Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland. Introducing Susan Vreeland's. Painting on the Book Cover is by: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Déjeuner des Canotiers ( Luncheon of the Boating Party ), 1880-81, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Instantly recognizable, beloved the world over, Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party serves as an icon of an age, a place, an art movement at its apogee, and an ideal of human desire and sociability. As impressionistically dazzling and humane as the Renoir painting that inspires it, Luncheon of the Boating Party is itself a true work of art that blends the manifest joys and the impossible longings of life into a single coherent vision. Susan Vreeland has for some time been one of our finest writers, and this is her best book yet. --Robert Olen Butler, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain. Paris, Summer, 1880. Émile Zola: "The Impressionists are inferior to what they undertake. The man of genius has not yet arisen." Pierre-Auguste Renoir: "I'm going to blow the whole stuffy Salon apart with a painting Zola won't dare deny is genius!" The pressure is on. Renoir has only two months before the good light is gone and he must relinquish the terrace setting for the grand regattas. What obstacles will he face? What turnabouts will occur? What life changes? An actress, a mime, a journalist, an adventurer, a singer-flower seller, an art collector, a poet, a boatman, a baron, a yachtsman-painter, and more. What's going on in their lives as they pose? What interactions are unleashed? How do the threads of their lives weave the canvas? Luncheon of the Boating Party Summary and Reviews. Narrated by Renoir and seven of the models and using settings in Paris and on the Seine, Vreeland illuminates the gusto, hedonism, and art of the era. With a gorgeous palette of vibrant, captivating characters, she paints their lives, loves, losses, and triumphs in a brilliant portrait of her own. Reviews "Beyond the Book" articles Free books to read and review (US only) Find books by time period, setting & theme Read-alike suggestions by book and author Book club discussions and much more! Just $12 for 3 months or $39 for a year. Reviews. Media Reviews. "Vreeland achieves a detailed and surprising group portrait, individualized and immediate. " - PW. "Starred Review. [T]hree levels of "atmosphere" [swirl] through the pages of this riveting, complex novel: Renoir's issues in composing the painting, the separate and interconnected lives of the 14 individuals appearing in it, and the spirit of la vie moderne, the new modes of living, thinking, and expressing as conducted by the French arts community at the time." - Booklist. This information about Luncheon of the Boating Party shown above was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. In most cases, the reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that the reviews shown do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, please send us a message with the mainstream media reviews that you would like to see added. Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published. Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland. Introducing Susan Vreeland's --> The figures stroll from Renoir's painting and into the pages of Susan Vreeland's new novel with all the vibrancy and elegance of the canvas itself. A marvelous evocation that brings a painting - and an entire age - beautifully to life. --Ross King, author of Brunelleschi's Dome; Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling; and The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism. Luncheon of the Boating Party , the novel and the painting, depicts the summer of 1880, an exuberant postwar time when social constraints were loosening, Paris was healing, and Parisians were bursting with a desire for pleasure. The fourteen people on the terrace overlooking the Seine enjoying this moment of la vie moderne are Renoir's very real friends, my characters, whose lives unfold and connect during the course of the making of the painting. Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Déjeuner des Canotiers (Luncheon of the Boating Party), 1880-81, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. The novel's epicenter is the terrace of La Maison Fournaise, a restaurant, small hotel, and boat rental twenty-minutes by train west of Paris which attracts a mix of Parisians, especially on Sundays. A popular song of the time extols Sundays when one feels wonderful and has nothing to do but to enjoy life. Postcard, circa 1900. Courtesy Betty van Wijhe, 2006. In this spirit, the models go boating in the morning, eat a three-course luncheon, drink aperitifs and wine and sometimes champagne, get to know one another, and then settle in to their poses. Luckily, Renoir doesn't mind his models talking, telling stories, even singing, because he wants to catch a natural moment. Renoir, Oarsmen at Chatou, 1879 National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Seven of the models are viewpoint characters who reveal in their own voices the events of their lives during the weeks in between painting sessions. Their