In Montmartre

March 16, 2015
Montmartre, the hillside district of northern Paris, lay at the heart of an emerging modernism at the turn of the 20th century, as aptly depicted in this new book by Roe (The Private Lives of the Impressionists). Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, André Derain, Gertrude Stein, Marcel Proust, and other famous modernists lived, worked, and congregated within its neighborhood cafes, bars, and studios. Roe painstakingly depicts Montmartre’s cultural and political history as well as the “distinctive melancholy” and beauty of its windmills, vineyards that “covered the steep slopes,” and artists painting at easels along the dirt roads, as well as the crumbling buildings and dilapidated shacks that housed both the poor laborers and artists looking for cheap rents. Although the book primarily revolves around Picasso’s life and work, it involves much more than painting, including the pioneering creations of fashion designer Paul Poiret and the frenzied arrival of modern dance with the Ballets Russes. Roe also provides insights into new methods of experimentation in artistic expression, including the emergence of Futurism. Roe’s accessible prose creates intimate portraits of an array of characters, but this is above all a vibrant illustration of a specific place in time. Agent: Gill Coleridge, Rogers, Coleridge & White (U.K.).

February 15, 2015
The history of a revolutionary decade in modern art.Art historian Roe (The Private Lives of the Impressionists, 2006, etc.) investigates the intersection of lives and cross-fertilization of the arts in Montmartre, beginning in 1900, when Picasso first arrived, and ending in 1911, when radical reconstruction began in the storied neighborhood of shacks and cafes. Her colorful narrative includes scores of painters and the gallery owners who promoted them; dancers, such as the Duncan siblings, Nijinsky and Serge Lifar; fashion designers Paul Poiret and Charles Worth; and a host of writers, notably Gertrude Stein, Apollinaire and Max Jacob. Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Derain and Vlaminck take center stage, but as in Roger Shattuck's classic The Banquet Years (1955), many others populate the scene. Because Roe draws on histories of the period and biographies of the major figures, much information may be familiar to readers: Picasso's painting of Stein's portrait, for example; his rivalry with Matisse; Matisse's marital problems; and artists' discovery of African art. Roe contends that Picasso first found ethnic sculpture "disgusting; they reminded him of the fusty old bits of bric-a-brac for sale at the flea market." African art came to influence him intensely, but Roe hardly explains why other than to suggest that the artifacts "made him think about-perhaps even identify with-the people who had made them and their motives for doing so." The author is strongest in conveying social history: the gritty reality of the Bateau-Lavoir, with its "creaking floorboards beaten by winter storms and splintered by summer heat," where many artists made their homes; the intricate ballet of their friendships and romantic liaisons; their frustrations in exhibiting and selling their work. Although Roe has created an informed and graceful narrative, fresh sources or insights would have greatly enriched the book.

May 1, 2015

The Montmartre section of Paris was a special place in the first decade of the 20th century. There, a rich cross-section of fine artists from Spain, Italy, Russia, America, and of course, France, gathered to be inspired and create. Two of the giants of 20th-century modernist art, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, began their careers at Montmartre. The stories behind their development, as well as that of other renowned modernists such as Andre Derain, Maurice Vlaminck, Marie Laurencin, and Amedeo Modigliani are recounted as well as the artistic culture of Montmartre in general, in which the origins of fauvism, cubism, and futurism were sown. In addition, the interactions of these artists with collectors such as author Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) and her brothers Leo and Michael are also chronicled along with the development of couturier Paul Poiret and the activities of other art dealers and writers who lived in this section of Paris at the time. Roe (Private Lives of the Impressionists) shows how the work of these struggling artists in Montmartre provided the basis for the modern art forms that would unfold as the 20th century progressed. VERDICT While drawing on some academic sources, this book is written in lively narrative prose that is more appropriate for general readers than scholars.--Sandra Rothenberg, Framingham State Coll. Lib., MA

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2015
Roe continues the story of Paris as art incubator that she launched so vibrantly in her best-selling The Private Lives of Impressionists (2006). Her second group biography spans the decade between 1900 and 1910, when, responding to the rapid rise of photography and movies, painters began seeking new, more personally expressive forms of art liberated from the chore of imitating life. The emerging avant-garde, including Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Andre Derain, and Maurice Vlaminck, gravitated to colorful, earthy, shabby, illicit, hilly Montmartre, where they were inspired by its windmills, dives, circus performers, seamstresses, petty criminals, and prostitutes, spontaneity and melancholy. Roe vividly and with fresh interpretation tells the concurrent tales of these subversive innovators, paying especially close attention to the two legendary rivals, Picasso and Matisse, while also incisively portraying Picasso's muse, Fernande Olivier, and, most intriguingly, the marvelously renegade Marie Laurencin, the only prominent Montmartre woman artist. Roe explicates the profound effect African art had on the group, the impetus for Fauvism and cubism, andas she profiles fashion designer Paul Poiret, writer and art collector Gertrude Stein, and Diaghilev of the Ballets Russesthe ardent cross-pollination between the arts and popular culture from which flowered modernist art. Roe's illuminating work of extensive research, fruitful analysis, and ardent narration profoundly deepens our understanding of and appreciation for this crucial artistic enclave.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)