Early Impressionism and the French State (1866–1874)

Jane Roos explores the reception of modernist painting in the years that preceded the Impressionist exhibition of 1874. Opening with an extensive analysis of the ministry of fine arts and the politics of the Salon, the study considers the Salon experiences of Courbet, Manet, and the group that became known as the Impressionists: Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Degas, Morisot, Cézanne, and Bazille. Revealing the relative liberalism of art administrators, Jane Roos questions the traditional ‘rebel status’ accorded to these painters in traditional histories of Modernism. This book also examines how art was politicized during this period and how politics affected the Impressionist exhibition of 1874.

• Scholarly yet jargon-free • Provides in-depth analysis of the French administration of fine arts and of the government’s Salon • Considers Impressionists in relation to Courbet and Manet

1. The politics of the Règlement; 2. Women at the Salon; 3. The politics of the Salon; 4. The cat’s meow; 5. The stag at bay; 6. Paris interlude; 7. The black cat returns; 8. On the brink of success; 9. The cummune, the column, and the toppling of Courbet; 10. Regression in the wake of war; 11. The onset of the ‘moral order’; 12. The politics of the Société Anonyme.

‘Roos should be commended for clear writing and her belief in the importance of historical context …’. Choice

‘… the author cleverly succeeds in showing the birth of Impressionism in a different light …’ The Art Newspaper

‘Cogently argued and crisply written …’. The Burlington Magazine