A Book About the Museum of Impressionism in Paris (circa 1965)

Today’s Image

In the Art Library

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been in the Art Library at Orbisplanis Art Blog, so that's where today’s blog finds us. On a recent visit to Washington, D.C., that I blogged about previously, we visited several used book stores in the Adams Morgan neighborhood. Adams Morgan is an eclectic neighborhood just east of the Duke Ellington Bridge, and by all appearances is a happening place. It was a Saturday morning, and people were really enjoying the refreshing fall weather at coffee shops and outdoor markets. The old neighborhood includes restaurants, and row houses, and used book stores, which I enjoy roaming around. Today’s Image is a street scene in Adams Morgan.

Anyway, we found one that was full of all kinds of old books including art books, which I always look for. I found a small book I think is noteworthy in that it has a lot of information and color pictures of some of the most famous paintings in the world all in a 4 by 6-in. (10 by 15 cm.) format and 80 pages.

Entitled The Museum of Impressionism in Paris, the book (actually it’s a booklet) is part of a series called the Little Library of Art published and edited by Fernand Hazan in 1965. Others in the series are listed on the back cover and include books on African Tribal (art), Dali, Klee, and Picasso, just to name a few. It has a brief overview that talks about the history of how and where the Impressionists’ paintings were exhibited at museums from the late 1800s through the mid-20th century and current to 1965. It also provides an interesting introduction to the era of Impressionism and how the Impressionists came to be a force in modern art.

The second part of the book, starting on p.17, is a section called The Painters and Their Work and lists all the Impressionists alphabetically from Bazille to Van Gogh. There is no table of contents, so I found it fun to thumb through the pages to see who all was included. They are listed with any of their paintings included in the book (and all in color):

• Jean-Frederic Bazille – The Family Reunion
• Eugene Boudin
• Gustave Caillebotte
• Mary Cassatt – Mother and Child
• Paul Cezanne – The House of the Hanged Man, L’Estaque, Still Life with Onions, The Blue Vase
• Edgar Degas – At the Races, Absinthe, Dance on the Stage, The Laundresses, Woman Combing Her Hair
• Theodore Fantin-Latour – Narcissi and Tulips
• Paul Gaugin – Tahitian Women, The White Horse, Arearea
• Eva Gonzales
• Armand Giullaumin
• Johan Barthold Jongkind
• Edouard Manet – Le Dejeuner sur L’Herbe, Olympia, The Fifer, The Balcony, Portrait of Irma Brunner
• Claude Monet – Regatta at Argenteuil, Bridge at Argenteuil, Rouen Cathedral at the Tour D’Albane, Morning Effect, Women with Sunshade
• Berthe Morisot
• Camille Pissarro – Chestnut Trees at Louveciennes, Entrance to the Village of Voisins, Red Roofs
• Odilon Redon
• Pierre August Renoir – Hillside Path in Tall Grass, The Swing, Moulin de la Galette, Gabrielle With a Rose, Torso of a Woman in the Sun
• Henri Rouart
• Henri Julien Rousseau – The Snake Charmer
• Georges Suerat – Le Cirque
• Alfred Sisley – Boat During a Flood, Snow at Louveciennes
• Henri Toulouse-Lautrec – Woman with Gloves, The Clown Cha-U-Kao, Seated Girl-Back View
• Vincent Van Gogh – The Restaurant de la Sirene, The Church at Auvers, Self Portrait, Portrait of Dr. Gachet

What I like about this little book, in addition to the 42 color pictures of the beautiful paintings, is that it’s so easy to use as a reference for all of these great Impressionists. You can keep it right there on top of your art drawers and boxes and near at hand to look at while you’re painting for inspiration. I hope you can find it in a used bookstore, too, somewhere or maybe on eBay.

Cheers!