World Impressionism: The International Movement, 1860-1920

In a much-needed, revelatory survey, impressionism is seen not as a French school but as a major event in the world's visual culture. The luminous palette and spontaneous brushwork of Renoir, Monet et al. inspired or coincided with an individualistic, responsive approach taken by painters from Canada and Latin America to Russia and the Far East. In Britain, the impressionist impulse helped liberate artists from Victorian painting's moralizing norms; in Japan, it fostered a style able to convey the artist's unique personality; in places as diverse as Italy, Finland and Australia, it became linked with nationalist aspirations. Childe Hassam (U.S.), Anders Zorn (Sweden), Ilya Repin and Igor Grabar (Russia) and Joaquin Sorolla (Spain) are among scores of painters profiled in a marvelously illustrated volume that will forever change the way we look at impressionism. Art historian Broude led an international team of scholars in this effort. (Nov.)