Manet's Modernism: or, The Face of Painting in the 1860s

"Manet's Modernism", or, "The Face of Painting in the 1860s" is the culminating work in a trilogy of books by Michael Fried exploring the roots and genesis of pictorial modernism. Building on his earlier studies of the central anti-theatrical tradition within Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment French painting, Fried argues that existing accounts of Edouard Manet as the first modernist painter are based on a simplistic reading of the situation Manet inherited and, partly as a result, fail to grasp the specificity, complexity, and ambition of his great canvases of the 1860s. By placing Manet squarely within his generation (along with Henri Fantin-Latour, Alphonse Legros, and James McNeill Whistler), as well as in the context of the critical debates of his time, Fried aims to transform our sense of Manet's artistic project. Instead of emphasizing Manet's orientation to "flatness" and visuality, Fried focuses on aspects such as: his repeated allusions to Old Masters sources, his efforts to annul the absorptive basis of the modern French tradition, and above all his pursuit of facingness and strikingness as a means of reconstructing the relationship between painting and beholder. The book should help the understanding not only of the art of Manet and his generation, but also of the way in which the Impressionist simplification of Manet's achievement has determined subsequent interpretations of his modernism.Such a shame that all photos are in black and white.

Manet's Modernism is the culminating work in a trilogy of books by Michael Fried exploring the roots and genesis of pictorial modernism. Fried provides an entirely new understanding not only of the art of Manet and his generation but also of the way in which the Impressionist simplification of Manet's achievement had determined subsequent accounts of pictorial modernism down to the present. Like Fried's previous books, Manet's Modernism is a milestone in the historiography of modern art.

"Beautifully produced. . . . [Fried's] thought is always stimulating, if not provocative. This is an important book, which all students of modernism, in the broadest sense, will find rewarding."—Virginia Quarterly Review

"An astonishing piece of scholarship that will cause readers to rethink their understanding of Manet's influence, ambition, and achievement."—Gary Michael, Bloomsbury Review

"An audaciously brilliant book, long awaited and as essential reading for philosophers as for art historians."—Wayne Andersen, Common Knowledge

"Art history of the highest originality and distinction."—Arthur C. Danto, New York Times Book Review

Manet's Modernism is the culminating work in a trilogy of books by Michael Fried exploring the roots and genesis of pictorial modernism. Fried provides an entirely new understanding not only of the art of Manet and his generation but also of the way in which the Impressionist simplification of Manet's achievement had determined subsequent accounts of pictorial modernism down to the present. Like Fried's previous books, Manet's Modernism is a milestone in the historiography of modern art. "Beautifully produced. . . . [Fried's] thought is always stimulating, if not provocative. This is an important book, which all students of modernism, in the broadest sense, will find rewarding." Virginia Quarterly Review "An astonishing piece of scholarship that will cause readers to rethink their understanding of Manet's influence, ambition, and achievement."Gary Michael, Bloomsbury Review "An audaciously brilliant book, long awaited and as essential reading for philosophers as for art historians."Wayne Andersen, Common Knowledge "Art history of the highest originality and distinction."Arthur C. Danto, New York Times Book Review Manet's Modernism, or, The Face of Painting in the 1860s is the culminating work in a trilogy of books by Michael Fried exploring the roots and genesis of pictorial modernism. Building on his earlier studies of the central antitheatrical tradition within Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment French painting, Fried argues that previous accounts of Edouard Manet as the first modernist painter are based on a simplistic reading of the situation Manet inherited and, partly as a result, fail to grasp the specificity, complexity, and ambition - also the deeply problematic nature - of his epochal paintings of the 1860s