As the discipline of art history has moved away from connoisseurship, the notion of beauty has become increasingly problematic. Both culturally and personally subjective, the term is difficult to define and nearly universally avoided. In this insightful book, Richard R. Brettell, one of the leading authorities on Impressionism and French art of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, dares to confront the concept of modern beauty head-on. This is not a study of aesthetic philosophy, but rather a richly contextualized look at the ambitions of specific artists and artworks at a particular time and place.
Brettell shapes his manifesto around three masterworks from the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum: Édouard Manet’s Jeanne (Spring), Paul Gauguin’s Arii Matamoe (The Royal End), and Paul Cézanne’s Young Italian Woman at a Table. The provocative discussion reveals how each of these exceptional paintings, though depicting very different subjects—a fashionable actress, a preserved head, and a weary working woman—enacts a revolutionary, yet enduring, icon of beauty.

lgrsnf/On Modern Beauty.pdf

On modern beauty : three paintings by Manet, Gauguin, and Cezanne

Brettell, Richard R.

YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Getty Publications

United States, United States of America

Los Angeles, 2019

NEW HAVEN, 2019

1, PS, 2019

A thought-provoking examination of beauty using three works of art by Manet, Gauguin, and Czanne. As the discipline of art history has moved away from connoisseurship, the notion of beauty has become increasingly problematic. Both culturally and personally subjective, the term is difficult to define and nearly universally avoided. In this insightful book, Richard R. Brettell, one of the leading authorities on Impressionism and French art of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, dares to confront the concept of modern beauty head-on. This is not a study of aesthetic philosophy, but rather a richly contextualized look at the ambitions of specific artists and artworks at a particular time and place.
Brettell shapes his manifesto around three masterworks from the collection of the J. Paul Getty douard Manets Jeanne (Spring) , Paul Gauguins Arii Matamoe ( The Royal End ), and Paul Czannes Young Italian Woman at a Table . The provocative discussion reveals how each of these exceptional paintings, though depicting very different subjectsa fashionable actress, a preserved head, and a weary working womanenacts a revolutionary, yet enduring, icon of beauty.

"As the discipline of art history has moved away from connoisseurship, the notion of beauty has become increasingly problematic. Both culturally and personally subjective, the term is difficult to define and nearly universally avoided. In this insightful book, Richard R. Brettell, one of the leading authorities on Impressionism and French art of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, dares to confront the concept of modern beauty head-on. This is not a study of aesthetic philosophy, but rather a richly contextualized look at the ambitions of specific artists and artworks at a particular time and place. Brettell shapes his manifesto around three masterworks from the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum: Édouard Manet's Jeanne (Spring), Paul Gauguin's Arii Matamoe (The Royal End), and Paul Cézanne's Young Italian Woman at a Table. The provocative discussion reveals how each of these exceptional paintings, though depicting very different subjects--a fashionable actress, a preserved head, and a weary working woman--enacts a revolutionary, yet enduring, icon of beauty." -- Publisher's description

"An analysis of the notion of modern beauty that uses three Impressionist paintings in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, as the points of departure"--Provided by publisher.

A thought-provoking discussion on the concept of beauty in works by Manet, Gauguin, and Cezanne.

2024-01-04