Gloria Groom

This is a book about some of the aims and methods of Parisian painters in the late 1800s. It particularly focuses on their notions of modernity and how this influences their work. One idea considered particularly modern was a view of life as comprised of transitory moments and movements. This view, probably influenced by the rise of photography, is at the root of the emphasis in the works on fashion and public spaces. The fashions depicted are full of coded symbolism, due to the complexity of rules governing what could be worn, by whom, and at what time and place. The book is erudite and full of insight. The reproductions are universally wonderful.… (meer)

I saw the Bonnard, Vuillard, Denis and Roussel exhibit at the Art Institute in Chicago and a book will never do justice to the scale of some of these great works of decorative painting. However, the massive wall and ceiling panels reproduced in this volume are some of these neglected gems of the Nabis movement and well worth seeing. There are some other art books now devoted to these artists individually but Beyond the Easel offers an interesting look at the history of the artist as a group and the struggle of decorative artists to be viewed as "real artists." It is a worthwhile volume.… (meer)