Wholesale Light

A remarkable exploration of the use of light in art from the last 200 years Light has been an enduring subject in art. In every conceivable media, artists have exploited the contrasts between light and dark, opposed cool and warm colors, drawn on science, and attempted to capture the transient effects of light and its emotional associations. This book explores how artists have perceived, illustrated, and utilized light since the 18th century. Beginning with the British artist J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851), who captured triumphant explosions of light and sought to represent its ephemerality in paint, the book reveals how his expressive use of color and interest in evanescent light influenced the French Impressionists. For them, light became the subject itself, as the likes of Claude Monet (1840–1926), Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919), Alfred Sisley (1839–99), and others ventured outside to capture the momentary effects of sunlight on canvas.