From Library Journal
Nineteenth-century French artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, who spent a good deal of time in Italy, interpreted the classical with rhythmic grace in his drawings and paintings and exhibited an underlying line that influenced Matisse, Picasso, and other great artists. Many of his seemingly "perfect" likenesses are, upon closer examination, disproportionate?the hands too large, the arms connected peculiarly to the shoulder?demonstrating Ingres's inclination to artifice, not to nature. In the appendix, Vigne, curator of the Musee Ingres in Montauban, France, shows that the artist was as much in control of his career as his work: Ingres's notebook inventories, including facsimiles, provide a mine of material for art historians. A bibliography, including many items in French, and an exhibition list prove the artist's continuing popular and scholarly appeal. This well-rounded book, which will make Ingres more accessible to English-speaking readers, is recommended for special collections on French art, 19th-century art, and modern art as well as comprehensive public and museum collections.?Ellen Bates, New YorkCopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Midwest Book Review
Ingres is the first complete study of the life and work of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867), an artist whose rich, illusionistic surfaces dominated French painting for much of the 19th century. In this fascinating and elegantly written text, based on the wealth of documentary material at the Musee Ingres, Georges Vigne traces Ingres' life and work from his formation and his important years in Rome. Vigne analyzes the qualities that have stirred controversy over Ingres' paintings since his emergence as an artist in the first years of the 19th century. These include Ingres' admiration of Raphael and early Italian painting, the remarkable nuances of line and bold color combinations that earned him designations such as "primitive", the arresting eroticism of his images, and the participation of his devoted studio in his work. Ingres is a magnificently illustrated (over 300 illustrations, more than 200 in full color) and authoritative volume, the most complete work ever published on Ingres and one of the most thorough monographic studies of any painter of his era.


Book Description
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres dominated French painting for much of the nineteenth century, from his emergence as the leading student of Jacques-Louis David and winner in 1801 of the prestigious Rome Prize, to his death in 1867. A champion of classicism and a devotee of Raphael and Poussin, Ingres's conviction that color should serve elegant line breathed new life into a century-old artistic debate. It was in drawing that Ingres established his legacy; he is considered to be one of the greatest draftsmen of all time. He was a staunch advocate of history painting, yet his genius is most evident in his sensitive portraits and luscious nudes. His intentional drawing "faults"-the ambiguous relationship of a mirrored reflection to a sitter, the inscrutable hinge of a shoulder to an arm, or an unlikely ruffle of fingers and cocked wrist-link Ingres's painting to some of the most audaciously expressive innovations of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, inc! luding those of Degas, Cézanne, Matisse, and Picasso. In this comprehensive, lavishly illustrated volume Georges Vigne examines Ingres's artistic life and brings together a staggering number of drawings, studies, and compositions. Guided by careful scrutiny of drawings and documents, Vigne reappraises deep-rooted assumptions and offers a wealth of candid insights on issues such as Ingres's faithful studio assistants, his official commissions that could weave in and out of political regimes, the legendary rivalries with Delacroix and the Romantics, and the curious motivation behind Ingres's seemingly endless line of copies and revisions of his earlier compositions. Finally, as an indispensable resource to scholars, this volume reproduces, with Vigne's methodical transcriptions and annotations, the valuable pages of the notebooks in which Ingres listed and referred to his paintings. This authoritative volume on Ingres is also the most complete monograph on any artist of his generation and a valuable chronicle of the man behind the last great studio in the classical tradition.


Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French


From the Publisher
The first complete study of the life and work of the artist whose rich, illusionistic surfaces dominated French painting for much of the 19th century.


About the Author
Georges Vigne is the curator of the Musée Ingres in Montauban, France. A specialist in nineteenth-century art, he has organized numerous exhibitions for the Musée d'Orsay, including Hector Guimard. He has recently published a catalogue raisonné of Ingres's graphic works in the Musée Ingres.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In this comprehensive, lavishly illustrated volume Georges Vigne examines Ingres's artistic life and brings together a staggering number of drawings, studies, and compositions. Guided by careful scrutiny of drawings and documents, Vigne reappraises deep-rooted assumptions and offers a wealth of candid insights on issues such as Ingres's faithful studio assistants, his official commissions that could weave in and out of political regimes, the legendary rivalries with Delacroix and the Romantics, and the curious motivation behind Ingres's seemingly endless line of copies and revisions of his earlier compositions. Finally, as an indispensable resource to scholars, this volume reproduces, with Vigne's methodical transcriptions and annotations, the valuable pages of the notebooks in which Ingres listed and referred to his paintings. This authoritative volume on Ingres is also the most complete monograph on any artist of his generation and a valuable chronicle of the man behind the last great studio in the classical tradition.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal