Impressionism in Britain

This beautiful book describes the activities of the French Impressionist painters on their visits to Britain, tells how British collectors and dealers disseminated their works, and explores the response of artists from Britain and Ireland to the Impressionist movement.

Arts & Photography

McConkey, Kenneth

History & Criticism

Yale University Press

Late in his career, Claude Monet returned to London to paint the fog that had entranced him years before. The resulting sequence of pictures represents some of the fascination that French painters felt for Britain. Similarly, many British collectors and young painters embraced and were influenced by the work of the French Impressionists. This beautiful book describes the activities of the French Impressionist painters on their visits to Britain, considers the dissemination of Impressionist painting through British dealers and collectors, explores the response of artists from Britain and Ireland to the Impressionist movement, and sets all of these against the backdrop of late Victorian and Edwardian Britain.McConkey and Robins describe the work of Monet, Pissarro, Sisley, and other Impressionists working in London, showing how this art influenced the community of young British painters disenchanted with British art schools and art exhibiting standards. The authors investigate the role played by two innovative painters who were American expatriates, James McNeill Whistler and John Singer Sargent. And they explain how such artists as William Orpen, George Clausen, Stanhope Forbes, Henry La Thangue, Walter Sickert, and Philip Wilson Steer sought out new and radical approaches to picture making, formed new secessionist art societies, and articulated new concepts of the role of art, rejecting historical pageants and fashionable aestheticism and focusing on modern rural and urban conditions.

Given that many artists of the Edwardian period (1900-1914)--then as now--wanted to be "the best," not only in their native lands but also on the world stage, thus they sought to establish themselves in the artistic centers of London and Paris. The Edwardians showcases the art of this period, focusing on connections between Australian, British, Irish, American, and French artists, all drawn to London during this period, to live and study. Many of them stayed abroad for as long as two decades. This book places the work of these expatriate artists within the context of British art of the time.. The works illustrated and discussed here, both paintings and sculpture, reflect a time of great social change, from a period of established order to the beginnings of a more modern world. There are sumptuous portraits of members of the British upper class and nouveaux riches, as well as paintings of the middle class and working class. Together they show the changes in artistic style that took place during the period, from an emphasis on tonalism to a more formalist approach using bright colors and strong shapes.

The Edwardians: Secrets And Desires

GRAY, Anne

Riding, Christine

Read, Benedict

Galbally, Ann

Natl Gallery of Australia

In the late-19th century, contact with French Impressionist ideas meant that British artists' discontent with academic Victorian art became transmuted into a new concept of the role of art and the artist. In a new awareness of painting, disparate artists merged and refined their ideas on colour, light and form into an Impressionistic style that is distinctly British. Artists such as Philip Wilson Steer, George Clausen, Roderic O'Conor and Dame Laura Knight depicted an enormous variety of urban and rural scenes, from fashionable tennis parties, music-hall entertainers and laundry shops, to goose girls, boat-builders, turnip harvesters and picnickers.

British Impressionism

Phaidon Press

An illustrated account of the art world in Britain at the turn of the 20th century. It calls upon rich resources of contemporary diaries, letters and art criticism, as well as the analysis of works of art to answer questions about how and why new artistic tendencies emerged and tastes changed. Eschewing the familiar narrative of an inevitable progress towards modernism, Kenneth McConkey considers a broad range of art and critical thinking in the period. Discussing the market for old master paintings, which rivalled those for modern art, and the question of how and why certain genres of art were particularly successful at the time, McConkey explores the detail and significance of contemporary taste. He draws upon the work of commercially successful painters such as John Singer Sargent, William Orpen, George Clausen, Alfred East, John Lavery and Philip Wilson Steer, and their critic-supporters to throw light upon current arguments about training, aesthetics, visual memory and the creation of new art.

Memory and Desire: Painting in Britain and Ireland at the Turn of the Twentieth Century (British Art and Visual Culture Since 1750 New Readings)

Ashgate Pub Ltd

132 illustrations, including 70 plates in color. Bound in publisher's original purple cloth with the spine stamped in gilt.

Harry N.Abrams, Inc.

This is a biography and critical analysis of Sir John Lavery (1856-1941), best-known as one of the "Glasgow Boys" and one of the most "French" of the British impressionists. Born in Belfast in 1856, he studied at Haldane Academy in Glasgow, and from there he travelled to France where he came under the influence of Bastien-Lepage. In 1885 he achieved international recognition for "The Tennis Party", a rendition of the sons and daughters of late-Victorian industrialists at play. After the International Exhibition at Glasgow in 1888, Lavery took on commissions as a portraitist and "visual reporter". He was a highly skilled on-the-spot sketcher as well as a painter of carefully planned ceremonial portraits which reveal the profound effect of Whistler's influence. His sitters were members of the aristocracy, leading politicians and personalities from three generations covering the period from 1880 to 1940. Ever versatile, Lavery produced memorable images on his sojourns in Tangier and his travels to France, Switzerland and the United States. Despite advancing years he was a daring official war artist and a recorder of the struggle for Irish independence. Two notable trips to Hollywood and Palm Springs, just before his death, introduced him to the world of cinema.

Sir John Lavery

Canongate Books Ltd.

Physical 114 illustrations (some color)., portraits; 29 cm. Catalogue and biographical commentary written by Kenneth McConkey. Includes bibliographical references. Clausen, George 1852-1944; Exhibitions. Clausen, George (British painter, 1852-1944); Exhibitions. Cartwright Hall (Bradford, England); Exhibitions. Royal Academy of Arts (Great Britain); Exhibitions. Tyne and Wear (England). County Council. Museum. Painting, Modern 19th century England; Exhibitions. Painting, Modern 20th century England; Exhibitions. Naturalism in art Great Britain; Exhibitions. Biography. Exhibition catalogs. Illustrated.

Sir George Clausen, R.A. 1852-1944

City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council

This title was first published in 2002. 'Memory and Desire' is a lavishly illustrated account of the art world in Britain at the turn of the twentieth century. It calls upon rich resources of contemporary diaries, letters and art criticism, as well as the analysis of works of art to answer questions about how and why new artistic tendencies emerged and tastes changed. Eschewing the familiar narrative of an inevitable progress towards modernism, Kenneth McConkey considers a broad range of art and critical thinking in the period. Discussing the market for old master paintings, which rivalled those for modern art, and the question of how and why certain genres of art were particularly successful at the time, McConkey explores the detail and significance of contemporary taste. He draws upon the work of commercially successful painters such as John Singer Sargent, William Orpen, George Clausen, Alfred East, John Lavery and Philip Wilson Steer, and their critic-supporters to throw light upon current arguments about training, aesthetics, visual memory and the creation of new art. 'Memory and Desire' is a major contribution to our knowledge of this important period in British art.

Revival: Memory and Desire (2002): Painting in Britain and Ireland at the Turn of the Twentieth Century (Routledge Revivals)

Reference

Routledge

Records a wealthy society's desire to immortalise itself in fabulous self-portraits. It found artists who succeeded brilliantly and this book, the only one devoted to the subject, records both the sitters and the work of the artists.

Edwardian Portraits: Images of the Age of Opulence

Other Media

Antique Collectors’ Club Ltd

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Books by McConkey, Kenneth

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by McConkey, Kenneth. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Impressionism in Britain

Impressionism in Britain

The Edwardians: Secrets And Desires

British Impressionism

Memory and Desire: Painting in Britain and Ireland at the Turn of the Twentieth Century (British Art and Visual Culture Since 1750 New Readings)

British Impressionism

Sir John Lavery

Sir George Clausen, R.A. 1852-1944

Revival: Memory and Desire (2002): Painting in Britain and Ireland at the Turn of the Twentieth Century (Routledge Revivals)

Edwardian Portraits: Images of the Age of Opulence