Impressionists Side by Side: Their Friendships, Rivalries, and Artistic Exchanges

by Barbara Ehrlich White

In this extraordinary volume, art historian Barbara Ehrlich White considers the achievements of the Impressionists from an entirely fresh perspective.  She focuses on the personal and professional relationships between seven pairs of Degas and Manet, Monet and Renoir, Cézanne and Pissaro, Manet and Morisot, Cassatt and Degas, Morisot and Renoir, and Cassatt and Renoir.  Looking at the work of each pair, she finds, in their treatment of identical subjects and in their portraits of each other, a new illumination of their art and lives...how they relied on each other for comradeship, support, inspiration, ideas, and techniques...how they were bound by the ties of friendship...and how, at times, these same associations could include envy, antagonism, and even deep dislike.

To tell this story Barbara Ehrlich White has assembled hundreds of illustrations, scores of which are reproduced here in full color for the first time.  All the canvases the artists painted of identical subjects are reunited side by side in this volume--many for the first time since they were created more than a century ago.  Moreover, in another publishing first, Impressionists Side By Side includes all the artists' portraits of one another, a marvelous means of conveying the emotional truth of their relationships.  And, by delving into hundreds of letters (some previously unpublished, some appearing in English translation for the first time), diaries, and interviews, the author enriches our sense of the artists' lives on the most intimate level.

Twelve years in the making, Impressionists Side by Side is a singular contribution to the world of art, presenting the lives and work of some of the most important Impressionist artists in a dramatic new context.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art History

292 pages, Hardcover

First published October 8, 1996

Reviews

[Tex · Rating 5 out of 5]

The exciting thing about this particular picture book is the comparisons between the artists of this specific time period. They are remarkably similar and familiar. Without having the images side by side, just how similar is not evident to most of us lay people to the art world.

[Maryanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comparative picture plates are worth it alone.

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insights.