7 DECEMBER 1991, Page 33

Making a good impressionist

John McEwen

IMPRESSIONISM: THE PAINTERS AND THE PAINTINGS by Bernard Denvir Studio Editions, £29.95, pp. 424 As a former head of the Department of Art History at Ravensbourne College of Art and Design, Bernard Denvir knows exactly how essential it is to be entertaining as well as instructive. Accordingly, this lav- ishly illustrated and very reasonably priced history takes full account of the sociologi- cal aspect and in so doing usefully corrects the rose-tinted view. It shows that the impressionists were on the whole from well-to-do, middle-class families, remained politically conservative and had plenty of critical support. Zola is rightly honoured as the foremost of their literary champions but it is less often remembered that

he had his reservations too. As late as 1879 he was caught writing a negative arti- cle for a Russian periodical in which he baldly stated that, apart from being poor technicians and too easily satisfied, the impressionists were simply pioneers, preparing the way for the great artist of the future, whom everybody is expecting.

Prophetic words, perhaps, but they were not well received.

One of the 'group' we might have heard more about had he not been killed in the Franco-Prussian War at the age of 30 is Fred6ric Bazille. He was a rich man, who shelled out a lot of money on behalf of the cause, a fact which did little to improve his artistic reputation with such beneficiaries as his supposed friend Monet. Typically, Denvir has a soft spot for the 'emphatic colour and engaging simplicity' of his art, and surely rightly so; certainly Bazille can never have been granted so many illustrations in a general introduction to the movement.

`La Toilette, by Frederic Bazille (Musee Fabre, Montpellier)