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Title details for Paris in Ruins by Sebastian Smee - Wait list

Paris in Ruins

Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism

by Sebastian Smee
Julian Elfer
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From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the "Terrible Year" by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans—then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris.
In stirring and exceptionally vivid prose, Sebastian Smee tells the story of those dramatic days through the eyes of great figures of Impressionism. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas were trapped in Paris during the siege and deeply enmeshed in its politics. Others, including Pierre-August Renoir, joined regiments outside of the capital, while Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro fled the country just in time. In the aftermath, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience—reflected in Impressionism's emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things—became the movement's great contribution to the history of art.
Incisive and absorbing, Paris in Ruins captures the shifting passions and politics of the art world, revealing how the siege and the chaos of the Commune had a profound impact on modern art, and how artistic genius can emerge from darkness and catastrophe.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 10, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9798855578034
      • File size: 348883 KB
      • Duration: 12:06:49

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Julian Elfer narrates this in-depth exploration of life in Paris from the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871. As Napoleon's monarchy fell, Parisians starved and struggled to survive the bloody street battles of the Paris Commune. Elfer is riveting as he delivers art critic Smee's well-researched account of this chaotic period. Artists Manet, Morisot, and Degas remained in Paris, experiencing the worst of the turmoil, while Renoir, Monet, and Pissarro left France for safety. Smee suggests that the artists' awareness of life's tenuousness caused their paintings to take on a new, idealized style. While the audiobook focuses more on war's devastation than on its impact on the Impressionists, Elfer's intelligent narration makes it must-listening for historians and art lovers alike. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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