MANET

Looking at the 48 chronologically-arranged color plates from first to last (and reading the explanations which accompany each), one sees clearly the change in the artist's work as he moved from the old style portraits to the freer, airy approach in the later paintings. Preceding the plate section, is a short biography and brief critical study of Manet by Pierre Courthion who has demonstrated his familiarity with the sensitive man before (Courthion, with Pierre Cailler, edited Portrait of Manet by Himself and His Contemporaries, 1962, p. 551). Many black and white reproductions complement this text, making a total of 131 pictures. A handsome book, this is the twelfth in the Abrams Library of Great Painters series.