Paris in Ruins

""Sebastian Smee has a gimlet eye, a seductive style and a novelist’s feel for character and incident … [he] has written an inspiring book … about artists committed to 'the new': new ways of seeing a changing world; new ways of living and feeling; new ways of painting."" -- Christopher Benfey - New York Times Book Review ""Smee brings a fresh perspective by linking [the Siege of Paris and the Paris Commune] to the artistic development of impressionism in general and of Manet and Morisot in particular … With exquisite sensitivity, he reads the similarities in [Manet and Morisot’s] work from this period."" -- Caroline Weber - Washington Post ""[A] wide-ranging work of cultural history … Smee’s chronicle gains sinew as he recounts the deprivations and terrors of various artists and their families during the Prussian bombardment and the Communards’ revolt. … The book’s central narrative follows two members of the Impressionist group, Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot, offering an intimate portrait of their relations and changing fortunes."" -- Dan Hofstadter - Wall Street Journal ""[V]ibrant and incisive … Paris in Ruins brims with delicious anecdotes: the Morisots’ genteel gatherings; military duty imposed on eligible men; the hot-air balloons and carrier pigeons that preserved the city’s communication with the world. … [Smee] liberate[s] Impressionism from the clichés of dorm-room posters and greeting-card sentimentality."" -- Hamilton Cain - Los Angeles Times ""As for the larger story of the Impressionists, Smee suggests that their refusal to depict war may have constituted ‘a collective act of psychological repression’ or “an assertion of pacific values as an antidote to violence and trauma”—or both … Better that reality, he argues, than the one that they and their compatriots had just endured."" -- Julia M. Klein - Boston Globe ""Smee blends political and military history and biography into a seamless narrative that will fundamentally change the way that we think about the emergence of impressionism. For art history lovers, this is required reading."" -- Terry W. Hartle - Christian Science Monitor ""It’s a precise, engrossing account of the artistic and military environment that preceded the emergence of the Impressionist movement."" -- Cory Oldweiler - Minnesota Star Tribune ""Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Smee draws on a wealth of historical and biographical sources to examine the birth of impressionism during a time of ferocious political and social upheaval in France … Smee vividly conveys the terror of the times, the tense military standoffs and plotting, and the inflamed passions … [H]is depiction of impressionists’ works is discerning, as is his sensitivity to the complicated relationships among the artists. … Deft, vibrant cultural history."" -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) ""A well-researched book, stylishly written, a fine portrait not only of Impressionism but the society that made it possible. … Smee convincingly demonstrates the degree to which [the Impressionists] were embedded in the political upheavals of their times."" -- Samuel Rubinstein, Times (UK) ""Detailed, lively and at times richly novelistic. Smee writes with both knowledge and panache, transmitting the sense of urgency and immediacy that animated the painters."" -- Michael Prodger - Literary Review ""The book well could change the way you think about Impressionism, and it might alter your perception of art history."" -- Simon Caterson - Sydney Morning Herald ""The book I am currently reading each evening and thoroughly enjoying is a new release by Washington Post art critic and Pulitzer Prize winner writer Sebastian Smee, Paris in Ruins follows the lives of two prominent Impressionist artists—Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot—prior to, during and after the Terrible Year (1870-71)—the book details through their life journey how this pivotal moment in France’s history influenced, arguably brought to life, the Impressionist movement."" -- Simply Luxurious Life ""An indelible portrait of the city, Paris in Ruins captures the chaos of that year, and reveals how it had an incalculable effect on the development of modern art."" -- Good Reading Magazine ""Sebastian Smee explodes a tired chestnut about the Impressionists: that their works are merely pretty. Like a restorer scraping off layers of grime and dust, he restores color and nuance and light, and performs the vital critical task of forcing us to look better and deeper at things we thought we already knew."" -- Benjamin Moser, author of Sontag ""Sebastian Smee takes us on an enthralling journey through Paris’s ‘Terrible Year’, featuring the vivid characters and fast-moving plot of a novel. Paris in Ruins intertwines politics and warfare with the compelling personal stories of two great artists, beautifully revealing how the brilliance of Impressionism emerged from a backdrop of tragedy and violence."" -- Ross King, author ofMad Enchantment ""Sebastian Smee brings a fresh eye—the eye of the art critic and historian—to develop entirely new perspectives. The drama of the siege reads like a cliffhanger even though you know what’s going to happen. Beautifully written, with a novelist’s timing."" -- Andrew Hussey, author of Paris: The Secret History ""Astonishing. A true story which exults in love, courage, beauty, mischief and the mystery of human intimacy."" -- Annabel Crabb