Choice Review
This book describes the exceptional collection of the Swiss industrialist E.G. Buhrle. Although the artworks traverse much time and many periods of style, there persists throughout a consistent inclination toward classicism. From the 18th-century Tiepolo to the 20th-century Kokoschka most of the diverse company of artists offer their most proper demeanor--a group alive with talent yet refraining from excess. The advantage of this selectiveness is that one sees works possibly not seen before--a Matisse more concerned with natural perspective than color and design, a Picasso that seems to demonstrate just how contained his extravagance can be. Buhrle seems to have sought out the tentative, the respectful of tradition in even the most inventive artist. Whether the artist was hesitating on the threshold of full commitment or accepting rest and solace within his art (witness the tender peace of Manet's final works), in these artworks there seems almost always to have been an honorable retreat within the talent that turns out a treasure. The accompanying commentaries are especially helpful in placing a work within the life events that formed its boundaries. Reproductions are of excellent caliber and give some unforeseen detail enlargements. The index arrangement gives provenance, notes, and bibliography together for each work. An instructive and fascinating addition to any art library. -C. Pascoe, College of Mount Saint Vincent
Library Journal Review
This book, and the exhibition that it accompanies, honors the 100th birthday of E.G. Buhrle and his impressive collecting skills, which led to his amassing the third largest private collection in the world. The 85 paintings selected for the exhibition are all reproduced here in beautiful color illustrations, with many enlarged details, that attest to the Swiss industrialist's superb connoisseurship in purchasing exquisite works of art. Though Buhrle's interests grew to include artists as early as Frans Hals and Canaletto and as late as Picasso, Frans Marc, Kandinsky, and Kokoschka, Impressionist paintings form the core of the collection, with significant holdings of Manet, Degas, Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, and Cezanne. Each painting is accompanied by a signed, one-page essay. This is a fine addition for most libraries and will be of interest to laypersons and scholars alike.--Lynell A. Morr, John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art Lib., Sarasota, Fla. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
