The Impressionists at First Hand (Second) (World of Art)

Book excerpt: An updated edition of this classic collection of letters, critical reviews, and reminiscences by impressionist artists and their contemporaries. The impressionists—Claude Monet, Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and others—are probably the most popular of all artistic schools. Their struggle to impose a new vision is one of the most absorbing stories in the whole history of art. With imagination and insight, art historian Bernard Denvir brings impressionism into focus by showing it through the eyes of the artists themselves and their contemporaries, against the background of the time. Through letters, critical reviews, statements, and reminiscences of the people who were there, the story of this groundbreaking art movement comes alive. This was the age of innovation, political liberalization, emergent photography, and modern ideas about perception. The impressionists had new ways of painting, but they also had a new world to paint. This revised edition now features full-color reproductions of art throughout and an updated bibliography.