Offering informative biographies which take into account life in France in the 1860s and the confrontation between the establishment and the Impressionist movement, this account considers twenty one artists, discussing each one separately. The book includes a list of galleries and museums, suggestions for further reading and an index.

The artists included: Bazille, Bonnard, Boudin, Cassat, Cezanne, Corot, Courbet, Degas, Gauguin, Jongkind, Manet, Monet, Morisot, Pissaro, Renoir, Seurat, Signac, Sisley, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh and Vuillard.

The book is illustrated throughout with over 200 full colour pictures, most of them a good size with many half-page or more, however a number unnecessarily cross the gutter. They are well captioned and the captions include a brief commentary. The images run with the text and the quality of reproduction is acceptable but not great, there begin a tendency towards harshness and lack of detail on the shadows. The page design is somewhat busy and crowded, detracting from the images.

(This review is based on the original 1986 edition) ( )