Impressionists in winter : effets de neige /

This exhibition catalog is one of a number of recent Impressionist studies to go beyond general studies of the movement or biographical exhibitions by focusing on how six painters associated with French Impressionism--Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Caillebotte, and Gauguin--depicted the winter landscape. Four essays (one providing historical context on painterly treatments of winter, plus specific essays on Monet, Pissarro, and Sisley) set the stage for specific entries on 63 works in the exhibition. Appendixes include an exhibition checklist, a winter weather chronology for 1864-93 in France (with some interesting prints from the same years), a very brief selected bibliography, and a list of frequently cited exhibitions. Works discussed are beautifully reproduced, entries are crisp and informative, and essays are brief but informative (especially Charles Moffett's historical essay). The catalog might also have benefitted from some consideration of others in the Impressionist camp who treated the winter landscape, from friends of Pissarro, such as Edouard Beliard, to such urban realists as Norbert Goeneutte. It marks an important study of this subfield of Impressionist landscape, useful certainly for graduate and more specialized libraries, but also--given the wide popularity of Impressionism with the public--for general readers and undergraduates. J. Hutton; Trinity University

This intriguing, beautifully produced volume accompanies an exhibition of the same title currently at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, and then moving to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. Four major essays by Impressionist scholars trace the manner in which winter weather and light, or "snow effect," were handled by important artists of the period, especially Monet, Pissarro, and Sisley. Briefer essays accompanying the catalog proper also discuss the winter scenes of Renoir, Caillebotte, and Gauguin. While all the essays are excellent, Moffett, former director of the Phillips Collection, does a particularly fine job of placing the snowscapes of the Impressionists in historical perspective, dating back to the work of the 15th-century Limbourg Brothers. This is a refreshing glimpse of one of the most heavily researched periods in modern art. Highly recommended for most collections.‘P. Steven Thomas, Central Michigan Univ. Lib., Mt. Pleasant (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.