The French artist Édouard Manet was delighted when a client who purchased his painting of a bunch of asparagus paid more than the asking price. So he sent a special thank-you--a tiny image of a single pale spear of the prized vegetable. These and other lushly painted still lifes of flowers, fruits, and other foodstuffs, isolated or in groups, form one of the most beguiling aspects of Manet's output from the 1860s through the early '80s. Manet: The Still-Life Paintings, the catalog for the exhibition at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland, through April 22, 2001, serves as a pleasant introduction to the intimate late work of the great 19th-century realist. With 106 color reproductions, including close-up details of brushwork, the modestly scaled volume makes for a satisfying browse. The most deliciously unexpected treats are the luminous watercolors of fruit, nuts, or flowers that Manet interwove with his personal correspondence.

Earlier in Manet's career, still-life images played a supporting role in figure paintings. Author George Mauner, professor emeritus of art history at Pennsylvania State University, guides the reader to observe such details as the cherry falling in midair in Young Man w ith Cherries. This fascination with instantaneous effects would culminate 11 years later in the smoking rifles of the Mexican troops in The Execution of Emperor Maximilian. Manet, of course, was well aware of the tradition of still life as an invocation of the senses and as a reminder of the fleeting nature of sensual pleasure (and life itself). Mauner explains how this art-historical knowledge offers clues to some of the artist's more enigmatic paintings. The quote-heavy, name-dropping style of fellow essayist Henri Loyrette seems less attuned to a general reader's interests. But the book's most grievous sin is one of omission: the failure to include even the briefest biographical outline of Manet's life and work. --Cathy Curtis


From Publishers Weekly
Close reading isn't just for poetry. In Manet: The Still-Life Paintings, George Mauner, distinguished professor emeritus of art history at Penn State, gives close and illuminating attention to some of the best-loved works in all of modern painting, reproduced here in 133 illustrations (106 in full color). Henri Loyrette, director of Paris's Mus?e d'Orsay, contributes an essay showing Manet's place within a long tradition of still-life painters. Subject-based sections such as "The First Flowers," "Fruits and Vegetables" and "Two Festive Tables" make a large body of work accessible and thematically coherent. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Using still life to suspend time and focus on light, Manet broke with academic themes and traditions of perspective to presage Impressionism and usher in a new way of painting. This catalog for an exhibit that travels from the Mus e D'Orsay in Paris to the Walters Gallery in Baltimore reveals the breath and scope of Manet's still lifes, both visually and theoretically. In between the opening and concluding essay are full-color plates with details of Manet's rich palette. Here are still lifes of full, ripe strawberries, plums stroked with blue and green paint, and delicate and sensual peonies recalling a soft summer evening. Although the text is fairly dense, the reader will be rewarded with references to Manet's constructions of the paintings and their philosophical, theoretical, and moral character as well as allusions to contemporary culture, such as the dictums of Baudelaire. The specialist will find a compact and intense view here, while the general reader will come to appreciate fully the artist who believed a painter need only paint clouds and fruit and flowers. Recommended for large public libraries, museums, universities, and other special art book collections. Ellen Bates, New York Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


New York Times Book Review, June 10, 2001
Mauner persuasively argues in MANET that the germ of [the artist's] revolutionary thinking can be


New York Times Book Review, June 10, 2001
found in his potent and sensuously painted images of oysters, peonies and dead rabbits...


Book Description
Of all the paintings by the Impressionist master Edouard Manet, nearly one-fifth are still lifes, a genre the artist himself considered “the touchstone of painting.” This sumptuous volume, published to accompany a landmark exhibition at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore and at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, is the first major book to focus on this crucial aspect of Manet’s work. Throughout his career, and especially later in his life, Manet devoted considerable energy to still lifes, producing oils, watercolors, and prints that unite exuberant personal expression with a flawless mastery of light and detail. With informative text, including an enlightening essay by Henri Loyrette, director of the Musée d’Orsay, Manet: The Still-Life Paintings features lush, full-page colorplates as well as full-bleed details of what some critics consider the finest examples of still-life painting ever executed. The exhibition this book accompanies has been organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Musée d’Orsay, Paris.


About the Author
GEORGE MAUNER is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Art History at Pennsylvania State University and is an authority on 19th-century art. HENRI LOYRETTE is the director of the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, one of the world’s major repositories of Impressionist art.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Of all the paintings by the Impressionist master Edouard Manet, nearly one-fifth are still lifes, a genre the artist himself considered "the touchstone of painting." This sumptuous volume, published to accompany a landmark exhibition at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore and at the Mus￯﾿ﾽe d'Orsay in Paris, is the first major book to focus on this crucial aspect of Manet's work.

Throughout his career, and especially later in his life, Manet devoted considerable energy to still lifes, producing oils, watercolors, and prints that unite exuberant personal expression with a flawless mastery of light and detail. With informative text, including an enlightening essay by Henri Loyrette, director of the Mus￯﾿ﾽe d'Orsay, Manet: The Still-Life Paintings features lush, full-page colorplates as well as full-bleed details of what some critics consider the finest examples of still-life painting ever executed.

The exhibition this book accompanies has been organized by the American Federation of Arts and the R￯﾿ﾽunion des Mus￯﾿ﾽes Nationaux/Mus￯﾿ﾽe d'Orsay, Paris.

Author Biography: George Mauner is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Art History at Pennsylvania State University and is an authority on 19th-century art.

Henri Loyrette is the director of the Mus￯﾿ﾽe d'Orsay, Paris, one of the world's major repositories of Impressionist art.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Close reading isn't just for poetry. In Manet: The Still-Life Paintings, George Mauner, distinguished professor emeritus of art history at Penn State, gives close and illuminating attention to some of the best-loved works in all of modern painting, reproduced here in 133 illustrations (106 in full color). Henri Loyrette, director of Paris's Mus e d'Orsay, contributes an essay showing Manet's place within a long tradition of still-life painters. Subject-based sections such as "The First Flowers," "Fruits and Vegetables" and "Two Festive Tables" make a large body of work accessible and thematically coherent. ( Feb.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal