Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin, the still-life artist of 18th-century France, was born in Paris in 1699. Having received no formal training, he rose to become one of the most highly-regarded painters of his lifetime, his work widely exhibited and sought by the rich and famous. His still-lifes, composed of simple elements, are exceptional in their depth of tone and striking in their directness. The genre scenes depict the domesticity of everyday bourgeois life, unsentimentalized and unidealized.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. 6)
• Part I A Parisian Painter (p. 9)
• Chapter 1 Painter of Animals, Kitchen Utensils and Vegetables (p. 11)
• Notes (p. 34)
• Chapter 2 Becoming Famous (p. 37)
• Notes (p. 54)
• Chapter 3 The 1750s: a New Direction (p. 57)
• Notes (p. 73)
• Chapter 4 The 1760s: Official Commissions and a Select Clientele (p. 75)
• Notes (p. 91)
• Chapter 5 The Evening of a Beautiful Day (p. 93)
• Notes (p. 104)
• Part II The Great Magician (p. 106)
• Chapter 1 The Painter and the Critics (p. 109)
• Notes (p. 127)
• Chapter 2 Colour, Brushwork and Feeling (p. 129)
• Notes (p. 143)
• Chapter 3 Still Llfe (p. 145)
• Notes (p. 187)
• Chapter 4 Portraits and Genre Scenes (p. 189)
• Notes (p. 233)
• Chapter 5 The Artist and Engravings (p. 237)
• Notes (p. 245)
• Chapter 6 Painting in Chardin's Time (p. 247)
• Notes (p. 262)
• Selected Texts (p. 263)
• Catalogue of Engravings After Chardin (p. 271)
• Bibliography (p. 285)
• Index (p. 289)
• Photographic Credits (p. 293)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

The most illuminating of painters, Chardin (1699-1779) is best known for his still-life paintings, simple arrangements of food and utensils and everyday objects that speak quiet volumes. Chardin created his own place in the stratified world of 18th-century French art and in the process changed and influenced all that came after. Roland Michel, a knowledgeable dealer specializing in 18th-century French art, wrote this very good survey and summary of Chardin's life and work for publication in France in 1994. She draws on contemporary criticism and has a good eye for the expressive detail in the artist's work. Expansively produced (though the color plate of a work in the Art Institue of Chicago is much too white and bright compared with the original; others presumably vary), this book should find a broad audience. For general and specialist collections alike.-Jack Perry Brown, Art Inst. of Chicago Lib., Chicago, Ill (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

While 18th-century Parisian painter Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin (1699-1779) is often linked to Flemish and Dutch still lifes, French art historian and gallery director Michel views him as quintessentially French in his sensitivity, spirit, coloristic skill and ineffable touch. And where other critics perceive symbolism or concealed messages, she sees only irreplaceable, unique moments, timelessly rendered, as in Soap Bubbles. Although the heavily annotated, dry text will be of interest mainly to scholars, the nearly 300 illustrations (half of them in color, including scores of full-page plates) make this an attractive coffee-table album. It reproduces numerous genre scenes, portraits and domestic interiors (Lady Taking Tea, The Cellar Boy, Game of Knucklebones) from far-flung museums and private collections. Chardin's ironic self-portraits, with their deeply penetrating gaze and air of affable authority, provide perhaps the best key to the mysterious magic of his still, yet vibrant, compositions. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

CHOICE Review

This monograph on Chardin, the great still-life and genre painter, is written by a distinguished scholar of French 18th-century art. It appears just ten years after the publication of Philip Conisbee's excellent Chardin (CH, Oct'86) and, like the latter, is addressed to a lay audience as well as to serious students of the art of the period. Both books are reliably and extensively annotated. Little new material concerning Chardin has emerged in the last decade, and the two books naturally cover much the same ground. Nor do their respective authors differ significantly in interpretative approaches, even on matters of some scholarly contention. Still, the individual personalities and scholarly interests give their accounts of Chardin's art distinctive colorations, and they tend to highlight different aspects of it. For example, Conisbee stresses certain subject themes, such as representations of women and children; Roland Michel does not neglect them, but she emphasizes more questions of chronology, and the dissemination of Chardin's imagery through prints. Her book is beautifully produced, with many fine, sometimes stunning color plates. Undergraduate; graduate; faculty; general. D. Posner New York University