Product Description
Discusses the works of Degas, Seurat, and Odilon Redgon, the Fauve movement, Van Gogh's posthumous reputation, and Gauguin's correspondence with fellow artists. ... Read more

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Only the Louvre boasts a more comprehensive collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings than does the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Now, in one volume, the Museum has gathered together 146 of its finest works. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Impressionist and Post Impressionist Paintings
Book arrived in excellent condition and much sooner than anticipated.
Very happy with the book and transaction

Good Collection
This is a fine collection of Impressionistic artwork from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Not quite coffee table size, this book packs a lot into its pages, both in displays of paintings and in its informative text. It's like going to the Met without having to deal with its notoriously crabby guards. ... Read more

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Perfect for enjoying or studying, this array of masterpieces by the luminaries of the Impressionist movement is the next best thing to viewing them in person.

Customer Reviews (2)

Gives a great "impression" on impressionism
A great book to give an idea on impressionism. I liked that there was an introduction to explain the main characters - never knew that Manet played such a big role also on the human side - and all the difficulties these painters had to even be recognized as proper artists. Aso liked that there were interesting explanations on each of the 50 paintings. So, easy to read, a joy to look at the paintings, particularly as I have seen quite a number of the originals so can now relate to them even better.

Text is good, pictures are nice
I enjoy reading this book. The introductory text provides useful and interesting information about the works. Pictures are also nice. ... Read more

Product Description
Sumptuously illustrated with many of the most beautiful Impressionist images, this book presents provocative new interpretations of a wide range of famous masterpieces, showing how they were fully integrated into the social and cultural life of the times. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

it's ok
i only bought this book for a class. i am indifferent to it. so, whatever.

Lively Art History
I taught college level painting and art history courses for ten years.This is one of the most memorable books I used as source material.Usually a treatment of Impressionism will write of it as a movement in response to the paintings of the Academy; an inquiry intothe play of light and instantaneity.Fine, fine, but how many books do we really need that say the same thing ?This book looks at changes in the architecture of Paris which changed the city from a network of villages into a web of wide boulevards and massive, sometimes monotonous buildings.People (many of them young) were moving into the city and feeling the displacement and dehumanization which we usually associate with depictions of Victorian era London.

Herbert spends a good bit of time looking at the clothing of individuals portrayed in paintings to ruminate about their social standing.His keen eye for gesture picks up a lot.Looking at an outdoor cafe scene by Manet, he notices that the young man at the table with a woman is actually kneeling next to her, not seated there.From this he infers that the man is trying to pick up the jeune fille.The rather prudish look on her face seems to confirm that this is what's happening.

The copious illustrations are wonderful.Many are of paintings which are infrequently reproduced in art books.There are also a lot of worksby Gustave Caillebotte whose compositions are so fascinating. The writing is lively. I think this is a terrific book for a lover of Impressionism and/or a lover of Paris.It's a wonderful fusion of images and prose.I'm just so glad to find it available at such a reasonable price.

Impressionism, Art,, Leisure, and the Parisian Society
This was one of the most informative books I have read on the subject of Impressionism. I found the writing easy to follow and Mr.Herbert's command of his subject matter is fantastic. The narrative was so that one could grasp the concepts and his writing style was a delight. If I were to rate this, it would be at the very top of my list of recommended reading, not only for artists or historians, but for anyone interested in the subject.

Easy Impressionism
I must say that I've read quite a few Impressionist books in recent years. In no way do they come close to the entertainment and ease which I found in this book! As I began to read it, more for pleasure than anything else, I found that I was actually interested enough to continue reading it until the end! There was no overtly boring or tedious sections to the book and the full page photos only helped to enliven my imagination. An excellent read and an easy study!

