 |
 |
   |
|
|
|
|
The Painters Of ProvenceEditions
Review
To go back to the beginning, Paul Signac was mad about sailboats, having been introduced to sailing by Gustave Caillebotte, the Impressionist painter. Looking for a safe haven during a storm he chanced upon the unspoiled fishing village in1892. Fascinated by the extraordinary light, he settled into a large studio home (still there) and encouraged his Parisian friends to visit. First came Maximilien Luce, then Vuillard, Matisse and even his mentor, Seurat. They all worked on various colour techniques, Matisse in particular applying himself diligently to develop his own mannerisms. In association with Derain and Braque he developed a style which came to be known as ‘Fauvism’, with flat planes and strong colours which reflected the local landscape. This movement led directly to the development of Cubism by Braque and Picasso, and so to Modernism and Abstraction which dominated the art world of the 20th Century. (The curator of one of our national institutions considers this as one of the defining moments in the decline of Art. He shall remain nameless!) Of course painters, and great ones too, worked here before this particular time, and this charming volume celebrates many of the native artists of Provence as well as distinguished visitors: we are taken on a journey from West to East, from Avignon and Arles, via the heights - artistic as well as geographic - of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire at Aix-En-Provence where Cézanne painted, along the coast to Antibes to review Picasso’s triumphs, eventually visiting Bonnard and Matisse at Nice. This volume is crammed with a wonderful selection of works by all of these and other artists, as well as contemporary photographs to show how much, and on occasion how little, things have changed. It will bring pleasure to anyone who knows the Côte d’Azur and who wants to recall its considerable delights and perhaps convert those who think of it as a trashy tourist trap. - review by Stewart Grimshaw |
|
John Sandoe [Books] Ltd |
The greatest single delight in Saint Tropez is not “La Cage aux Folles”, nor the delights of sun-kissed nymphets in micro-bikinis, nor yet even, the more acquired pleasure of watching hairdressers from nearby Toulon of a Monday on the beach trying out their latest creations on the lustrous tresses of the local trannies. No, indeed: it is the town’s museum! There on the port and hard by the trendiest disco, the former Chapel of the Annunciation houses a bequest by a local industrialist, one Georges Grammont, of a magnificent collection of paintings by some of the great masters of the late19th and early 20th Centuries.
Fax:
020 7581 2084