cover image Impressionism: The First Collectors

Impressionism: The First Collectors

Anne Distel. ABRAMS, $75 (284pp) ISBN 978-0-8109-3160-2

Among the first private collectors to champion the Impressionist painters were Eugene Murer, a pastry chef; Henri Rouart, an engineer; baritone Jean-Baptiste Faure; and fabric wholesaler Enrest Hoschede, who went bankrupt from overzealous collecting and whose widow married Monet. Other pioneer collectors included Ambroise Vollard, dealer for artists ranging from Renoir to Picasso, and composer Emmanuel Chabrier, who bought Manet's famous picture A Bar at the Folies-Berg ere and hung it above his piano. Farsightedness and good taste are the common traits uniting the motley collectors in this dry group portrait by Distel, a curator at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. What gives the book life are the 150 color reproductions of paintings, combined with black-and-white plates of photos and memorabilia. (June)