The Lost Impressionists: Great Masterpieces from Private Collections

The title of this album is misleading, partly because quite a few of the 92 paintings presented have been widely reproduced. Yet virtually all of them belong to private collections, and many are rarely seen by anyone other than their owners. Among the highlights are Manet's debonair portrait of a chic, coquettish widow; a jewel-like river scene by Gustave Caillebotte; a dazzling room interior by Pierre Bonnard; and Degas's remarkable study of laundresses, which fuses devices from photography and Japanese prints. Along with works by Pissarro, Cassatt, Renoir, Monet and Morisot, the volume features paintings by Post-impressionists such as Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat and Toulouse-Lautrec as well as by less familiar artists such as the American Frederick Frieseke and the English painters Albert Fullwood and Philip Wilson Steer. De Vries-Evans, an Australian art historian, provides entertaining commentaries on each plate as well as a colorful history of collectors and collecting. (Oct.)