The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade that Gave the World Impressionism

The Paris Salon was the ultimate tribunal where French Art was judged during the 1800's. Thousands of artists submitted paintings, sculptures and other forms of art every year in hopes of being accepted.Being chosen or not could break or make an artists' career quite literally. Over the decades, the tribunal that selected the works had become a self-perpetuating institution with sclerotized ideas of what constituted Art- both in regards to content ( mostly mythological, classical or historical grand scenes with some sort of moral) and style (no trace of brush strokes and soft chiaroscuro transitions).In 1863, driven by the outrage that resulted from the rules imposed by the Count of Nieuekerke and which resulted in controversial refusals, Napoleon III ordered the opening of the Salon des Refuses: an exhibition that was to display many of the works refused by the official Salon. Napoleon III knew how to distract the population from his dictatorial government after all.This book follows the fortunes of two painters that were deeply involved in the Salon controversy: Meissionier, a very succesful painter of excruciating detail and accuracy; and Manet, a representative of a more direct and modern style.In a very accessible style that flows quite well, the book delves into the state of French Art of the nineteenth century. The panorama that emerges is a lot more nuanced than what we normally understand by the rivalry between impressionism and classicism, the mere confrontation between the "new" and the "old" which ends in 1874 with the Impressionists Exhibition. The author reveals that Manet, for example, used very classical models (Titian, Tintoretto) for his first paintings. Also, Manet valued the Salon and kept presenting his paintings to be juried year after year, even after becoming the hero of many an impressionist. Meissioner on the other hand struggled to create a modern vision as well despite the fact that his enormous success stemmed from his anachronistic and greatly detailed canvases of a somewhat dutch inspiration.The cast of characters that surrounds these two masters is the subject of much literature: Courbet, Baudelaire, Whistler, Monet, Zola, Fantin-laTour, Ingres, Degas, Bougereau and the "pompier" painters, an endless row of royals, politcians, gallerists and collectors. "The Judgment of Paris" does a phenomenal job of integrating all these pieces in a coherent narrative.I particularly enjoyed the glimpses into the lives of the painters, how young some of them were when they created some of their work, how poor or rich or inbetween some were, how they debated with their own place in time and art. I thought it was fascinating and far form the "finished" product and portrait of self-determination most biographers produce.For anybody interested in art and history, the book is well documented and seamless. Not just a collection of facts in search of a story but a good narration.If you are a painter, this is a must read and the only thing you will regret is the time you won't be painting waiting to put it down.

An excellent, literate history and analysis of the difficulties which the new 'impressionist' art had in gaining entrance into the institutional structure which was one of the most significant roads to financial and critical success for French artists in the 19th Century . Reviewers critical of the "lack" of aesthetic judgments seem to me to be asking King to write a book he did not set out to write. The general reader will be quite happy with the book, the author tells his story well with many colorful word-portraits of figures peripheral to his central focus: the contrast and relative success of the more 'conservative' (artistically) and more 'advanced' outlooks. The thesis is amplified by examination of the reception to the work of Meissonier and Manet. Other reviewers have tackled various aspects of the work from different angles; I will add only a few comments.First, stated better than I could, while the former is the example of the Great Success in his own lifetime disappearing in the face of the new after his death, this reader was convinced that his fate was undeserved, that the public has been poorly served by the critical desertion of his work. One need only stand aside watching the reception of what he thought of as his masterpiece still strikingly present on the walls of the Metropolitan Museum in NYC. Many who pass on their way to the Impressionists and other modernists, stop along the way to enjoy the striking view of Napoleon and his cavalry. (That he was later criticized for presenting an historically implausible situation hardly deters any of us.) So, I am quite happy that King provides us with an introduction to this painter whom later generations of critics and buyers has unfairly relegated to the scrapheap. Second, he does a fine job in exploring the influence of politics and institutional shortcoming in rewarding and punishing aesthetic production. The particular institutions may have changed over the years but still reward and punish whimsically so far as aesthetic value to the public is concerned.The message is brightly spotlighted though not precisely spoken: don't take anyone else's word as to what you should like (although be aware that it will be reflected in what you have to pay if you buy and to what you will receive if you sell).So, in brief, for the general reader, a book well-worth reading for the knowledge it imparts and for the pleasure with which many will find in it.

I'm still reading this book, but so far it's been an absolute pleasure to read. Ross King's knowledge of this time period is first rate, as his is writing.

Book in good conditon.

I had read biographies of most of the people mentioned in this well written book, this gave a wonderful over view of their times.

Highly informative and brilliantly researched. Reads like a good novel. An excellent insight into the lives of the artists and the timeline of art.

great book