Guy Cogeval

This work traces the artists and photographers who--whether fascinated or repelled by prostitution in all its forms--captured the realities and fantasies of this ambiguous world. From the scandalous Olympia by Manet to Degas's The Absinthe Drinker, from Toulouse-Lautrec and Munch's forays into brothels to the bold figures and caricature portraits of Rouault, van Dongen, and Picasso, this book foregrounds how the shadowy domain of prostitution played a central role in the development of modern painting. In nine chapters, these paintings, sculptures, lithographs, sketches, photographs, and press clippings are given context within the moral framework of an era when prostitution was considered an unavoidable--or enticing--evil, powerfully evoking the ambivalent place held by prostitutes in the midst of nascent modernity, from the splendours of the demimondaines to the miseries of the working-girl pierreuses.

Renowned for his intimate scenes of domestic life, Edouard Villard (1868-1940) was one of the great Post-Impressionist artists, yet relatively little has been published about him. This copiously illustrated book covers all of Vuillard's work and explores his association with a number of important stylistic movements, such as the Nabis, Syntheism and Symbolism. Extracts from his early journals, and letters between the artist and his contemporaries, such as Pierre Bonnard and Maurice Denis, complete this authoritative study, which will be of great interest and lasting appeal to all fans of Post-Impressionist painting.