Forex

My college art professor was fond of saying “Steal from everyone, there are no art police”. In a sense he was right and in a sense he was wrong, that is regarding ‘art police’. Throughout history, civilizations have enforced their own standards of acceptability in regards to art…sometimes more rigid, sometime less. Now days standards aren’t so rigid and the modern artist enjoys an extraordinary level of freedom to create and exhibit what he or she will. But there have been many times and many cultures in the past when art was heavily policed, and if you didn’t play by the cultural rules of the day your name was ostracized and your career was jailed.

Paris, France in the mid 1800’s was just such a culture and the novel “The Judgment of Paris” by Ross King is the thrilling account of how a loosely knit band of painters Manet, Courbet, Cezanne, Whistler, Monet and others who would dare to challenge the all powerful art police of the day, the French Academy of the Arts.

“The Judgment of Paris” is the story of the French Impressionist Movement. A more sumptuous written tale of art history you will not find. By following the careers of broad group of French artists in Paris in the late 1800’s, those who played by the rules and those who didn’t… such as the spurned and controversial Manet and the feted, lauded and nationally acclaimed but now forgotten Meissonier, by examining their machinations, and weaving in how their lives would be caught by the politics and events of the time, the suffrage and starvation of Paris under siege by the Prussians, the bloody communal movement, the arrogance of the ruling art academy, the intolerance of citizens when confronted with new art forms, the power-plays of those who would work under the capricious and precarious despot, Napoleon the Third, … author Ross King takes us on a fascinating journey through the emergence of one of the most important art movements in modern history.

As a self-taught painter much of my learning about art history has been through catching the occasional lecture, talking with fellow artists, and skimming through art books whenever I can. I skim because rarely does an art history book grab me as a page-turner. I am happy to report that I have found that rare art history book. “The Judgment of Paris” is much more than a well-written art history book. Here is a juicy complex detailed and nuanced drama about the Impressionists, the art history thriller that must be devoured and savored from cover to cover, like slowly eating a rich layered piece of chocolate cake, wanting it not to end. Luckily when you finish this book there is a second equally delicious read awaiting, King’s “Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling”.

Phil Gross
http://www.artpickle.com/philgross
http://www.philgross.net
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