Impressions of Giverny: Monet's World

A short text describes impressionist Claude Monet's house and gardens at Giverny, a village 40 miles northwest of Paris, where, from 1883 until his death in 1926, the artist lived and painted. The 64 color photographs included here were taken in a manner emphasizing the graininess of the film, making the finished prints seem remarkably ``impressionistic.'' We see Monet's view from his bedroom window of his carefully planned back garden; there are closeups of the clematis, azaleas, asters, nasturtiums and black-eyed Susans that grow again in the restored landmark. A series of shots of Monet's celebrated water garden, with its lilies and Japanese footbridge, taken at different times of the year, follows. Finally, freelance photographer Weckler conducts us on a brief tour of Giverny, its houses, churches, fields and woods; and the Seine, one mile distant from Monet's home. Something of an oddity, rather than avant-garde, the photos, which closely approximate Monet's painterly vision, should appeal to the artist's devotees. (Apr.)