Artistic Circles

The inspiring connections between the world’s greatest artists

by Susie Hodge

#ArtisticCircles #NetGalley

This title includes stories of many artists and their creative connections with others. For each artist featured, there is interesting biographical information, something about these connections and an illustration of the artist. These illustrations reflect each artist’s own style.

There are way too many artists to list here. Some of those included are Sargent, Mondrian, Picasso, Calder, Basquiat and Krasner. I very much enjoyed the biographical anecdotes about each talented artist. The connections are also there often floating above the other text.

This title is well organized. Beneath each artist’s name are those who were influenced. For example, under Georgia O’Keeffe is the name Judy Chicago. Under Judy Chicago’s name are Georgia O’Keeffe, Eva Hesse and Jenny Holzer. This helps readers to see how so many of the artists connected to each other and lets readers hone in on which entries they want to read.

For those who would enjoy a wide-ranging exposure to both well-known and lesser known artists, this book is recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title which I plan to purchase. All opinions are my own.

From the Publisher

Claude Monet

ONE OF the founders of Impressionism, Oscar-Claude Monet (1840–1926) remained faithful to the movement’s aims throughout his life: painting en plein air, capturing fleeting moments and using color to depict the effects of light. Even the name Impressionism came from the title of one of his paintings. As a teenager growing up in Le Havre on the Normandy coast, he began painting outdoors with Eugène Boudin (1824–98). At that time, although some artists made outdoor sketches or visual notes, most paintings were completed in artists’ studios. By painting directly in front of his subject, Monet believed he was capturing light and color as accurately as possible, and using bright pigments, he rendered everything with bold, broken brushmarks. From 1874 to 1886, he helped to organise, and exhibited in, five of eight independent exhibitions with the artists known as the Impressionists.

Oscar-Claude Monet . . .

Was particularly influenced by the painting Déjeuner sur l’Herbe by EDOUARD MANET	Helped inspire the painting Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose by JOHN SINGER SARGENT	Wrote thousands of letters to friends including MARY CASSATT	Wrote thousands of letters to friends including AUGUSTE RODIN

Tamara de Lempicka

EPITOMISING ART Deco, Tamara de Lempicka painted with smooth brushwork, angular contours and sculptural tones. Her distinctive painting style conveyed the glamour of the Jazz Age. Born Maria Górska in Warsaw (then part of Russia), De Lempicka went to boarding school in Switzerland. In 1911, she spent the summer with her grandmother in Italy where she saw the work of many great Italian artists, thus igniting her passion for art. After her parents divorced, she lived in St Petersburg with her extremely wealthy aunt and uncle, who introduced her to a life of luxury. When she was fifteen, they took her to an opera where she met Tadeusz Lempicki, and three years later they married. In 1917, the Russian Revolution began and Tadeusz was arrested by the Bolsheviks. However, his young, attractive wife used her social connections and charm to secure his release. They escaped to Paris where her family had taken refuge.