chapters take us into Paris--to the Ile de la Cité, to Montmartre, to a dance and pleasure garden, backstage at the Comédie- Français and the Folies-Bergère. Renoir, End of the Lunch, 1879 Stadelsches Kunstinstitute, Frankfurt Seated model: Ellen Andree. Chapters from Renoir's point of view take us to his studio, the Café Nouvelle-Athènes frequented by artists and writers, his neighborhood crémerie which has its own set of amusing characters, place Pigalle, a string of Montmartre cabarets, the Tuileries gardens, and, of course, the Louvre. Edgar Degas, The Glove, 1878 Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, MA. Besides the fourteen models, the novel has a rich cast of characters from all social classes--Alphonse and Louise Fournaise, engaging proprietors of the Maison, Edgar Degas, the writer Guy de Maupassant, an influential and legendary art dealer, a rich patron, a passionate art supply dealer and his quirky wife, eight fully-developed characters who have something to do with the painting, and ten more of lesser importance. Although some chapters appear to take us far afield from the posing, what goes on in these chapters always impacts the painting, so everything is woven together like a canvas. Renoir, Monsieur Fournaise, 1875. © 2006 Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA. Beside the obvious themes of the challenges Renoir faces in this complex painting, the novel depicts Renoir's personal artistic crisis, the wrenching breakup of the Impressionist group, and the upheaval and change in the marketing of art. Themes of the yearning for creative expression, social changes in marriage and in inter-class relationships, and, of course, love give the novel human scope. Among the models and the ancillary characters, there are three love triangles, each of which has its moments of action and of reflection, of ebbing and flowing. Through it all, there is the eternal Seine, an ever-changing backdrop, city and country, a gentle influence on the characters, and thus on the painting. Le Déjeuner des Canotiers. Depuis 84 ans qu'il tableau dans The Phillips Collection à Washington, "Le Déjeuner des canotiers" de Pierre-Auguste Renoir, symbolise aux yeux des Américans la France et la culture française. Dans sa force évocative et sa légéreté triomphante, il n'a de rival que cet autre émissaire de France, la Statue de la Liberté. Plus qu'un simple éloge de l'amitié joyeuse et de la chaude convivialité, c'est une véritable peinture de l'âme française. Il nous invite à s'interroger : Comment fait-on pour vivre une vie si empreinte de beauté et si riche de plaisir? Maintenant, un roman éclaire le mystère de la peinture. Vous êtes cordialement invité(e/s) à une conférence en anglais sur. Luncheon of the Boating Party. Susan Vreeland. Le vendredi, 18 mai 2007, à dix-neuf heures. Copperfield's Books, 138 North Main St. , Sebastopol. The figures stroll from Renoir's painting and into the pages of Susan Vreeland's new novel with all the vibrancy and elegance of the canvas itself. A marvelous evocation that brings a painting - and an entire age - beautifully to life. --Ross King, author of Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling and The Judgment of Paris. As impressionistically dazzling and humane as the Renoir painting that inspires it, Luncheon of the Boating Party is itself a true work of art. Susan Vreeland has for some time been one of our finest writers, and this is her best book yet. --Robert Olen Butler, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain. Susan Vreeland's Luncheon of the Boating Party shimmers like the surface of an impressionist painting. Her cast of warm and vibrant characters delights and welcomes me to their luncheon and to . . . the bohemian, artistic life of Paris in the 1880s. --Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab's Wife and Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette. Vreeland's love for Renoir is made palpable in this brilliant reconstruction. Amazingly engrossing reinvigoration of the lives of [those] who modeled for Renoir. . . lovely prose, a riveting, complex novel. ISBN 13: 9780143113522. From the bestelling author of GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE , "A vivid exploration of one of the most beloved Renoir paintings in the world, done with a flourish worthy of Renoir himself" ( USA Today ) With her richly textured novels, Susan Vreeland has offered pioneering portraits of artists' lives. As she did in Girl in Hyacinth Blue , Vreeland focuses on a single painting, Auguste Renoir's instantly recognizable masterpiece, which depicts a gathering of Renoir's real friends enjoying a summer Sunday on a café terrace along the Seine. Narrated by Renoir and seven of the models, the novel illuminates the gusto, hedonism, and art of the era. With a gorgeous palette of vibrant, captivating characters, Vreeland paints their lives, loves, losses, and triumphs so vividly that "the painting literally comes alive" ( The Boston Globe ). "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title. Susan Vreeland is the New York Times bestselling author of eight books, including Clara and Mr. Tiffany and Girl in Hyacinth Blue . She lives in San Diego.