Sisley

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SISLEY By Richárd Shone With 48 colour plates Of all the French Impressionists, it is a commonplace to speak of Alfréd Sisley (1839-99) as the most neglected and perhaps the least interesting. His life and personality are not well documented, unlike those of the other Impressionists, and he died before recognition and reward came his way. He painted landscape almost exclusively, choosing for his subjects the fields and rivers of the Ile-de-France and quiet corners of the villages where he spent most of his life. He is most widely known for his paintings of floods at Port-Marly and his views of the Seine and of the Thames, especially its colourful regattas. In these he achieves indisputable perfection of tone and poetry of mood without ever deviating from an exact and loving transcription of the scene before him. Indeed, Sir Kenneth Clark once wrote that Sisley's Hampton Court paintings constitute 'the perfect moment of Impressionism'. This book (the first monograph on Sisley to be... Tovább

Fülszöveg

SISLEY By Richárd Shone With 48 colour plates Of all the French Impressionists, it is a commonplace to speak of Alfréd Sisley (1839-99) as the most neglected and perhaps the least interesting. His life and personality are not well documented, unlike those of the other Impressionists, and he died before recognition and reward came his way. He painted landscape almost exclusively, choosing for his subjects the fields and rivers of the Ile-de-France and quiet corners of the villages where he spent most of his life. He is most widely known for his paintings of floods at Port-Marly and his views of the Seine and of the Thames, especially its colourful regattas. In these he achieves indisputable perfection of tone and poetry of mood without ever deviating from an exact and loving transcription of the scene before him. Indeed, Sir Kenneth Clark once wrote that Sisley's Hampton Court paintings constitute 'the perfect moment of Impressionism'. This book (the first monograph on Sisley to be published in English for many years) gives an account of Sisley's career and character, and his role within the Impressionist movement. It traces his stylistic development in relation to the places where he worked - from the inspired landscapes of Fontainebleau to the late works of chromatic brilliance painted at Morét - and seeks to redress the balance in favour of somé of his later pictures which have been unfairly neglected. Looked at in this light, Sisley is seen to be not merely a charming, minor landscapist, but an artist of considerable power and originality. Jacket: detail from Louveciennes, Hauteurs de Marly (Paris, Louvre, Jeu de Paume) Vissza