Symbolist Art

Great introductory book on Symbolism. I learned a great deal from it. It's well written with terrific art prints for a paperback book.

This is a highly readable, clearly written, and extremely well illustrated introduction to the Symbolist Art movement that flourished primarily in France and England in the latter half of the 19th century.Edward Lucie-Smith argues the Symbolism is the artistic movement that makes sense of the transition from the Romantics of the early 19th century to the Modernism that arose in the early 20th. All too often in the retelling of the history of art, the Symbolists get left out entirely, or at least are not considered as a movement, unlike the much better known and more highly celebrated Impressionists. Yet, there are some very good reasons for anyone interested in late 19th century culture in the wider sense to know more about the Symbolists. For one thing, the movement produced a number of very interesting painters, including Bourne-Jones, Moreau, Rossetti, and others. In addition, other artists not primarily considered Symbolists had close ties to them, especially Gaugin. A number of painters coming after Symbolism were very much influenced by the movement, including Franz Marc, Munch, Klimt, and the young Picasso through the Blue Period. This last alone would be sufficient to reconsider their work, but Symbolism, unlike Impressionism, was a movement that extended well beyond painting and sculpture to include poetry and literature. In fact, the number of literary artists influenced by Symbolism far outstrips those working in the arts. Not merely Huysmans, but Yeats, Valery, Joyce, Eliot, Mallarme, and Proust were all indebted to one degree or other to Symbolist themes or concerns.

Wonderful book for art research. Short and very to the point, but also throughly informative on the different artists that manifested the ideals of the Symbolists. The vivid pictures, half in color, half in black and white, are filled with dreamlike images and an escapist attitude that the fin de siecle embodied.