Snapshot Painters and Photography, Bonnard to Vuillard Elizabeth W. Easton, Clement Cheroux, Michel Frizot, Todd Gustavson, Francoise Heilbrun, Ellen Wardwell Lee, Anne McCauley, Saskia Ooms, Katia Poletti, Eliza E. Rathbone

The advent of the Kodak camera in 1888 made photography accessible to amateurs as well as to professionals. Artists were not immune to its allure, and many began experimenting with the camera as a means of capturing images as studies for final works and of observing the world and the people in it.

Snapshot investigates seven Post-Impressionist painters and printmakers: Pierre Bonnard, George Hendrik Breitner, Maurice Denis, Henri Evenepoel, Henri Riviere, Felix Vallotton, and Edouard Vuillard. Although celebrated for their works on canvas and paper, these artists also made many personal and informal snapshots. Depicting a wide range of subjects, including interiors, city streets, nudes, and portraits, these photographs were kept private and were never exhibited. As a result, they have received little attention, and most have never been published.

Juxtaposing personal photographs with the related paintings and prints by these Post-Impressionist artists, Snapshot offers a new perspective on the story of early photography and on the synthesis of painting and photography at the end of the 19th century.

More about this title

• Winner of the 2012 New York Book Show Award in the 'Special Trade Photography Book Award' category.
• Received an honorable mention at the 2011 George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award given by the Art Libraries Society of North America.

Elizabeth Easton is the cofounder and director of the Center for Curatorial Leadership. Clement Cheroux is a photographic historian and curator of the photographic collection at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Michel Frizot is professor of the history of photography at the Ecole du Louvre, Paris. Todd Gustavson is curator of technology at the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY. Francoise Heilbrun is the head curator of photography at the Musee d'Orsay. Ellen W. Lee is chief curator at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Anne McCauley is David Hunter McAlpin Professor of the History of Photography and Modern Art at Princeton University. Saskia Ooms works at Netwerk, a center for contemporary Art in Belgium. Katia Poletti is conservator at the Fondation Felix Vallotton. Eliza Rathbone is chief curator of the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. Hans Rooseboom is curator of photography at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

"An essential contribution to Photography’s history."— Jackie Wullschlager, The Financial Times

"If you enjoyed the RA’s Degas show, this book is a must... Shots of street scenes and interiors, family, nudes and portraits are juxtaposed with related works so the reader can see how the photograph informed artists' work."—RA Magazine

Page spreads