A survey of the Hermitage Museum's collection of French art from 1860 to 1950. It comprises paintings, sculpture and drawings by every significant artist of the period, as well as works by early Salon artists who were highly regarded in their day but are now less well known. All the paintings for which the Hermitage is famous, whether by Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gogh or Matisse, are included, but so too are many that are kept in storage at the museum. Furthermore, some backs of canvasses showing early variations of well-known paintings are revealed. The book is divided into four chapters: the story of the collection; Salon-Academic art to Impressionism; post-Impressionism; and the 20th century. The 60 paintings, sculptures and drawings by Matisse and 40 by Picasso provide a thorough record of the museum's avant-garde collection, made all the more interesting by the earlier inclusion of paintings and drawings by artists ( such as Bougereau, Gerome, Bonnat and Daubigny) against whom the avant-garde reacted.
The author describes this remarkable period in world art against the background of the lives of the two famous Russian families of collectors, Morozov and Shchukin, who patronized and befriended many of the leading artists of the early 20th century.
- ISBN10 1861540434
- ISBN13 9781861540430
- Publish Date 31 October 1999
- Publish Status Unknown
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Booth-Clibborn Editions
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 478
- Language English