CLAUDE MONET

by Charles Merrill Mount ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 18, 1967

A big biography of Claude Monet written in robust, rough and ready style concentrates on the early part of his life and sheds, through the use of new sources, new light upon it. The author is particularly interested in Camille, Monet's first wife, who gave up her bourgeois past to become his mistress at eighteen, bore him two children and died at thirty-two, the victim of her circumstances (and an illness that he attributes to a clumsy abortion). These were the years of poverty even after making the Salon at twenty five: the book is full of importuning letters, mainly to his friend Bazille, for Monet was determined to be a full time artist and angrily rejected the idea of working otherwise to support his little family. With the backing of Alice Hoschede, who became his second wife after a twelve- year liaison, the need for begging stopped; success and fame followed. Mr. Mount mentions the artists surrounding Monet, his teachers and disciples; describes his works; even defines impressionism, of which he considers Monet the father. His psychological interpretations are slapdash, his style as well (Alice Hoschede at forty: ""Her bulging loins had given up their fertility but retained powers of healing""). But it is the first full-length biography of Monet in English and as such may make an impression.

Pub Date: May 18, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION