Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris

Book Description

Henri Rousseau (1844-1910) was a self-taught artist with a unique style, exemplified in his visionary jungle scenes. These dream-like tableaux, for which he drew heavily on visits to Paris' Botanical Gardens, captivate with the lushness of their plant and animal life, while unsettling the viewer with their heady combination of exoticism and romanticism.

This sumptuously illustrated book provides not only a comprehensive overview of Rousseau's career, but also penetrating insights into his inspiration. With large, color reproductions of his paintings, many previously unpublished illustrations of his sources and influences, and a wealth of new research on his life and work (including the only interview conducted with the artist), Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris

is poised to become the definitive volume on this remarkable painter.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful book full of full page prints..........2007-09-20

I love looking at the amazing prints in this book by the primitivist Rousseau. Look at the cover of this, this tiger in the grass. Rousseau was a Parisian in the last part of the 1800's who never left Paris (in spite of telling friends he had visited Mexico.) New animals never before seen such as gorillas and tigers and leopards were coming to the Paris zoo. New exotic plants were coming to the huge Parisian greenhouses. People were talking about new and exciting places like Africa, Mexico and South America. There were photographs being shown in galleries depicting these strange places. And there was Rousseau, a lowly government clerk, with his fantastic imagination, seeing in his mind all these strange and wonderful places full of tigers, natives, huge flowers, flocks of pink flamingos, monkeys and all sorts of fantasy landscapes.
This book says, quoting a friend of Rousseau's, that Rousseau would at times start trembling while he painted and become almost in a sort of ecstatic frenzy as he imagined what these places were like.
At the time people laughed at his paintings as being like a child's art. People stopped laughing at some point and began gasping in awe.
I remember seeing his paintings a long time ago at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C. I could not believe my eyes. I never wanted to stop looking at the paintings.
I can't imagine a better book on Rousseau than this one.

The Banquet Years: The Origins of the Avant-Garde in France, 1885 to World War I (Essay index reprint series)

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A Feast for the Soul
The Life of the Absurd...
If you like this sort of thing this is something you'll like
Hard to put down
The Pleasures of Art and Pataphysics

The Banquet Years: The Origins of the Avant-Garde in France, 1885 to World War I (Essay index reprint series)
Roger Shattuck
Manufacturer: Ayer Co Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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To the Finland Station

ASIN: 0836928261

Book Description

Portrays the cultural bohemia of turn-of-the-century Paris who carried the arts into a period of renewal and accomplishment, who laid the ground-work for Dadaism and Surrealism.

Customer Reviews:

A Feast for the Soul.......2006-09-15

Shattuck's book is astounding, lyrically written and effectively framed with detailed discussions of the Parisian political and social scene around the Belle Epoque to give perspective. All of the profiles are well crafted and "Death By Hallucination" is the most insightful discussion of monstre sacre Jarry that I have read.

Anyone who reads any portion of this book is instantly at least 10% more interesting and intelligent than they were the moment before. It will clear your skin, lift your spirit and make you more attractive. Read it. NOW.

The Life of the Absurd..........2004-09-15

Around the turn of the last century there was an unsettled fringe to "Art". There was the mainstream - formal just-so predictable and safe. The framework and structure of being an artist was beginning to fray however - the idea that "Art" should continue to evolve into something else to grow beyond the rigid box that artists and society were so comfortable with.

It is hard to put into words exactly what these four artists attempted to do to their perspective fields, painting, music and writing - they strove to both make "Art" plastic (malleable) and new - to create "Art" beyond "Art" as it were. Even the knowledgeable at the time struggled to define as they themselves exactly what they were doing...

But from primitivism in art to ubu to monotonal music to surrealism to painted neckties, these artists redefined the role of artist to their art. It would be easier to say that Satie or especially Jarry were art themselves their very state of being being "Art". Art as life or life as art or a witch's brew of the two blurred the line between being and performance (Truman Capote, Andy Warhol would have fit right into these guys as well as Timothy Leary and his LSD visionaries).

Cubism and Dadaism - modern art as we understand it today - owes a great debt to these men. Destitute, literally either one step from starvation or madness (or both), their vision of their "Art" and their willingness to bear the cost of bring that "Art" out (there were riots at performances of Satie and Jarry, Apollinaire was jailed and Rousseau was delittled)paved the way for Picasso and Dali.

