Description
From Publishers Weekly Imagining the banks of the Seine in the thick of la vie moderne , Vreeland ( Girl in Hyacinth Blue ) tracks Auguste Renoir as he conceives, plans and paints the 1880 masterpiece that gives her vivid fourth novel its title. Renoir, then 39, pays the rent on his Montmartre garret by painting "overbred society women in their fussy parlors," but, goaded by negative criticism from Émile Zola, he dreams of doing a breakout work. On July 20, the daughter of a resort innkeeper close to Paris suggests that Auguste paint from the restaurant's terrace. The party of 13 subjects Renoir puts together (with difficulty) eventually spends several Sundays drinking and flirting under the spell of the painter's brush. Renoir, who declares, "I only want to paint women I love," falls desperately for his newest models, while trying to win his last subject back from her rich fiancé. But Auguste and his friends only have two months to catch the light he wants and fend off charges that he and his fellow Impressionists see the world "through rose-colored glasses." Vreeland achieves a detailed and surprising group portrait, individualized and immediate. (May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Bookmarks Magazine Author of the previous hit Girl in Hyacinth Blue , Susan Vreeland comes through with another compelling historical novel centered on artists and their work. Critics agree that the concept (tracing Renoir's steps back from this joyous painting) and the research (combining facts not only about Renoir's inner circle but also details about French café society, culture, and painting techniques) demonstrate considerable skill and dedication. The Seattle Times even calls Luncheon "this summer's most satisfying historical novel." Others find that Vreeland gets too bogged down in historical detail, which slows the plot and sometimes creates a strained narrative. Despite this perhaps overabundance of historical material, Luncheon succeeds as a portrait of both a man and an era. Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. From Booklist *Starred Review* Once again--to the delight of her legion of fans--the best-selling author of Girl in Hyacinth Blue (1999) and The Passion of Artemesia (2002) imaginatively uses art history as the basis for a carefully constructed historical novel. Vreeland turns this time to French impressionist master Auguste Renoir's famous painting Luncheon of the Boating Party , which depicts a group of people (in 1880) enjoying leisure time on the terrace of a riverside restaurant. The current conditions in the life of the painter himself launch the author on an amazingly engrossing reinvigoration of the lives of the individuals who modeled for Renoir for that work, all of whom were actual people, and all are given a third dimension in Vreeland's lovely prose, beyond the two dimensions in which they were painted. Renoir's purpose was to create not only a masterpiece but also a work that would solve the dilemma of his continuing to "belong" to the impressionist school of which he had been a primary founder; in other words, he put his reputation on the line with Luncheon . There are, then, basically three levels of "atmosphere" swirling through the pages of this riveting, complex novel: Renoir's issues in composing the painting, the separate and interconnected lives of the 14 individuals appearing in it, and the spirit of la vie moderne , the new modes of living, thinking, and expressing as conducted by the French arts community at the time. Brad Hooper Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Susan Vreeland is the internationally renowned bestselling author of Girl in Hyacinth Blue, The Passion of Artemisia, The Forest Lover , and a collection of stories, Life Studies . Her novels have been translated into twenty-five languages. Read more
Features & Highlights
- Bestselling author Susan Vreeland returns with a vivid exploration of one of the most beloved Renoir paintings in the world
- Instantly recognizable, Auguste Renoirs masterpiece depicts a gathering of his real friends enjoying a summer Sunday on a café terrace along the Seine near Paris. A wealthy painter, an art collector, an Italian journalist, a war hero, a celebrated actress, and Renoirs future wife, among others, share this moment of
- la vie moderne
- , a time when social constraints were loosening and Paris was healing after the Franco-Prussian War. Parisians were bursting with a desire for pleasure and a yearning to create something extraordinary out of life. Renoir shared these urges and took on this most challenging project at a time of personal crises in art and love, all the while facing issues of loyalty and the diverging styles that were tearing apart the Impressionist group. Narrated by Renoir and seven of the models and using settings in Paris and on the Seine, Vreeland illuminates the gusto, hedonism, and art of the era. With a gorgeous palette of vibrant, captivating characters, she paints their lives, loves, losses, and triumphs in a brilliant portrait of her own.
