Sorolla: The Painted Gardens

(Hardback)

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Like Claude Monet s celebrated plein air landscapes at Giverny, the series collected in this book represents among the best-loved examples of Joaquin Sorolla s (1863-1923) work, and a window into the Spanish painter s quest to capture the essence of a garden. Described by Monet as the master of light, Sorolla and his landscapes, formal portraits, and historically themed canvases drew comparisons to contemporary American painter John Singer Sargent. Sorolla had achieved renown on both sides of the Atlantic for grand scenes of Spanish life when he began a personal series of garden works, presented completely for the first time in this publication. Painted at the palaces of La Granja and the Alcazar in Seville, the Alhambra and Generalife in Granada, and at the painter s home in Madrid, these Impressionist works allowed Sorolla to apply his signature loose brushwork and training as a photographer s lighting assistant to gardens and the sculptures, architecture, and sitters that frame and animate them. Sorolla depicted reflections in fountains and pools, the sunlight dappling his glamorous sitters, sprays of orange blossoms, and shaded blue-and-white tile as he endeavoured to render the radiant peace of a summer afternoon.

Reviews

This beautifully designed and produced volume brings together one hundred of Sorollas major paintings, selected by his great-granddaughter, who is the foremost authority on the artist. ~Art of the Times

This really is a luscious book. It has large color reproductions of over 100 paintings in a high-quality printing, supplemented by black-and-white photos of Sorolla at work. Typical of Rizzoli, the printing is very good: even in these reproductions you can sometimes feel the sun and the surf that Sorolla captured so amazingly in his paintings of children at the beach, fisherman bringing in the boats, or a horse after a bath in the ocean. The paintings are shown in chronological order, so you can trace the changes in Sorollas style from fairly tight to much looser. If you dont already know Sorollathis one is definitely worth seeking out. ~Sbenedictblog.com

This beautifully designed and produced volume brings together one hundred of Sorollas major paintings, selected by his great-granddaughter Blanca Pons-Sorolla, the foremost authority on the artist. Benefiting from close proximity to the artist and his personal archives, she presents an in-depth essay that explores Sorollas life, work, and remarkable international legacy. With virtually all of the artists previous publications now out of print, this much-anticipated volume is an important addition to the literature on this great Spanish master. ~PortraitArtist.com

Author Bio

Blanca Pons-Sorolla is the foremost scholar on the work of Joaquin Sorolla and has written and contributed to numerous books, including Sorolla: The Masterworks. She is the artist s great-granddaughter. She was deputy curator of the retrospective exhibition Joaquin Sorolla (1863-1923) held at the Prado in 2009.