This book is not a particularly easy read, it wanders between the dryness of a college textbook and an almost lyrical prose at times. And the author seems to expect some knowledge of art and the period from the beginning, a little more background would have been helpful. But I learned a lot for the effort so I would recommend the book to the interested student of the period.

If you like this sort of thing this is something you'll like.......2004-04-21

Roger Shattuck, presents a picture of avant-garde France in the period 1880-1915 as seen through the lives of four of its most prominent artists.
The belle époque, was the time before the first World War when new forms of art and philosophy were beginning to emerge. Artists began to break away from traditional concepts and to invent new ways to express themselves. For those in the avant-garde, art was not simply an object or a composition that was conceived, begun and finished. Rather they embraced the idea of being their own best works.
The institutions which had defined their society were in disarray. The social order of the past, depended on a large population of rural farmers supporting an elite few in the urban centers, was being turned upside down.
Technology was causing great disruptions in the old order as well. Events began to move faster and increasingly people began to be enslaved by the office clock and the factory whistle. To many people, the simple solutions of the past offered by the church and the government and their local community no longer seemed relevant to the contemporary world. Shattuck identifies four traits common to these artists
They all embraced childhood and a childish simplicity. Jarry's most famous work was a play, Ubu Roi, begun in elementary school. Satie wondered what kind of music a one-year old would create. All four emulated the innocence and naivety found in childhood during their adulthood.
Another characteristic was a strong sense of humor and of the absurd in the work and lives of the avant-garde artists of the time. Jarry and Apollionaire would each paint neckties on paper and wear the results to formal restaurants. Satie would annotate his musical compositions with absurd instructions to the musician and dire warnings as to the consequences if the orders were disobeyed. In their actions and their art we see them returning to the tradition of the court jester, able to speak the truth but only as a joke.
Thirdly, in questioning all that was traditional and real, these artists sought to create a dreamlike experience in the waking world.
Lastly, there was theme of ambiguity and equivocalness. They spurned the notion that art could have only one correct interpretation even their own works.
Henri Rousseau retired from being a customs inspector to move to Paris and start life anew as an artist at the age of 40. He was completely self-taught in his subject area and his work defied the style of his day.
Erik Satie was an innovative composer and musician who also served as a mentor for younger composers. Satie's compositions are filled with non-traditional instruments such as rattles and typewriters and unusual names such as "vexations". His eccentricities were well known among his contemporaries most notably that he never allowed anyone to visit the apartment where he lived the last quarter century of his life.
Alfred Jarry was a schoolboy when he got the inspiration for his greatest play. A crude unpopular teacher was the butt of school yard pranks and the subject of underground student plays. Later in Paris, Jarry would expand on those plays to create the character of Ubu a cruel and greedy man who plots to become King of Poland only to end up deposed and exiled to Paris. Ubu was the character Jarry created to comment on the human condition. Ubu's insights into his own situation echo Jarry's insight into the world. Jarry adopted much from his fictional character and over time he and Ubu become synonymous with the citizens of Paris.
Guillaume Apollionaire came to Paris at the age of twenty from Rome. He quickly was able to make a mark for himself within the bohemian cliques and in café society. Apollionaire was able to fund much of his literary work with his semi-pornographic novels. He founded a literary magazine and served as a columnist and editor on other periodicals. As a reviewer of modern art he was able to bring artists such as Henri Rousseau to the attention of a wider audience. Sensitive to his position as a foreigner, Apollionaire sought naturalization and enlisted in the French Army during the World War. He was wounded in the head and invalided out of the service in 1916 and died from the worldwide influenza epidemic in 1918.
The Banquet Years is by no means an easy read. Readers who do not posses a working knowledge of Paris in this period or of the Avant-Garde artistic movement of the time will find it difficult to enjoy this comprehensive view of the period. Places and names are often mentioned without any explanation that would assist in placing them in context. While the book provides insights into the lives and works of some artists whose influence persists down to modern times, this is not an ideal introduction to the times, but rather is best appreciated by those who already have a basic understanding of the period and its theories of art and philosophy.
Placing the review and appreciation of the artist at the conclusion of the biography would make sense in a biography for more conventional figures. However, these four attempted to direct their lives with the same inspiration that they did their art. Thus it can be difficult to understand the facts of the live of Jarry without a guide to the work that so consumed him. Shattuck possesses such an easy familiarity with the works of his subjects that he does occasionally forget to fill the reader in on the importance of the piece in question.
Shattuck has created a book which can be read on different levels by those with different interests. Art, History, and Philosophy are all equally present in this work. While it can be appreciated simply as a story of four remarkable men and four remarkable lives, to fully appreciate it, the reader must come to the book prepared to work hard for the insights it offers.

Hard to put down.......2003-08-31

I agree with other reviewers that the section on Alfred Jarry is especially strong, but the whole thing is great. Shattuck is a brilliant scholar, and a very lively writer. Presenting history from the viewpoint of a group of eccentrics results in surprises on every page. I bought this book as a fan of Shattuck's work on Proust (who gets only a brief mention in this book), and as a fan of Erik Satie (Contrary to the second-last reviewer, Satie's work is widely available, and it's well worth a listen), but now I think I'm a fan of Alfred Jarry as well; I've just placed an order for Jarry's Ubu Roi.

The Pleasures of Art and Pataphysics.......2003-01-15

Since encountering this wonderful and fascinating book during my first year in college, I have felt its influence in many parts of my life. My nickname shows the influence of Alfred Jarry and his Dr. Faustroll, even though I often identify more with the character Panmuphle. Just for introducing and explaining Jarry, Roger Shattuck's book is worth a good look. Yet another phenomenon that is more complex than its surface first suggests -- the painting of Henri Rousseau -- becomes better understood and more deeply appreciated through Shattuck's chapters on art in Paris at the turn of the 20th century. He certainly educated and influenced my own artistic preferences. And there is more, on poetry and music, but enough said. This is a book of enduring value.

Average customer rating:

Dissapointed with this book...

Henri Rousseau (Art for Children)
Ernest Lloyd Raboff , and Henri Julien Felix Rousseau
Manufacturer: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0397322216

Customer Reviews:

Dissapointed with this book..........2007-09-22

I have three other books from this series and have read them all to my primary school students (1st-3rd grade). This book, however, was not appropriate for that age group, and was a terrible purchase. The story was too long and confusing, too much information that was not written in a manner that was interesting for children, it talked about how he spent time in jail, how he lied, how he knew it didnt matter if he payed attention and did well in math and science because all he wanted to do was be an artist... nice message!

Henri Rousseau: Dreams of the Jungle (Pegasus Library Paperback)

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A very good survey of Rousseau's art

Henri Rousseau: Dreams of the Jungle (Pegasus Library Paperback)
Werner Schmalenbach , and Henri Julien Felix Rousseau
Manufacturer: Prestel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Henri Rousseau's Jungle Book (Adventures in Art)
Henri Rousseau (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)
Henri Rousseau
Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris
Marc Chagall: What Colour Is Paradise? (Adventures in Art)

ASIN: 3791324098

Book Description

Rousseau's series of jungle painitngs are widely seen as the pinnacle of his achievement. The artist's work was and still continues to be the subject of controversy. This book answers many of the questions surrounding Rousseau's importance as an artist, reproducing in high-quality color his jungle paintings and examining them in a wider art-historical context.

Customer Reviews:

A very good survey of Rousseau's art.......2001-12-29

The layout and color reproductions are quite good, considering the book's modest size. Werner Schmalenbach comments on the artist's charming paintings, their historical background and influence on comtemporaries, as well as key events in his life. The text is illuminating, lively, and unpedantic-- as Rousseau would have liked it. Also, the price is right. .... Get it! (Even though the book is out of print, I have seen several copies in art museum shops.)

Book Description

Henri Rousseau, called le Douanier because of his early career with the French customs service, is one of the most important, and fascinating and least studied of late nineteenth-century artists. His determined and unapologetic primitivism distanced his work from that of most of his contemporaries, but he was widely admired by Picasso, Apollinaire, and Kandinsky and is now seen as one of the pioneers of the modern movement. This beautiful book offers a detailed portrait of Rousseau's life and career as well as sensitive interpretations of his unusual, individualistic art.

Götz Adriani tells Rousseau's strange life story: his petty bourgeois background, his attempts to establish himself as an independent artist after leaving the customs office, and his reaction to the derision with which his art was greeted in his own time. Adriani discusses the paradox that Rousseau had reactionary views about art and politics but was taken up by the French avant-garde. He describes Rousseau's particular brand of visual and conceptual realism and the way he set the exotic animals, figures, and plants of his dreams against the bland background of the Parisian suburbs. He explains Rousseau's contact with Alfred Jarry, Apollinaire, Picasso, and other artists of the Parisian avant- garde. Finally, he examines a selection of little-known and well-known paintings, provides details about their subjects, provenance, and reception, and shows how they influenced other artists.

World Of Henri Rousseau
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World Of Henri Rousseau
Y. Le Pichon
Manufacturer: Gramercy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Rousseau, Henri | ( P-R ) | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0517445859
Release Date: 1987-10-17

Dropping in on Rousseau (Dropping in On...)
Average customer rating:

Introduces young readers to memorable artistic treasures

Perfect Companion Book for the Video of the Same Title

Dropping in on Rousseau (Dropping in On...)
Pamela Geiger Stephens , and Jim McNeill
Manufacturer: Crystal Productions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Henri Rousseau's Jungle Book (Adventures in Art)

ASIN: 1562903039

Book Description

Join Puffer and artist Henri Rousseau in this engaging book that explores the life and work of self-trained artist Henri Rousseau. While the book is specific to the artwork of Rousseau, many of the descriptive, analytic, and interpretative skills that the book introduces can be applied when looking at other art objects.

Customer Reviews:

Introduces young readers to memorable artistic treasures.......2003-06-10

Pamela Geiger Stephens' Dropping In On Rousseau is an enjoyable and rather elegant picture book that blends the famous Rousseau's classic artworks with simple and engaging color illustrations by Jim McNeill. A bumbling Puffer flies into early twentieth-century Paris to meet the self-trained artist Rousseau, in this cleverly written and presented book that introduces young readers to memorable artistic treasures. Also very highly recommended is the sixteen minute VHS video of Dropping In On Rousseau (CP-6185, $$).

Perfect Companion Book for the Video of the Same Title.......2003-05-17

Have you ever visited an art museum and wondered what people were thinking as they stood for extended periods of time in front of a masterwork? Have you ever wondered what it was that you were missing that everyone else saw? "Dropping in on Rousseau" might be just what you need to help you better understand how to describe, analyze, and interpret works of art.

While "Dropping in on Rousseau" is specific to the artwork of the self-trained French artist, Henri Rousseau, many of the descriptive, analytic, and interpretative skills that the book introduces can be applied when looking at other art objects. Although the book is categorized as a book for children, the skills that it introduces and fosters are skills that could help adults as well as children learn to understand art better.

This is a book that belongs in every well-read child's home collection. It is a book that should be in every school library. Beautifully illustrated and well written," Dropping in on Rousseau" will appeal to children and adults; it is a perfect companion to the animated video of the same title.

Henri Rousseau's Jungle Book (Adventures in Art)
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Henri Rousseau's Jungle Book (Adventures in Art)
Doris Kutschbach
Manufacturer: Prestel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 379133302X

Book Description

In this delightful introduction to the art of Henri Rousseau children explore a tropical jungle while they learn about the colors and themes that make the artist's paintings masterpieces of deceptive simplicity. As a customs official, Henri Rousseau escaped the boredom of his job by creating colorful paintings of a fantastic dream world—a place where apes and lions cavort, snakes slither, flamingoes stroll, tigers hunt, and enigmatic figures entice unsuspecting visitors amid lush, tropical plants and flowers. This book draws children into Rousseau's most famous works, pointing out the many elements and symbols he incorporated, and helping them understand the use of perspective and color that were his trademarks. Biographical information reveals the importance the natural world played in Rousseau's life and the playful text encourages further investigation into the power of imagination and creativity.

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Henri Rousseau: Art for Children
Ernest Lloyd Raboff , and Henri Julien Felix Rousseau
Manufacturer: Trophy Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 006446069X

The banquet years;: The arts in France, 1885-1918: Alfred Jarry, Henri Rousseau, Erik Satie, Guillaume Apollinaire (Anchor books)

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The banquet years;: The arts in France, 1885-1918: Alfred Jarry, Henri Rousseau, Erik Satie, Guillaume Apollinaire (Anchor books)
Roger Shattuck
Manufacturer: DoubleDay
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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