The Judgment of ParisThe Judgment of Paris
While the Civil War raged in America, another very different revolution was beginning to take shape across the Atlantic, in the studios of Paris: The artists who would make Impressionism the most popular art form in history were showing their first paintings amidst scorn and derision from the French artistic establishment. Indeed, no artistic movement has ever been, at its inception, quite so controversial. The drama of its birth, played out on canvas, would at times resemble a battlefield; and, as Ross King reveals, Impressionism would reorder both history and culture as it resonated around the world.
The Judgment of Paris chronicles the dramatic decade between two famous exhibitions—the scandalous Salon des Refuses in 1863 and the first Impressionist showing in 1874—set against the rise and dramatic fall of Napoleon III and the Second Empire after the Franco-Prussian War. A tale of many artists, it revolves around the lives of two, described as "the two poles of art"—Ernest Meissonier, the most famous and successful painter of the 19th century, hailed for his precision and devotion to history; and Edouard Manet, reviled in his time, who nonetheless heralded the most radical change in the history of art since the Renaissance. Out of the fascinating story of their parallel lives, illuminated by their legendary supporters and critics—Zola, Delacroix, Courbet, Baudelaire, Whistler, Monet, Hugo, Degas, and many more—Ross King shows that their contest was not just about Art, it was about competing visions of a rapidly changing world.
With a novelist's skill and the insight of an historian, King recalls a seminal period when Paris was the artistic center of the world, and a revolutionary movement had the power to electrify and divide a nation.
Of course you know the art of Meissonier. He was one of the most successful artists in the 19th century, a master of realism and detail.... You say you do not remember him? So do you remember Manet? King focuses on the turmoil between the Salon des Refusés of 1863 and the first Impressionist showing of 1874, a period which began with the elegant Napoleon III and ended without him after his fall in the Franco-Prussian War. Manet and Meissonier may have been marginally interested in the fate of the third Napoleon, but they were definitely interested in each other, their rivalry in how they saw their world, and how the ranks of their friends and enemies grew and changed. King also provides color pictures of the art in question, probably one of the few times you will see the work of Meissonier outside of a very quiet corner of a museum. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
The critically acclaimed author of Brunelleschi's Dome chronicles the origins of Impressionism against the backdrop of the artistic and cultural events of the nineteenth century as exemplified in the work of two artists--Ernest Meissonier, the most successful artist of his era, and Edouard Manet, reviled in his time but who heralded a radical change in the history of art. 125,000 first printing.
Chronicles the origins of Impressionism against the backdrop of the artistic and cultural events of the nineteenth century as exemplified in the work of two artists--Ernest Meissonier and Edouard Manet.
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- New York : Audio Renaissance, p2006.
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