The Bottom Line
If you'd like to know more about the individual artists behind the familiar paintings and names -- Manet, Monet, Pissarro, Degas, Renoir, Sisley, Morisot, Cassatt, Cezanne -- you'll enjoy this group biography. It not only delves into their family and artistic lives, but also how they interacted as a group and in the broader Parisian art scene.
It's written in such an accessible style that you hardly notice the amount of detail being imparted; rather the 'story' carries you along like a fine novel would. As a painter, the day-to-day details of the lives of now-famous painters are motivating and intriguing.
Pros
- Introduces the major French Impressionists, their inter-connections, work, and cultural context.
- Reveals the personalities of the individual artists behind the famous paintings.
- Shows how important a supportive peer group can be for a painter, both creatively and financially.
- Written in an accessible style that's full of detail but moves the story along like a novel.
Cons
- Two color sections allow only for a small number of reproductions of paintings.
Description
- Hardback and paperback editions.
- Two color sections with reproductions of paintings.
- Divided into six sections on the birth of Impressionism, the Franco-Prussian War, the post-war period, and end of the group.
- Author Sue Roe lives and teaches in Brighton, UK. Her previous books include a biography of the artist Gwen John.
Guide Review - The Private Lives of the Impressionists by Sue Roe
The Impressionists have probably had more written and published about them than any other painters, and is there truly anything new left to say? Well, if you've studied the Impressionists, it's probable Sue Roe's Private Lives won't contain much new for you though you'll enjoy the way she's strung the information together. But if you've not read much beyond the labels next to their paintings in a museum, Roe's book is definitely worth reading.
You're transported into the French art world from 1860 to 1886, from when the painters we now call the Impressionists first came together until they went their separate ways. The action centers on Paris and the annual Salon, and you join the struggles of individual painters striving to make a name for themselves (and put food on the table). It's written in an extremely accessible style, never getting caught up in excess detail or art-speak, and explaining who people are as they enter the story.
As a painter you'll empathize with the struggle for exhibition space and critical recognition, with choices between your family and your art. You'll appreciate the hard work and determination to follow a painting new (and unpopular) style, the camaraderie of fellow painters, and how the drive to paint can overtake all other considerations.
I like the way Roe introduces each person before mixing them into the wider context, how she unravels the connections between them, and considers what goes into the making of a painting not just the final result. She makes you feel as if you understand what motivated each painter as well as how their work was received by friends and society.
Read Private Lives before you next go to see an Impressionist exhibition and you'll have a greater understanding of what it took to make the paintings, and the individuals behind the canvases.
