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A review by marziesreads
Monet: The Early Years by Mary Dailey Desmarais, Richard Thomson, Richard Shiff, George T. M. Shackelford, Anthea Callen
5.0
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a fabulous book, far more than a mere exhibition catalogue. The book follows Monet's work as he developed his art. Surprisingly, in his youth, he mostly drew caricatures. His family was initially unsupportive of his aspirations of being an artist. It was only after Eugène Boudin took him under his wing that he began to paint and embrace landscape work. Subsequent exposure to art of the Barbizon School (Corot, Millet, et al) led him to enroll in a conventional Academie. His tenure there brief and unproductive, he was stationed in Algeria but left to recover from illness. Upon returning to Paris he met his other early stylistic influence, Johan Barthold Jongkind. Within a short time he was working in the studio of Charles Gleyre, where he met his greatest artist friend, Pierre Auguste Renoir. The depth of their artistic connection, each with a unique painting and compositional style, is highlighted extensively, though the focus of the book is Monet's work from the 1860's- early 1870's.
The book offers seven essays on different aspects of the early years of Monet's painting. Among the them, Hunting the Light presents an interesting discussion of Monet's "Déjeuner sur L'Herbe," and its complexity when contrasted with Manet's more famous image of the same title. Much of the artwork in the catalogue is richly reproduced, in good color quality and of generous size, in the eBook copy I received. From the exquisite The Porte d'Amont, Entretat 1868-69 to the Argenteuil paintings of the early 1870's, the images and details of images are a true visual treat.
This is a fabulous book, far more than a mere exhibition catalogue. The book follows Monet's work as he developed his art. Surprisingly, in his youth, he mostly drew caricatures. His family was initially unsupportive of his aspirations of being an artist. It was only after Eugène Boudin took him under his wing that he began to paint and embrace landscape work. Subsequent exposure to art of the Barbizon School (Corot, Millet, et al) led him to enroll in a conventional Academie. His tenure there brief and unproductive, he was stationed in Algeria but left to recover from illness. Upon returning to Paris he met his other early stylistic influence, Johan Barthold Jongkind. Within a short time he was working in the studio of Charles Gleyre, where he met his greatest artist friend, Pierre Auguste Renoir. The depth of their artistic connection, each with a unique painting and compositional style, is highlighted extensively, though the focus of the book is Monet's work from the 1860's- early 1870's.
The book offers seven essays on different aspects of the early years of Monet's painting. Among the them, Hunting the Light presents an interesting discussion of Monet's "Déjeuner sur L'Herbe," and its complexity when contrasted with Manet's more famous image of the same title. Much of the artwork in the catalogue is richly reproduced, in good color quality and of generous size, in the eBook copy I received. From the exquisite The Porte d'Amont, Entretat 1868-69 to the Argenteuil paintings of the early 1870's, the images and details of images are a true visual treat.