Impressionist cats & dogs : pets in the painting of modern life
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Impressionist cats & dogs : pets in the painting of modern life
Yale University Press, c2003
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Impressionist cats and dogs
Available at 3 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
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  Gunma
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  Tokyo
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  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
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  United Kingdom
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  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 137-138) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Many Impressionist paintings of modern life and leisure include images of household pets. Their appealing presence lends charm to such works while alluding to middle-class prosperity and the growing importance of animals as family members. In many cases, such domestic denizens significantly complement representations of their owners. In certain others, the devotion of individual artists to their pets symbolically enhances their expressions of artistic identity. This book focuses on the role of pets in Impressionist pictures and what this reveals about the art, artists, and society of that era. James Rubin discusses works in which artists paint themselves or their friends in the company of their pets, including several paintings by Courbet (who was fond of dogs) and Manet (a notorious lover of cats). He points out that in some works by Degas, dogs contribute to the artist's commentary on psychological and social relationships, and that in paintings by Renoir, dogs and cats have playful and erotic overtones. He also offers a theory to explain why Monet almost never painted pets.
Drawing on early pet handbooks and treatises on animal intelligence, Rubin explores 19th-century opinions on cats and dogs and compares handbook illustrations with the animals shown in Impressionist works. He also provides information on pet ownership and on the place of Impressionism in the long history of animal painting.
by "Nielsen BookData"