Manet's contemplation at the Gare Saint-Lazare /

There is something immediately strained about a 150-page volume claiming to discuss a single work of art. Yet the approach is far from uncommon-more than a dozen similar books have appeared in the past 15 years. Among the more successful attempts at coming to terms with a particularly pivotal and complex 19th-century painting is Benedict Nicolson's Courbet: The Studio of the Artist (1973). Rand (curator of painting and sculpture, National Museum of American Art) certainly has the credentials to deal authoritatively with his subject. Yet, in attributing to Manet's Gare Saint-Lazare the complexities of origin, execution, and content making up the pages of this volume, Rand has some difficulty presenting a convincing case. We know and acknowledge the multiplicity of sources behind Manet's creativity: Velazquez and Goya, the French Romantics and Realists, Japanese prints, and in the literary world Emile Zola and Stephane Mallarme. However, in the cases presented, much of this appears forced and often peripheral to the stated central topic. Even so, the pages read interestingly and well, for Rand employs a most engaging narrative style and demonstrates a profound understanding not only of the particular work in question but of Manet's total oeuvre and its place in late-19th-century visual creativity.-R. Dittman, St. Olaf College