Cezanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde. ebook

I completely agree with the prior assessments of reviewers Grady Harp and Claude Reich: Vollard was a kind of bigger-than-life figure and deserves this excellent tribute. It might be helpful to potential purchasers of this large volume (450 pp.) to know more fully what it contains, and to that end I add the following brief synopsis and a bit of commentary. It should be said at the beginning that this is another example of the outstanding professionalism of the curatorial staff of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which initiated the project and was subsequently joined by curators from The Art Institute of Chicago and the Musee d'Orsay. The book is divided into five major sections. 1) "The Man and His Artists" (170 pp.) After a summary look at Vollard's career in general, there are essays on his relationship with individual artists and groups: Cezanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Odilon Redon and the Nabis, Picasso, the Fauves, Matisse, Renoir and the Impressionists, Degas and Rouault. 2) "Vollard, Editeur" (44 pp.) Five essays on his activities as commissioner/purveyor of sculptures of Maillol and Picasso and publisher of print albums, "livres d'artiste," and his own writings. 3) "Vollard and His Clients" (38 pp.) Three essays, one general and one each specifically on German and Russian collectors. (4) "The Vollard Estate" (14 pp.) Three essays: the dispersal of his enormous holdings after his death, the archives, and his accounts. 5) A "Selected Chronology" of Vollard's life (30 pp.) and list of "Exhibitions chez Vollard" (17 pp.) indicating, when available, the works exhibited. There follows an 83-pp. small-print alphabetical catalog of the 202 exhibited works (all of which, the editors assure us, passed at one time or another through Vollard's hands), with the usual descriptive and provenance data and excellent annotated commentary. The volume concludes with an extensive bibliography of 23 pages and a meticulously detailed index of works, places, and people. It is difficult to think of any comprehensive study of Vollard as patron of the avant-garde that could supersede this one.

Vollard arranged for the first one-man shows of Cezanne, van Dongen, Vlaminck, Maillol, Matisse, Picasso , "e tutti quanti," and was active right up to his death in l939: no one can doubt his importance as an art dealer. But there is one nagging concern that keeps coming up and forms a kind of leitmotiv in all these studies, and that is the question of his business ethics. Was it justified to pun on his name, as some of his artists did, as "Vollard/Voleur" (thief) or to refer to him outright as "Vole-art" ("steals art"), or was that just a cheap shot? Was he, as the art dealer Rene Gimpel had heard, "beastly to artists"; and was it true that, as he supposed, "only Picasso was paid in full" (298)? We can never be sure, of course, and even the great amount of information in this volume leaves the issue unsettled. My impression, though, is that he was probably no more hard-nosed a bargainer than his competitors were, and that most of the grousing was of the sort that perennially characterizes dealings between sellers and buyers on an open market. He was, in the end, running a business and not a charity; when things worked out, he made a lot of money, but he also lost a lot when they didn't. True, in early 1900 he paid Cezanne 250 francs for "Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Viaducts of the Arc River Valley" and sold it to H. O. Havemeyer a little over a year later for 15,000 francs (339 f.), but that is not theft; it's just exceptionally good business, and Cezanne, who was not the most trusting of souls, had complete faith in his dealer's honesty. (Whereas Gauguin, who was off in the South Seas and constantly fretting about his Paris sales, called him "a predator of the worst kind." [363]) Vollard became a wealthy and propertied man, but so did Monet, Renoir, Picasso, and others. If, after a certain time, he sold a painting for ten times what he had paid for it, we should not forget that the artist might have done so too, and that the ability of the artist to sell at ever higher prices was due in large part to Vollard's ceaseless activity on his behalf, in advocacy and proselytizing. He was surely not a saint; but he may at least have been an example of a man who did well by doing good.

A great exhibition, a great dealer and a great book. Very well documented, even though Vollard seems to have been very secretive. He certainly was at the right place, at the right time as the book very well shows . He no doubt was an opportunist, but with an eye and a love of art unmatched by his peers. He also invented the art market of his time and certainly deserved such a beautiful tribute.

This is an excellent review of the life and times of Ambroise Vollard that gives great background details about the lives
and evolution of the works of this period. It was published for The Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit of the same name that was
exceedingly well curated.

The art work is well reproduced and of good size. The focus is more on the relationsh8ip of the dealer with the artists and this is mostly second hand or inference. Some of the nature of Vollard's character is noted by his modest furnishings and the haphazard way he kept many of the works. His style of negotiations and manners were kept close to his vest by all accounts so that the nature of describing him has many blank spots. As a means to describe the man the book fails in many ways As a means of relating him to the events about him it is quite reasonable.
An introductory biographical discussion from birth to demise at the beginning of the work would have made the subsequent discussions more accessible.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has produced yet another fine curatorial statement with their exhibition 'Cezanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde' and fortunately the accompanying catalogue is as bold and beautiful as the exhibition itself. The concept of discussing artists of international stature from the stance of the man who gave their careers the jumpstart needed is unique and valuable and is a tribute to the work that art dealers around the world perform in assisting artists in their career paths.

Ambroise Vollard (1867-1939), a Parisian art dealer, played a significant role in molding the art movements of the late 19th and early 20th century. The stimulus, according to the curators and essayists of this lavishly illustrated book, was the 1895 exhibition of Cezanne's art, an exhibition which triggered the movements of modern art as followed by such artists as Gauguin, Van Gogh, Degas, Rouault, Matisse and Picasso. Some credit Vollard with the development of the Fauvist school simply by his intelligent, sensitive, provocative exhibitions of the right artists given space beside each other that created comparisons and links.

The concept of art dealer as innovator is a fresh one and one handled with sufficient intelligent documentation by the various writers contributing to this catalogue to lend credibility to the premise. But over and above the curatorial concept is the pleasure of the exceptional illustrations of works by familiar artists not usually seen in books of this sort. The writing and design make this catalogue/book a collector's item that will enhance not only art school libraries but also the personal libraries of all art lovers. A very fine addition to the information about the artists included in this exhibition and catalogue. Grady Harp, October 06

very nice book. I have enjoyed it.

My daughter was an Art History Minor and had expressed interest in this book. I bought it for her as a holiday gift and she treasures it. Amazon got it to me in time for me to enjoy leafing through it as well. It is extraordinary both in picture and text. It is truly a keepsake.

This book is jammed with fascinating information,gorgeous reproductions and is extremely well priced.Anyone interested in 20th cent.art will welcome this book!