Fülszöveg
SPRING ART BOOKS
RENOIR
'It isn't enough for a painter to be skilful; one should be able to see that he loves to caress his canvases.' With these words Renoir has given us a criterion for the understanding of his own art. Each one of his paintings, vibrant, infused with colour, tactile, is charged with the great pleasure he must surely have experienced throughout the course of his work.
His paintings are simply to be enjoyed, for they are a celebration of life: of the countryside, the sea, the gathering of friends, the isolated figure, clothed and nude, and also the colour and shape of an apple, pear or orange. Renoir saw these things as parts of a superb arrangement of nature to which he responded with innocent sensuality. He saw no need to shape and distort the realistic image for theoretical purposes as did so many of his fellow Impressionist and Late Impressionist painters. 'You arrive before nature with theories,' he once said, 'and nature throws them to the ground.'
A...
Tovább
Fülszöveg
SPRING ART BOOKS
RENOIR
'It isn't enough for a painter to be skilful; one should be able to see that he loves to caress his canvases.' With these words Renoir has given us a criterion for the understanding of his own art. Each one of his paintings, vibrant, infused with colour, tactile, is charged with the great pleasure he must surely have experienced throughout the course of his work.
His paintings are simply to be enjoyed, for they are a celebration of life: of the countryside, the sea, the gathering of friends, the isolated figure, clothed and nude, and also the colour and shape of an apple, pear or orange. Renoir saw these things as parts of a superb arrangement of nature to which he responded with innocent sensuality. He saw no need to shape and distort the realistic image for theoretical purposes as did so many of his fellow Impressionist and Late Impressionist painters. 'You arrive before nature with theories,' he once said, 'and nature throws them to the ground.'
A most prolific painter, Renoir worked with an ease and spontaneity which commanded the respect of every one who came into contact with him. He tainted steadily up to the final days of lis life, although the last twenty years were a constant, painful struggle with crippling arthritis which he combatted by strapping the paint brushes to his hands. Thus, in wide, careful strokes, he produced the series of classical nudes, in deep, resounding colours, which constitute his most impressive achievement.
All the aspects and phases of Renoir's work, from the early portraits and group compositions of the late nudes are represented in this collection of paintings which has been gathered from public and private sources in America, Europe and elsewhere. Forty-eight plates in colour illustrate the potency and energy which Renoir brought to bear on the creation of an oetwre which is estimated at over 6,000 paintings, drawings and sculptures.
Vissza