BOOKS
Charles F. Stuckey.
Monet. A retrospective.
New York, Park Lane, 1985.
€ 19.50
Bound, cloth with original dustjacket, 387pp., 27x34cm., illustr. in col. and b/w., in very good condition. ISBN: 0517618249.
Monet: A Retrospective is a comprehensive large-format survey of Claude Monet's life and artistic achievement, tracing his development as a founder of Impressionism and one of the most influential painters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The volume brings together more than two hundred reproductions and illustrations, including color plates and period photographs, and is supplemented by contemporary texts and critical writings by figures such as Émile Zola, Marcel Proust, Félix Fénéon and Jean Renoir, as well as modern art critics. The book combines chronological presentation with thematic insights, documenting Monet's mastery of light, color, landscape and series painting, from his early Parisian beginnings to his later masterpieces at Giverny. Monet: A Retrospective presents a richly illustrated account of Monet's creative life. It includes plates and commentary covering his early landscapes, involvement in Impressionist exhibitions, explorations of light and atmosphere, and mature series such as haystacks, poplars and water lilies. The book juxtaposes Monet's own work with contemporary criticism and commentary from his time, including salon reviews, magazine articles and interviews, providing insight into how his art was received and understood both historically and in modern critical contexts. Essays and curated sequences frame Monet?s technical innovations and formal experiments, showing how he pushed the boundaries of traditional representation toward a new visual language. Charles F. Stuckey served as editor of this retrospective volume on Claude Monet. The book incorporates selections of contemporary texts, critical essays and commentary by writers and critics from Monet's own era (such as Zola, Proust and Mallarmé) as well as later scholarly perspectives. Claude Monet (1840-1926), the subject, was a founding figure of Impressionism whose work transformed European painting with its emphasis on natural light, color perception and serial variation. This retrospective places Monet?s achievement in both biographical and art historical context, enriched with visual documentation and commentary spanning his long career.









