In Montmartre: Picasso, Matisse and the Birth of Modernist Art
By: Sue Roe
Rating: 3.5 of 5
“In Montmartre Picasso, Matisse, and the Birth of Modernist Art” was an interesting read for someone like me, who took an art history class in school but who did not have a solid grounding in history of the actual artists (Picasso and Matisse) not much knowledge about the Modernist Art movement.
The book reads almost like a novel, giving very intimate details about the title individuals but also many of their contemporaries. It explained how their art was influenced by one another and by the current events of their day (a huge impact was made by the rapid development of photography and cinema which bothered Picasso greatly.)
While the book purports to be about both artists, in reading it, I would say the primary focus is certainly on Picasso. The information about Matisse seems almost a subtext to the story. The two artists had an on-going dislike of one another (Picasso and his friends used a painting Matisse had made of his daughter and which he had gifted Picasso as a dart board. It seems that Picasso was perhaps a little jealous of the fact that Matisse was an established and accepted artist while he was still on the fringe. The author does not tell us whether the feud was life long or if the artists became more friendly later.
The book covers the art movement of a short period of time approximately 1900-1910 which was produced by the artists who lived in or visited the Montmartre area of Paris. During my modern day visits to that area, it is much changed from the description in the book but still many areas are still recognizable. It definitely felt as if I were looking at a chunk of time and while there was some historical information provided about the artists, I would have liked to have known a little more about how these artists were later accepted as leaders in the Modern Art movement.
I enjoyed reading the book and would have enjoyed it even more if the illustrations were included in the ARC copy that I was provided. I looked them up on the internet which made my reading of the book a little more choppy that I would have liked. I think this will be less of a problem with the final version of the book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book via the publisher.
“In Montmartre Picasso, Matisse, and the Birth of Modernist Art” was an interesting read for someone like me, who took an art history class in school but who did not have a solid grounding in history of the actual artists (Picasso and Matisse) not much knowledge about the Modernist Art movement.