French Suite examines a range of important French painters and two writers, Baudelaire and Flaubert, from the brothers Le Nain in the mid-17th century to Manet, Degas, and the Impressionists in the later 19th century. A principal theme of Michael Frieds essays is a fundamental concern of his throughout his career: the relationship between painting and the beholder. Frieds typically vivid and strongly argued essays offer many new readings and unexpected insights, examining both familiar and lesser-known French artistic and literary works. |