A detailed study of the French neoclassical painter focuses on the relationship between his work and life, and his participation in the French Revolution

"From the acclaimed biographer and author of Monsieur Proust's Library, an engaging new work on the life of "the father of Impressionism" and the role his Jewish background played in his artistic creativity. The celebrated painter Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) occupied a central place in the artistic scene of his time: a founding member of the new school of French painting, he was a close friend of Monet, a longtime associate in Degas's and Mary Cassatt's experimental work, a support to Cézanne and Gauguin, and a comfort to Van Gogh, and was backed by the great Parisian art dealer Durand-Ruel throughout his career. Nevertheless, he felt a persistent sense of being set apart, different, and hard to classify. Settled in France from the age of twenty-five but born in the Caribbean, he was not French and what is more he was Jewish. Although a resolute atheist who never interjected political or religious messages in his art, he was fully aware of the consequences of his lineage. Drawing on Pissarro's considerable body of work and a vast collection of letters that show his unrestrained thoughts, Anka Muhlstein offers a nuanced, intimate portrait of the artist whose independent spirit fostered a system encouraging freedom and autonomy"--

"Pascin, a biography of the noted Jewish modernist painter (Julius Mordecai Pincas, known as Pascin, March 31, 1885- une 5, 1930), is Joann Sfar's most personal and important work. Pascin is portrayed by Sfar both as a kindred spirit and an aesthetic revolutionary struggling to redefine an art form. Sfar revels in the artist's celebration of all things corporeal in the world of art. Though the story is drenched in sex, it is never eroticized. Created in a direct and immediate drawing style, Sfar focuses more on the artist's personal and sexual life than on his art, and brings Pascin to life as the ultimate bohemian." --

Frog in the Well is a vivid and revealing account of Watanabe Kazan, one of the most important intellectuals of the late Tokugawa period. From his impoverished upbringing to his tragic suicide in exile, Kazan's life and work reflected a turbulent period in Japan's history. He was a famous artist, a Confucian scholar, a student of Western culture, a samurai, and a critic of the shogunate who, nevertheless, felt compelled to kill himself for fear that he had caused his lord anxiety. During this period, a typical Japanese scholar or artist refused to acknowledge the outside world, much like a "frog in the well that knows nothing of the ocean," but Kazan actively sought out Western learning. He appreciated European civilization and bought every scrap of European art that was available in Japan. He became a painter to help his family out of poverty and, by employing the artistic techniques of the West, achieved great success with his realistic and stylistically advanced portraits. Although he remained a nationalist committed to the old ways, Kazan called on the shogunate to learn from the West or risk disaster. He strove to improve the agricultural and economic conditions of his province and reinforce its defenses, but his criticisms and warnings about possible coastal invasions ultimately led to his arrest and exile. Frog in the Well is the first full-length biography of Kazan in English, and, in telling his life's story, renowned scholar Donald Keene paints a fascinating portrait of the social and intellectual milieus of the late Tokugawa period. Richly illustrated with Kazan's paintings, Frog in the Well illuminates a life that is emblematic of the cultural crises affecting Japan in the years before revolution.

The painter son of the great surrealist Max Ernst describes his childhood amid the European avant-garde art world on the eve of World War II and his escape and new life in America

From orthodoxy to chaos, a major artist wrestles with her influences.

Zum Zeitpunkt seines Todes im Jahr 1820 war Benjamin West der berühmteste Künstler der englischsprachigen Welt und wurde in ganz Europa gefeiert. Aus bescheidenen Verhältnissen in Pennsylvania stammend, hatte er als erster amerikanischer Künstler in Italien studiert und war innerhalb weniger Jahre nach seiner Ankunft in London maßgeblich an der Gründung der Royal Academy of Arts beteiligt und zum Historienmaler von König Georg III. ernannt worden. Wie der Autor in diesem Buch feststellt, gehörte West jedoch zur Avantgarde, die den Neoklassizismus und die Romantik schuf und zu den ersten Malern, die die inspirierenden Qualitäten zeitgenössischer Ereignisse darstellten. Vor allem sein bekanntestes Gemälde, Der Tod des General Wolfe, war ein revolutionäres Werk, das die Kunst nachhaltig veränderte. Es ist das erste Buch, das den Beitrag von West zu den Ideen der Moderne und der Erneuerung der Historienmalerei bewertet und es bietet spannende neue Einblicke in Wests berühmtestes Gemälde.

A celebration of the work of one of America's top aviation artists. Many of the works of American artist and illustrator Gil Cohen can be found at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, and the Pentagon, as well as in other important public and private collections. After spending decades as a respected illustrator for magazines and book publishers, Cohen chose to turn his attention to aviation and military themes. His more recent paintings vividly depict the human aspects of America's wars, showing soldiers and aviators in battle and at rest. One of Cohen's recurring observations is that, unfortunately, some of humankind's most remarkable feats of engineering are often created for the purpose of war. Cohen's paintings are collected worldwide, and his clients include the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Coast Guard; Paramount Pictures; Random House; Holt, Rinehart & Winston; Bantam Books; Harlequin Books; and Boeing-Sikorsky.

This is the compelling account of the life and work of Albert Reuss (1889-1975), a Jewish painter and sculptor who developed a uniquely individual style. Born in Vienna, he emigrated to England in 1938 following Hitler's annexation of Austria. In the process, Reuss lost many members of his family, as well as all his possessions, and the reputation he had built up as an artist in Vienna prior to his departure. Many of his artworks were confiscated by the Nazis. He and his wife Rosa were helped to escape from Vienna by Cornishman and Quaker, John Sturge Stephens. Reuss continued to work as an artist in England, but his style changed dramatically, reflecting the trauma he had suffered. Following his exile, Reuss held numerous solo exhibitions in municipal galleries throughout England and in 1948, he and Rosa moved to Mousehole, Cornwall, where they established the ARRA Gallery. From 1953 to 1973 he held regular one-man shows at the renowned O'Hana Gallery in London. Several provincial galleries hold his work, most notably Newlyn Art Gallery in Cornwall, as do the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Belvedere Gallery and the Albertina in Vienna, and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in Israel. In researching the life of this intriguing man, Susan Soyinka interviewed many people who knew him, and also retrieved a huge archive on Reuss from Vienna, which included much of his lifetime's correspondence. A most fascinating story emerged of this lonely and isolated artist's struggle to develop his art and to survive, a story full of human drama and tragedy, all set against the background of world historic events. The book includes first-hand accounts of the couple's escape from Vienna, and of their experience as refugees in war-time Britain.