Annotated Bibliography
Anderson, Janice. A Renoir. 1st ed. Chicago: Parragon Book Service Limited, 1994.
In this book, Janice Anderson reviews Renoir’s development as he aged and progressedin painting. She gives a brief overview of Renoir’s life history as well as how Renoir promoted
himself and his fellow artists. She reviews Renoir’s later years in brief and the artists that
would come to admire his work and carry his ideas and techniques into the next era of art.
Anderson observes Renoir’s works, but mainly discusses the objects within the painting rather
than their technicalities. She overviews Renoir’s work in a vague way, not giving more than a
paragraph or so on each painting. However, Anderson gives the reader insights as to Renoir’s
personal and occupational disposition at the time. This source is useful from an non-artistic
perspective. These ‘captions’ to the painting offer a peer into the lifestyle behind his paintings
and for whom they are painting rather than an analysis of Renoir’s technique and a more
formal background of his subjects.
Bade, Patrick. Renoir : Masterworks. 1st ed. New York: Gramercy, 1989.
Patrick Bade in the book Renoir : Masterworks describes Renoir with respect to other master
Western artists. He claims that Renoir’s work is the most accessible to a wide range of people.
He says his art appeals to the aesthete and the scholar just as it did to the American
millionaire art collectors who collected his work at the beginning of the 20th century. Bade
also describes Renoir’s work in a subjective manner; he claims Renoir may be described as a
realist and he is not an artist to shock, disturbed or protest, or even make the viewer think.
Bade describes Renoir as an artist that simply wishes to celebrate the beauty and pleasures of
life. Bade points out that Renoir never painted the parts of Paris that were tainted by industry
and pollution and painted agreeable pastimes like eating, dancing, boating, and sex in its
most innocent and untroubled form. The introduction gives a partly modest biography of
Renoir including Renoir’s study at the studio of Swiss master Charles Gleyre. Bade also
covers his friends and fellow artists and how they worked together, aided, and influenced
each other’s artwork. This source would be used in my research paper by analyzing snippets
of his life, his friends, as well as Bade’s opinion and analysis of Renoir’s work. This source
would be useful based on Bade’s opinion and analysis of Renoir work.
Pach, Walter. Renoir. 1st ed. Danbury: Harry N. Abrams , Incorporated, 1983.
In this book, Walter Pach covers the interviewing process with Renoir. He discusses the everyday with Renoir, including his bouts of arthritic pain. Pach briefly reviews Renoir’s life
and his apprenticeship, as well as his artistic studies. Pach also discusses Renoir’s marriage
with Aline Charigot. Pach also reviews the influences of Renoir, including those he adored
and studied as well as living artists he had worked with. Pach analyzes several of Renoir’s
paintings and compares him to other artists and how other artists perceived similar subject
matter. Pach analyzes the paintings in two different ways. In one way, he analyzes it in an
opinionated manner but in another he analyzes the paintings in a very technical manner.
This source could prove useful in my paper as another source of analysis of Renoir’s work as
I will use this source to provide a more intimate look into Renoir’s later years.
Renoir, Jean. Renoir, my Father. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1958.
This book is written by Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s son, Jean Pierre. It is a personal reminiscence of Renoir’s life and his work and gives detail on the events of his life that
greatly influenced the style or Renoir’s work. This source is not only useful to have such
accurate, personal report, but it also lends creditability to other sources that state and claim
similar events. This would allow insight for readers in more depth and on a more intimate
level with Renoir and how his life influenced his work and his thoughts. Jean Renoir talks
about his father’s personal relationships with his wife, his housemaids, and his fellow
painters. He also talks in depth about Renoir’s opinion of major and influential people in his
life. This information is priceless in incorporating an unbiased overview of Renoir. I will use
this source to read Renoir’s letters, both sent and received, as well as read personal quotes of
Renoir and his deepest thoughts is a wealth of information that provides depth to otherwise
superficial research. I can use this information for a variety of information to use in my paper.
Renoir, Pierre-August. Authors By themselves. Ed. Rachel Barnes. 1st ed. USA: Alfred A.
Knopf, 1990. In this book, Rachel Barnes writes an introduction talking about Renoir and includes small
unknown details about his life. She also quotes Renoir when he says, “I think I’m at last
beginning to understand something about it” in reference to his life’s passion. She
claims that Renoir is one of the best known and loved of all painters. She also states that he is
reproduced ubiquitously and his effortless charm, his sunbathed vision of human life, ever
joyful and optimistic, have appealed over time to connoisseurs and the more casual observer
alike. She also talkes about how Renoir was inspired by Fragonard and Boucher who are
Rococco painters. There is also mention of Renoir’s earlier jobs and how he developed his
technique for painting. Rachel Barnes mentions the friendships Renoir had with Alfred Sisley,
Jean Frederic Bazille and Claude Monet as well as the deepening friendship he had with
Monet. After the introduction, the book contains letters and excerpts written by Pierre-Auguste
Renoir himself about his works and his reactions to public opinion of his paintings. This
source could prove useful in my paper through Renoir’s personal opinion on his work, and
being able to contrast it to those of art analyst and critics in a time after Renoir’s own.
Rouart, Dennis. Renoir. New York, NY: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1985.
In Dennis Rouart’s book, he describes Renoir as a professional and a master of art with more than just a talent for painting. He describes Renoir as an individual with a mind greater
than the depth and skill of his paintings. He states, “If ever an artist stood aloof from theories
and ideas, that artist was Renoir.” He also states, “With his indistinctive distrust of abstraction,
Renoir was led to regard his art as a form of manual labor.” He discusses Renoir’s negative
opinion of formal art training, especially that of the Ecole des Beau-Arts. Rouart comments
that all of Renoir’s life, especially his later years, Renoir grew increasingly concerned with
evolving methods of work that would ensure his canvases against deterioration. This shows
that Renoir was not only concerned at preserving his art to remain beautiful, but to remain
long after he is gone for several generations to adore. This source is not only useful from a
biographical standpoint, but also includes how the Impressionist movement evolved because
of Renoir’s work aside from personal analysis of the paintings.
