The Impressionists

In this fresh, enlightening group portrait of the impressionist circle, University of London art historian Adams views their art in the context of the social and cultural transformation France underwent in the second half of the 19th century. Baron Georges Haussmann's radical rebuilding of Paris made the ``city of light and space'' a laboratory of accessible social observation for the impressionist painters. Far from being isolated figures, they had strong links with writers, were steeped in the music of their time and were deeply affected by the Franco-Prussian War, the Prussian occupation and the swift collapse of Napoleon III. What was revolutionary about their art, contends Adams, was not so much its technique or content as the unshackled artist's changed relationship to society. This handsomely illustrated survey ends with a gazeteer that uses color photographs and maps to document the impressionists' extant studios and the sites they painted. (Sept.)