Masters of Art

When Monet gave the title "Impression: Sunrise" to a painting he showed in the historic exhibition of 1874 in Paris, he unwittingly gave a name ot the most important artistic phenomenon of the nineteenth century and the first of the modern movements--Impressionism. Monet was the most characteristic and the most influential of the Impressionists, who have long since outlived the mocking tone in which the critics first applied the label to them. Monet, a strong advocate of abandoning the studio and painting on the spot--sur le motif--was brilliantly successful in achieving the impression of a fresh view of nature, in fixing on this canvas the spontaneous and transient light and color of the moment. In the course of a long career, his work went through many phases, but always it was the impression on the viewer's eye, the visual sensation, that guided his brush. Monet's life was not only long (1840-1926) but eventful, and enriched by friendships with many of the leading figures of the time. The text of this book is fascinating as a biography and as a study of thhis great artist. The forty splendid colorplates, ranging in date from 1865 to 1918, represent Monet in all the variety of his prolific genius. The commentaries, providing the art-historical background and analyzing the technique of each of the paintings, constitute a penetrating survey of the artist's development. The author, William C. Seitz (1904-1974), an artist, art scholar, professor, and former curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, lavished on this volume the breadth of learning and the artistic sensitivity for which he was renowned.--