Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This study presents an interpretation of Monet's seascapes of the Normandy coast, arguing that Monet's modernity lay in his production of neo-romantic myths. The author interweaves the history of the sea resorts, analysis and details of Monet's life, and reflections on the marketing of his work.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Herbert (Impressionism, LJ 10/15/88) examines Monet's 1860s to 1880s paintings of Étretat on the Normandy coast, discussing the famous sea views of the Mannesport, Port d'Aval, and other points and comparing them with photographs, sketches, guidebooks, and the works of artists such as Courbet and Boudin. Linking the artist with tourists who may tread on well-traveled paths but see themselves as alone with nature, Herbert presents Monet as a neo-Romantic portraying a much-populated resort as a quaint fishing village. Herbert's analysis is insightful, and the conclusions he draws from well-documented sources are worth studying. Unfortunately, some of the details reproduced in this highly illustrated book are bled to the edge of the page; these plates give the feel of a painted surface but lack compositional structure and seem overpowering and disjointed. Aside from that, the book is beautifully produced and will appeal to specialists, travelers to Étretat, and lay readers who want to know Monet from Herbert's unique perspective.-Ellen Bates, New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

An examination of the intersections between tourism and impressionism in the way they perceived nature. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

CHOICE Review

By Monet's day, the search for diversion from the urban scene and the means to satisfy a growing taste for that luxury had already approached modern proportions. That popular appetite for recreational experience soon bred expectations and conventions of behavior all their own. Though a native of the region, Monet was himself a tourist when he explored the Normandy coast with an eye to pictorial material with potential appeal to his clientele. Herbert's engaging study begins with a discussion of Monet's visits to the beach resorts at Sainte-Adresse and Trouville (1867-70). The following chapter discusses his stays at Les Petites Dalles and Pourville (1881-81). But it was at Etretat, already famous for its fantastically eroded seaside cliffs, that Monet found his richest quarry for working vacations in the years 1883-86. In four chapters and a speculative conclusion, Herbert convincingly proposes that it was at Etretat and on an intervening excursion to the Riviera that Monet finally evolved attitudes and techniques that he would maintain on his further travels as well as on his home grounds at Giverny. Herbert's commentary on the history of Etretat's reputation as a tourist attraction (chapter 3) is at once a diverting and highly relevant inclusion. Richly illustrated and thoroughly documented. Recommended. General; upper-division undergraduate through professional. F. A. Trapp; emeritus, Amherst College