Renoir, My Father (New York Review Books Classics)
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
Renoir, My Father (New York Review Books Classics) Details
Language Notes Text: English (translation) Original Language: French Read more About the Author Jean Renoir (1894–1979), the son of the painter Auguste Renoir, was born in Paris, grew up in the south of France, and served as a cavalryman and pilot during World War I. He directed his first film, La Fille de l’eau, in 1925 and followed it with many others, including his masterpieces Grand Illusion (1937) and The Rules of the Game (1939). In 1975 Jean Renoir received an Academy Award for his lifetime contribution to the cinema.Robert L. Herbert, after a long career at Yale, is now Andrew W. Mellon Professor Emeritus of Humanities at Mount Holyoke. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and has been named Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government. Among his books are Impressionism: Art, Leisure and Parisian Society, Nature’s Workshop: Renoir’s Writings on the Decorative Arts, and Seurat: Drawings and Paintings. His most recent book is Seurat and the Making of La Grande Jatte.Randolph Weaver translated several books from French into English. With Dorothy Weaver, he translated Renoir, My Father by Jean Renoir.Dorothy Weaver and Randolph Weaver translated Jean Renoir's Renoir, My Father, a memoir about his father, the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Read more
Reviews
As a memoir of interactions with his father, this is enjoyable; but please don't consider it a biography. I'm a lover of the whole Jean Renoir film library, which I have collected over the years, and, of course, Papa was a genius. Nevertheless, this is only for the truly committed. There is nothing of critical artistic content here, but many fond memories. I'm still waiting for an enjoyable biography of Auguste's early days of poverty, love affairs, and impressionist genius, but I haven't seen any to recommend. The extensive biography by Barbara White is a huge disappointment; mostly a collection of letters from his 40's on. The novel "Luncheon of the Boating Party" by Vreeland is terrific, though. Read this before your trip to the Phillips Collection in Washington!
