Four Steps Toward Modern Art

The four very logical steps taken and pointed out by a well known writer and scholar of painting are the works of Giorgione, Caravaggio, Manet and Cezanne. With each artist a representative of a new trend in his times, Mr. Venturi analyses the most pertinent of their paintings in simple efficient terms and places them in their own broad historical perspective. Giorgione whose short painting life lasted only from 1500 to 1510 came at a time when skepticism was beginning to creep into the strong and confident idea of a man centered universe. Instead of figures with a landscape, Giorgione painted landscapes with figures and embodied in his scenes a new and broadened wonder about nature. Caravaggio a century later employed a controlled luminism in his technique with a revolt against mannerists, classicists and the idealism required by an aristocratic minded church. The new aesthetics of impressionism that rose in 19th century France are freshly described with reference to Manet's intention not to be a historical painter but to put down immediately what he saw, and, with Cezanne the great originator and symbolizer of modern cubism we see still another approach to reality, this time through abstract form realized through color. A short, enlightening essay. (Kirkus Reviews)