Impressionism: Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society
The book "Impressionism: Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society" by Robert L.Herbert gives reader a very interesting insight into the lifestyles ofParisians of the early 1860's to mid-1880's.Generally received very welland highly recommended to broad audiences, the book makes an excellentmaterial for course reading.The factor that makes it innovative andespecially interesting for a wide audience of readers is the author'sinsight, his relation of emergence and development of Impressionism to thesocial institutions and changes in the lifestyles of the French andespecially those of the Parisians.The book is very well structured andgives a good overview of the early Impressionism.The author refrains fromusing terms unknown to a common reader.The style of writing and languageare very pleasant, which makes the reading rather delightful.What makesit especially interesting is the inclusion of the accounts by contemporaryvisitors, who express their ideas on the new "Haussmannian" Paris.The newParis with its broad boulevards in author's opinion is directly related toemergence of the new trend in art, the Impressionism. Supplied with a broadvariety of images (311), which include paintings of the leadingimpressionists, such as Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir andEdgar Degas, as well as contemporary prints and posters, photographs, plansand maps of Paris and its surroundings, the material is colourful andexciting.Each chapter of the book discusses in detail a particularsubject, an aspect of Parisian social scene.Robert L. Herbert alsoemploys an unusual comparison of the paintings in his book: rather thancomparing impressionist pieces to works of earlier periods, he makescomparisons among the impressionist paintings always tying the theme of thepieces to the social situation.He also ties the main motifs in each ofthe artist's works to their social background and upbringing. Overall,the book is very interesting and the author expresses some innovative andintriguing ideas.Nevertheless some criticism can be made.The manner, inwhich Robert L. Herbert has divided his book into chapters, makes itevident that the book has been developed on the basis of lecture notes. Restricted timeframe, the period from the early 1860's to mid-1880's, andspecific attachment to Parisian social scene bring out constrictingboundaries on the development of the subject of Impressionism in general. Perhaps, that is the reason why the author overlooks some themes in theimpressionism, such as still life, landscape, riverscape, portraiture,series paintings and painting in the Southern France, Italy and England. Such restrictions also permit the author to ignore late Impressionism aswell as Post Impressionism, which could have made the book on Impressionismmore complete. The book focuses on social history of Impressionism, andtaking into consideration the above-mentioned restrictions, the book coversthe themes of Parisian social life very well.Nevertheless, being a bookon Impressionism the alternative manner of structuring such a piece couldhave been either by artist or in chronological order, which could have beenadvantageous in a way that the present structure could have been preservedto an extent, but there would not have been such a heavy reliance on onlyfour artists, Manet, Monet, Renoir and Degas, and the author could havepaid more attention to such artists as Camille Pissaro, Alfred Sisley andGustave Caillebotte, whom he mentions rather marginally.The femaleimpressionists are briefly represented by Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt,which indeed could have been developed into a topic on its own. The bookgives a rather detailed description of style of life of the Parisians ofthe mid to late 19th century.However the author is rather limited indiscussion on style of each artist.Moreover Herbert lacks an importanttopic: change of style throughout the course of the career of such artistsas Degas and Monet, which could have made an interesting issue. Interesting parallel between the backgrounds of each of the artists,mentioned in the very last chapter of the book could have been broadenedand perhaps supplied with a brief biography of each one of the keyimpressionists.In addition, although the author does it in several cases,he could have used more comparisons of the impressionist pieces to earlierworks.This does not necessarily imply looking for similar themes inearlier pieces for each of the impressionist paintings.It would have beena little bit more exciting to have images of Titian's Venus of Urbino andEdouard Manet's Olympia next to each other, rather than having to besatisfied with a verbal comparison. It is evident that the approach takenby Robert L. Herbert toward Impressionism in his book "Impressionism: Art,Leisure, and Parisian Society" is that of a social historian, rather thanthat of a traditional art historian.Such manner brings out veryinteresting and often times omitted issues, such as the social structures,status and institutions and their role in the development of art. Certainly, this brings about a very peculiar angle to the subject.Howeverit also limits the discussion to a particular physical setting, in thiscase to the city and surroundings of Paris, as well as to a limitedtimeframe, which clearly does not reflect the full extent of Impressionism. Instead the structure chosen by the author permits the reader only thereview of the early Impressionism, rather the examination of the entirestyle. ... Read more