From Publishers Weekly
The reputation of French artist Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) still suffers from the misapprehension that he was a charming but superficial painter of revels, circuses, boats and racetracks. This comprehensive, abundantly illustrated study refutes that notion, revealing Dufy as a major innovator in many mediums. His simplified style, using pure color and light, found spontaneous expression not only in fauvist seascapes, symphonic murals, nudes, travel sketches, graphics and stage sets. Some of his memorable images appear on fabric designs and silk shawls; he achieved painterly results in tapestries; his ceramics--vases, plant containers, tiles--create a vibrant neoclassical world awash in living forms. French critic Perez-Tibi gives us a multifaceted experimenter who made no distinction between the "fine" and decorative arts, and who brought them closer together.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
This attractive book examines all aspects of Dufy's witty creativity, from society painting to fashion, fabric to theatrical design, ceramics to book illustration and lithography. Many works are reproduced and discussed for the first time, and excerpts from unpublished writings of the artist are included. Dufy embraced a world of color and light, and if his paintings and decorative works seem simple and easy it is a tribute to the able, as well as facile, artist. The author develops the relationship between Dufy's areas of creativity and shows the influence each had upon the other. Dufy sought to learn new techniques to produce a record of his world, to "erase all things ugly." He was not a giant but an inventive and productive artist, and this complete record of his work is useful, well written, and handsome.
- Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum Lib., New York
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum Lib., New York
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
