The de Young is not the only local museum feeling Impressionist fever. This past weekend, the Legion of Honor opened their Impressionist Paris: City of Light exhibition which explores various aspects of life in and around the city in which the great Impressionist artists came of age.
Designed as an accompaniment to the Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay show at the de Young, the Legion exhibiton features 180 prints, drawings, photographs, paintings, and illustrated books dating from 1850 to the early 1900s from the outstanding permanent collection of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, as well as several distinguished private collections.
“It is conceived as a journey from the dark alleys of ‘Old Paris,’ at the dawn of the Impressionist era, to a world of color and light, culminating in a gallery of vibrant French posters from the turn of the 20th century,” according to Curator James Ganz.
Picturesque views of the narrow streets and stone bridges of old Paris by Charles Marville, Charles Meryon, and Johan Barthold Jongkind give way to colorful images of modern Parisian life, with Edgar Degas, Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, and Georges Seurat offering public and private views of the bustling metropolis.
Impressionist Paris: City of Light runs at the Legion of Honor Museum until September 26, 2010.
Sarah B.