Prints Abound: Paris in the 1890's - Hardcover

By the 1890s, Parisians were inundated with printed matter catering to both collectors and those with more popular taste. Many factors contributed to this paper fallout, some technological, some social. Frustrated young artists sought a broader audience outside the rigid Salon system, Montmartre had become commercialized, innovations in printmaking made buying original art affordable, short-lived but vital literary journals were open to experimentation, and conventions of all kinds were in flux. Publishers of books, posters, sheet music, and artist's portfolios all had a hand in bringing prints of all kinds directly to the public. Thanks to the efforts of Virginia and Ira Jackson, who began collecting in the 1960s, and the National Gallery of Art, which recently mounted an exhibition of their prints, this catalog captures the last decade of the 19th century in the most popular mass medium of its time. Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec are among the many artists featured in the comprehensive show, which can also be studied online (www.nga.gov/exhibitions/printsabound.htm). Essays by Phillip Dennis Cate, director of the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, as well as Richard Tomson and Gale Murray, provide a clear social context. This nicely put-together book will fill a niche in many libraries in both printmaking and media history; however, owing to the cost, it may be more suitable for large public and academic libraries. Susan Lense, Upper Arlington P.L., OH
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