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The Post-impressionists
Book by Shone, Richard
- GenresArtNonfiction
176 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1979
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11 people want to read
About the author
Richard Shone
96 books3 followersRichard Shone (born 1949) is a British art historian and art critic specializing in British modern art, and from 2003–15 was the editor of The Burlington Magazine.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 27, 2018
I checked out this 1979 book on Post-Impressionist painters for the Pinakes Legacy project. It's been a long time since I've looked at a coffee table book on art and in that time, the internet has exploded and become the de facto way I find information. Looking at this book reminded me how much harder it was to find out what you wanted to know before the internet.
For example, I was looking at the book with my 13-year-old and trying to explain the difference between the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. I was combing through the table of contents and the index to see if the book compared the two, or gave any examples for contrast. Having no luck, my son said, "Why don't you just look it up on your phone?" Of course! In those few minutes with the book, I had been mentally transported to the past and temporarily forgot I had the entire history of art in my purse, in color! I quickly pulled up a bunch of Impressionist paintings and a nice pithy description of the difference and we were off, discussing which we liked better, figuring out if one of my favorite painters, Franz Marc, was an Impressionist (he's not, he's an Expressionist), and generally geeking out on early 20th century painting, coffee table book forgotten.
Part of the problem with this book, is that to make it affordable at the time, most of the prints are in black and white. When you're talking about an art movement that was partly a reaction to the muted and realistic colors of Impressionism, you need to see the color to understand how different Post-Impressionist work is. I remember when I was in my early 20s, I was looking through a friend's old art history book and saw a black and white thumbnail of Franz Marc's Deer in a Monastery Garden. I was taken by it, even in black and white, but when I finally found a print shop downtown, looked through their catalog, found a print, ordered it from the Munich museum Lenbachhaus, and picked it up two weeks later, nothing could have prepared me for the amazing intensity and contrast of colors! Truly, there was no way to tell what kind of picture it was without the color.
Each chapter in the book focuses on an Impressionist Shone feels is important, so right there, but the book has a bias. I read through the chapters on the artists I knew well and he does a pretty good job covering their painterly lives, so that was interesting. I wouldn't say his writing is lively, but it's serviceable. I wouldn't buy this book for my own though.
For example, I was looking at the book with my 13-year-old and trying to explain the difference between the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. I was combing through the table of contents and the index to see if the book compared the two, or gave any examples for contrast. Having no luck, my son said, "Why don't you just look it up on your phone?" Of course! In those few minutes with the book, I had been mentally transported to the past and temporarily forgot I had the entire history of art in my purse, in color! I quickly pulled up a bunch of Impressionist paintings and a nice pithy description of the difference and we were off, discussing which we liked better, figuring out if one of my favorite painters, Franz Marc, was an Impressionist (he's not, he's an Expressionist), and generally geeking out on early 20th century painting, coffee table book forgotten.
Part of the problem with this book, is that to make it affordable at the time, most of the prints are in black and white. When you're talking about an art movement that was partly a reaction to the muted and realistic colors of Impressionism, you need to see the color to understand how different Post-Impressionist work is. I remember when I was in my early 20s, I was looking through a friend's old art history book and saw a black and white thumbnail of Franz Marc's Deer in a Monastery Garden. I was taken by it, even in black and white, but when I finally found a print shop downtown, looked through their catalog, found a print, ordered it from the Munich museum Lenbachhaus, and picked it up two weeks later, nothing could have prepared me for the amazing intensity and contrast of colors! Truly, there was no way to tell what kind of picture it was without the color.
Each chapter in the book focuses on an Impressionist Shone feels is important, so right there, but the book has a bias. I read through the chapters on the artists I knew well and he does a pretty good job covering their painterly lives, so that was interesting. I wouldn't say his writing is lively, but it's serviceable. I wouldn't buy this book for my own though.
Displaying 1 of 1 review