Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: The Hermitage, Leningrad, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington

by Marina Bessonova, William James Williams, Lane Park

Since the late nineteenth century, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting has had an enthusiastic audience both east and west of France among Russian and American lovers of art. This unique book handsomely presents an exceptional era in the history of art and reflects its continuing popularity in both nations.

Presented here are 277 paintings in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Puskin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow; and the Hermitage, Leningrad. Masterworks from the great national collections of the United States and the Soviet Union are brought together for the first time in a single volume featuring the art of Cézanne, Degas, Gauguin, Manet, Matisse, Monet, Morisot, Pissarro, Renoir, Rouault, Rousseau, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, and other painters of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist schools.

Impressionism and Post-Impressionism is a product of international cooperation on several levels - between publishers, between nations, and between cultures. It is devoted to the common desire of all people to appreciate and understand great art as a universal means of expression and communication that transcends all national boundaries.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

336 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1986

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, huge book. I love the color explosion by the impressionists. This collection represents works from 23 artists, from:
- The Hermitage in Leningrad
- The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow
- The National Gallery of Art, in Washington DC

While only a handful of my more favorite works are in this volume, I like seeing all these similar artists in a single book to give me ideas on future singular-artist volumes for me to watch for.

4.5, round up.

Boudin
Manet
Morisot
Monet
Pissaro
Sisley
Renoir
Degas
Cezanne
Signac
Cross
Seurat
Van Gogh
Gauguin
Rousseau
Toulouse-Lautrec
Vuillard
Bonnard
Denis
Utrillo
Roualt
Matisse
Picasso

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice attempt to create a virtual exhibition by bringing together paintings of lead impressionists and post impressionists owned by 3 large museums. Also a nice case of International collaboration. The book is really a large collection of organized paintings. Each major artist has a section prefaced with a brief bio introduction. The book is large in format and with one painting per page gives a lot of space for images. It is also printed well on a nice paper. Great coffee table book. However, unlike best exhibition or gallery books, it offers no additional information on each painting. No story, history, or provenance. Just many nice paintings. Yet, compared with several books from the National Gallery that present similar subset of paintings by impressionists and post impressionists, this one offers an advantage of larger format and extended set of paintings from Russian museums. If you like all impressionists and post impressionists, this could be a great book for you. Myself, I enjoy most impressionists, but not excited by most post impressionists. Since paintings of post impressionists take about 3/5 of the book, it would not be my choice of a coffee table book