Painted Love

Library Journal

As prostitution escalated in 19th-century Paris, it likewise appeared more frequently as a subject in French literature and art. Clayson (art history, Northwestern) reasons that there is a ``connection between, on the one hand, covert prostitution as subject matter and, on the other, evasiveness as narrational strategy among artists who operated within Impressionist circles during the 1870s and 1880s.'' Her unique, often complex, study analyzes the male artists' ``contradictory dialectic of disgust and fascination'' toward their female subjects. Clayson claims that their ``ambiguous depictions served to reinforce'' lowly female stereotypes. Amusing caricatures, extensive documentation, and good reproductions of Cezanne's Olympia series, Degas's monotypes of brothel scenes, and Manet's Nana support Clayson's feminist perceptions, adding new meaning to rather familiar artworks. Recommended for large art history and women's study collections.--Joan Levin, MLS, Chicago