Sue Roe (1) (1956–)

Gertrude Stein: "But it doesn’t look like me."
Picasso: “It will.”
- on viewing the Portrait of Gertrude Stein (1906)

Sue Roe’s “In Montmartre” is a terrific introduction to not only the art world but also to other parts of Paris life and culture from 1900 to 1910. It centres around Henri Matisse (then in his 30’s) and Pablo Picasso (then in his 20’s) with alternating chapters, which include contacts with other painters but also models, gallery owners and art collectors esp. Leo show more and Gertrude Stein.

The book is full of anecdotes and trivia about not only artists and paintings but such things as the handmade sandals by Raymond Duncan (brother of Isadora) which were the favoured footware of the Steins, the beginnings of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballet Russes with Vaslav Nijinsky, the notorious Bal des Quat'z'Arts etc.

The number of illustrations in the hard-copy edition is limited so you really can get by with an eBook or even an audiobook edition (as I did) and search for larger photos of the paintings in other books or via the web.

If an art history/biography can be judged by how much it makes you want to see more of the paintings discussed, then “In Montmartre” is a total success.

For follow-up:
Picasso’s model and companion (from 1904 to 1912) Fernande Olivier also wrote about these years in her “Loving Picasso: The Private Journal of Fernande Olivier”.
John Richardson’s massive “A Life of Picasso”, esp. "A Life of Picasso, Vol. 1: The Prodigy, 1881-1906" show less

I came to this book with a lifetime interest in Surrealism and a minor contribution to the field some 35 years ago with a dissertation entitled "Images of the City in Surrealist Literature" So I was very interested to come across this new entry. This is much more a social history than art or literary history. Roe details how the Surrealist movement came together in the chaos of WWI (most of the Surrealists served in the military in some capacity), its proponents exposed to the anarchy of show more Dada, which had evolved in Zurich, they coalesced as a fractious movement around the theoretical underpinnings around the grand wizard of surrealism, Andre Breton. Breton was a student of Freudian psychology, spiritualism and the writings of poet and playwright Guilaume Apollinaire , who invented the word Surrealism, Breton and evolved a complicated theroretical underpinning for the idea of Surrealism, which the other adherents generally took as they pleased. Max Ernst, Paul Eluard, Man Ray, Louis Aragon, Marcel Duchamp, Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali were all key acolytes, while the likes of Pablo Picasso, Giorgio De Chirico and Rene Magritte were fellow-travelers who absorbed the principles of Surrealism without subjecting themselves to Breton's theoretical overlordship. The book focuses as closely on the social lives of the Surrealists as much as their art, it was famously incestuous, with girlfriends, mistresses and wives circulating among what was a ferociously chauvinist group. The many disputes, arguments and outright break-ups among the group are also documented, as Breton punished those he considered impure ideologically, although the ideology itself shifted and fractured almost continuously. This is a fascinating work to read 100 years on from the foundation of the movement, which although relatively short-lived in itself, has had an enormous and continuing influence on art, literature, film and society itself. The continuing popularity of artists like Dali, Magritte and Duchamp has kept the spirit of the movement alive long past the ideological ambitions of Breton. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in art, the social history of post-war Paris or just a great gossipy read about free-spirited and licentious bohemians. show less

"If you need a critical opinion on Virginia Woolf, buy this book. I was originally apprehensive because I have only read a few of her novels and her essay "A Room Of One's Own". Nevertheless, there's plenty of opinions to draw from, and the critics inside are not always coming from a Modernist / Feminist angle. There's some nice subtle criticism of Woolf's snobbery and the general superiority complex that can be drawn on for counter-arguments.

Of course, not everyone buys books like this for show more academic purposes. The essays don't require any particular expertise in the language (like for example some of the material written on structuralists, deconstructionism, utilitarianism etc...). The essays were most useful in forcing me to view Woolf's essays and fiction critically. It's very easy to agree with some of the points made in her fiction without stepping back and asking "who is she to disregard a whole generation of literature?". This book was first published in 2000 and is now in a second updated edition. It is a pity it was not around when I did my Humanities courses with the Open University late '70s. show less

Susan Roe's "In Montmarte" is an extraordinary mix of biography, art history and history. In a style that is subtle and erudite yet extremely accessible and entertaining she explains how and why Modernism was invented in what was a ramshackle hill district in Paris. This is the most enjoyable and smartest book I have read on the subject. Roe is that rare writer that knows everything about her subject yet chooses only the most prescient details, always with the intent of providing her reader show more with a choice nugget and never with the aim of showing off. show less