Framing France - The Representation of Landscape in France, 1870-1914

Manchester University Press, 1998. Slight fade to spine, otherwise good secondhand copy.

This collection of essays explores a fascinating subject during a key period: the painting of landscape in France between 1870 and 1914, the years in which modern art took shape. Posing challenging questions, the distinguished contributors throw light on how representing the land acted as a vehicle for developing modern styles of painting, conveyed ideas about contemporary society, and was used by artists to mold the image of themselves. Landscape painting was a battleground, fought over by avant-garde and conservative artists, as well as the Left and Right in French politics. An image of the French countryside in a radical style could convey traditional values and vice versa. From Impressionism to Cubism, via artists as celebrated as Monet, Van Gogh and Cézanne and as neglected as Maurice Denis, Henri Martin and Roger de la Fresnaye, these essays argue for the central place of landscape painting in the development of modern art in France.