressionist reproduces 89 of his paintings and 28 of his drawings and studies, many of them from little-known private collections. Thoughtful essays examine both his work and his crucial role as an early patron and promoter of Impressionism. A chronology, list of exhibitions, and selected bibliography provide additional invaluable information.

A physician and an amateur artist, Paul Gachet appreciated at an early date the genius of a number of painters struggling for recognition, including Cezanne, Pissarro, Monet, Guillaumin, and, especially, Van Gogh. They were among the many artists who became his friends and were frequent guests at Gachet's home in Auvers, where they were invited to set up their easels and paint still lifes or to experiment with new etching techniques in his attic studio. The artists gave or sold to their host pictures that then joined his wide-ranging collection. Artists' works were also studiously copied by Gachet, his son, Paul, and other amateurs in Gachet's circle. By the time of Dr. Gachet's death in 1909, the collection that filled his three-story house - containing paintings by now-famous Impressionist and Postimpressionist artists - had become legendary. For the first time, the Gachet donations - which contain not only paintings but also drawings, prints, copies, and such memorabilia as artists' palettes and still-life objects - are being exhibited outside France and, in this volume, published in their entirety.

Foreword by Michel Laclotte. Introduction by Edward Lucie-Smith.

Georges SEURAT est à l'origine d'une nouvelle pensée artistique comme d'une nouvelle technique picturale : le point, ou divisionnisme. Mort à 31 ans, il laisse pourtant derrière lui une œuvre achevée, qui sans avoir fait école, est l'une des plus importantes des XIXe et XXe siècles. Son œuvre influencera aussi bien les futuristes, les cubistes analytiques que l'Art Nouveau. Bien que tout à fait personnelle, la démarche de Seurat s'inscrit dans le contexte d'une époque où la littérature se voulait scientifique avec Zola, où, au nom de la raison, l'Histoire démythifiait l'Ecriture sainte avec Renan. Ainsi Seurat, incarnation du néo-impressionnisme, occupe-t-il une place d'exception dans l'aventure de l'art. Anne Distel, conservateur en chef au Musée d'Orsay a participé à l'organisation et aux catalogues de nombreuses expositions, notamment ceux du Musée d'Orsay à Paris et du Metropolitan Museum of Art à New York consacrés à Seurat. Toute de sensibilité et de rigueur scientifique, elle nous fait découvrir dans ce volume de la collection Profils de l'Art l'œuvre et la vie brève du peintre.