Poverty, however, didn't bother these artists; instead they drew comfort from an inner zeal, convinced that deep down they were actively creating a new world.At the beginning of the century, Montmartre was home to a historically unrivalled congregation of artists, painters, poets, writers and musicians. Their work was at the centre of a revolution in the arts, in particular, the art of painting.
Cafles and cabarets lined the 'grands boulevards' down be- low. halfway up the hill was the dance-floor of the celebra- ted moulin de la galette. on the wind-swept summit stood the bateau-lavoir. at different times, montmartre was home to such diverse geniuses as manet, degas, renoir, toulouse- cautrec, steinlen, seurat, bonnard, van gogh, cezanne, vandongen, picasso, modigliani, dufy, severini and countless others. greatvisionary painters who had an ineradicable impact on the modern imagination.the debates that raged in the caffe de la nouvelles-athenes, the literary ambitions of the regu~rs at the chat noir cabaret, the brazen dancers of themoulin rouge, the young working girls dressed up in their sunday best, theacrobats at the fernando circus, the pranks and jokes dreamt up at the lapinagile, so many sources of inspiration that have guaranteed montmartre itsplace in the history of art. over the course of several decades, this formervillage was the scene of a perpetual revolution in the art of painting.this book tells the story of the artists who chose tolive there, through the pattern of their dally lives andthe masterpieces hey created.
Foreword
ONNWARD TO FREEDOM!
AN AESTHETIC REVOLUTiON ON THE GRANDS BOULEVARDS
A Studio in the Batignolles District
Dots and Colours
Bohemian Life at The Chat Noir
Lautrec: From Painting to Posters
The Prophesies of the Revue Blanche
THREE STUDIES IN GENIUS
Renoir's Radical Technique
CEzanne's Solitary Path
From Van Gogh to Vincent
MONTMARTRE, A BOHEMIAN HIDEAWAY
A Wild Beast from Holland
Cubism takes over the Bateau-Lavoir
A New Generation of Nighthawks
The Futurist Eruption
Post-war Successors
MONIMARIRE: A BRIEF HISIORY
A WAlK THEROUGH ARTISTIC MONTMARIRE
INDEX
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PHTOP CREDTIS