The Painting of Modern Life: Paris in the Art of Manet and His Followers
by T. J. Clark
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Description
The Paris of the 1860s and 1870s was supposedly a brand-new city, equipped with boulevards, cafés, parks, and suburban pleasure grounds--the birthplace of those habits of commerce and leisure that constitute "modern life." Questioning those who view Impressionism solely in terms of artistic technique, T. J. Clark describes the painting of Manet, Degas, Seurat, and others as an attempt to give form to that modernity and seek out its typical representatives--be they bar-maids, boaters, show more prostitutes, sightseers, or petits bourgeois lunching on the grass. The central question of The Painting of Modern Life is this: did modern painting as it came into being celebrate the consumer-oriented culture of the Paris of Napoleon III, or open it to critical scrutiny? The revised edition of this classic book includes a new preface by the author. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This isn't a bad book; it just isn't a book for me. It seemed to set out as a Marxist analysis of Impressionism. That was OK with me, in fact, I thought it would be interesting.
But I didn't find it interesting. I found it went on and on and I really couldn't concentrate. I suppose I don't really care about critiques of paintings. In fact, I rather dislike art criticism. What I do enjoy is learning about the people, the history, and the culture of the times. There wasn't enough of that in this book for me. Of if it was there, I couldn't find it, being bogged down by too much academic discussion.
But I didn't find it interesting. I found it went on and on and I really couldn't concentrate. I suppose I don't really care about critiques of paintings. In fact, I rather dislike art criticism. What I do enjoy is learning about the people, the history, and the culture of the times. There wasn't enough of that in this book for me. Of if it was there, I couldn't find it, being bogged down by too much academic discussion.
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Author Information
19+ Works 1,376 Members
T.J. Clark is Chancellor's Professor of Modern Art at the University of California, Berkeley.
Awards and Honors
Awards
Common Knowledge
- Original title
- The Painting of Modern Life: Paris in the Art of Manet and his Followers
- Original publication date
- 1985
- People/Characters
- Édouard Manet
- Important places
- Paris, France
- Epigraph
- A travers la fumée de son cigare, il regarde
l'horizon sinistere et brumeux.
-Charles Baudelaire
Le peintre de la vie moderne
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 377
- Popularity
- 82,765
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.96)
- Languages
- English, Portuguese
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 9
- ASINs
- 4
