Sisley

Using unpublished letters and archival documents, Shone ( The Post-Impressionists ) sheds new light on impressionist painter Alfred Sisley (1839-1899) in this engrossing, meticulously researched critical biography. It illuminates the artist's personal estrangement from his English parents who settled in Paris and embraced French bourgeois life. The evidence suggests that the penurious painter was cut off financially by his father, who apparently died insane after suffering business reversals. Sisley emerges here as a resourceful, proud, solitary figure. Shone also provides valuable details on Sisley's genteel poverty, his relations with dealers and fellow impressionists and his secluded later years in northern France. One can follow the distinct phases of Sisley's style in the 130 high-quality color plates and 40 black-and-whites. Indispensable for lovers of Sisley's luminous, healing art. (Nov.)