A collective biography of painters, art critics, and writers who evolved from a tight-knit company of Cambridge friends to form the Bloomsbury group—with a particular, generally pedestrian, focus on their visits to France between 1910 and 1940. France suffused the Bloomsbury group in several ways: through the assimilation of French artistic trends in Bloomsbury art, through the more forthright promotion of French culture in England by Bloomsbury figures, through the group’s literary translations. Lured by the warmth and bright colors of Provence, Bloomsbury artists created numerous studies of beaches, bathers, landscapes, and harbor scenes. Vanessa Bell’s and Duncan Grant’s paintings clearly parallel the art of such French masters as CÇzanne and Derain. The Parisian scene offered the group a chance to mingle with the European cultural elite, including Gide, Picasso, Matisse, Russian artists Larionov and Goncharova, and Ballet Russe founder Diaghilev. Among the Bloomsbury contributions to the advancement of French culture: Duncan Grant was invited by Jacques Copeau to design costumes for his theatrical productions; Roger Fry organized post-impressionist exhibitions in London and lectured on CÇzanne; Clive Bell was made Chevalier of the Legion d’Honneur for his efforts on behalf of French art abroad. In addition, Fry became the first English translator of MallarmÇ, whose work was crucial to the appreciation of symbolist poetry in England. Conversely, Charles Mauron’s translations of the most eminent Bloomsbury writers, Virginia Woolf and E.M. Forster, introduced English literature to the French reading public. Though Anglo-French cultural relations are aptly rendered in the chapters on literary translations and creative interchange between French and English painters, insignificant issues predominate. Too many dates, places, itineraries, and gastronomical preferences make for a drabness broken only by the odd sexual liaison. (211 halftones, 1 map, 14 color illus.)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-19-511752-2
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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