From Publishers Weekly
Accompanying an exhibit at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Drawings and Prints, edited by Nadine M. Orenstein, features the lesser known works of this famous 16th-century Flemish artist. In the introduction and essays, seven scholars, including museum director Philippe de Montebello, Manfred Sellink, Michiel C. Plomp and the editor, explore diverse biographical and artistic craft issues e.g., all that is known for certain of Bruegel's life is that, though he painted peasants, and early biographers dubbed him the "`Peasant Bruegel,'" he was in fact an urban intellectual. The exhibit treats these drawings in a new light thanks to the "transformative insight" of the late Hans Mielke i.e., new attributions to Bruegel or his circle, such as a sketch formerly attributed to Hieronymous Bosch. The book features 274 illustrations (108 in color): Bruegel's 54 works alongside works by his colleagues, predecessors and successors.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Born a decade or so after the death of Hieronymus Bosch, his "spiritual father," Bruegel is just as much of an enigma. Orenstein and her contributors present what biographical information they can and then break new ground by focusing not on Bruegel's best-known works, his colorful, nearly cinematic paintings of peasant life, but on his extraordinary drawings, which evince an active passion for nature and landscape and a great talent for animated scenes of swarms of humans at work and play, as well as mysterious allegorical vignettes. A master draftsman, Bruegel made thousands of vibrant, detailed, and organic drawings, both true to life and highly imaginative, from which hundreds of engravings were made. Gorgeous works, these prints are clean and hard edged, with more contrast and less warmth than the originals, and their juxtaposition provides an illuminating study in visual translation. Not only does this impressive monograph reclaim a key facet of Bruegel's oeuvre, it reminds viewers how much emotional color a great artist can express with humble pen and paper.
Donna SeamanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
