The Triumph of American Painting: A History of Abstract Expressionism by Irving Sandler (review)

Books 165 Whitman and others-quotes that extol nature but not paintings of nature. In McShine’ssection (pp. 10&127), while quotations bearing on some artists’ verbal reactions to nature, as such, are provided, in none of them is there even an insinuation that Abstract Expressionism is a continuity of indigenous luminous landscape painting. Furthermore, of the events considered of importance in the history of the U.S.A. in the chronicle compiled by Mary Davis (pp. 132-165), I find that none of them has a bearing on the theme of the book. Clearly, the book is part of a public relations campaign to promote Abstract Expressionism, as has been elucidated by Tom Wolfe in his book The Painted Word: What You See Is What They Say [3]. Onecannot discount the role of the past oncertain kinds of art any more than onecandiscount it oncertain aspects of one’s life. The contributors to the book are aware of this, and they have tried desperately to find a connection between Abstract Expressionism and luminous landscape painting of the U S A . variety to help celebrate the bicentenary of the founding of the U.S.A. But they cannot expect one to stretch one’s imagination to theextentof seeinglandscapes in blobs of black paint and varicolored vertical or horizontal stripes. References 1. R.McLanathan, Art in America:A BriefHistory (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973). 2. S. Burnham, The Art Crowd (New York: David McKay, 1973). 3. T.Wolfe, ThePainred Word: What YouSee Is What TheySay (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1975). (Cf. review of book in Leonard0 9, 163 (1976)). Manet and the Modern Tradition. Anne Coffin Hanson. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, Conn., and London, 1977. 302 pp., illus. $25.00, f 14.50. Reviewed by Alan C. Birnholz* Manet continues to be a favored topic for art historians. The formal and iconographical richness of his art rewards close scrutiny. As with other master artists, he can make an intelligent critic look very intelligent indeed. While Hanson provides no startling or dramatic reinterpretations of Manet’s work, she neverthelessprovides a large number of sensibleand thoroughly documented insights. The book is divided into three parts. Parts I and 111 place Manet intothecontext of histimes. Part I1 focuseson thevarious types of subject matter he treated. The book is illustrated generously, and the sheer weight of footnotes testifies to Hanson’s careful and diligent scholarship. She begins by depicting Manet as very much an artist of his day. She cites the relationships between Manet’s work and the writings of Baudelaire, Gautier, Zola, Thore and Champfleury. ShediscussesManet and the Cult of the Dandy. Shepoints to the closer ties between Manet and Mallarme. She stresses that these relationships developedata ‘turning point’ in the history of art in France. ‘Serious painting, with its technical skills and emotive power, was now to be used for the depiction of the artist’s own intimate, particular, and specificlife,devoid of narrative, devoid of romance, and cast in the same cool tenor of direct perception withwhichthesophisticated Parisian sawthe world around him.’ She does not tell one here anything that was not already known. But she does flesh out in more detail aspects of Manet’s development that are often passed over superficially. I found her discussion of Manet’s subjects more original. She points out the difficulty(if not the futility) of seeking to isolate particular sources for Manet’s paintings, and she remains properly cautiouswhenitcomes to accepting asource. Typical of her approach is the coliclusion of her survey of possible sources for the painting ‘MademoiselleVictorine as an Espada’. ‘If these sourceswereused (and it is possible that several werecombined) they do not seem to have been chosen for the extra meaning they could add to the picture.’ Similarly, in her examination of the sourcesfor ‘TheDead Toreador’ shewisely calls‘anunimportant *Dept. of Art History, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14261, U.S.A. point’ what a lessjudicious historian would have imbued with profound significance. In the third part of the book Hanson deals with Manet’s debt to tradition, in general, and to couture,in particular. Onthe basis of closely looking at Manet’s paintings (and not just reproductions...