Review: A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition

A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition by Ernest Hemingway
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is sort of in the style of "Memoirs of Montparnasse", and in fact there is quite a bit of overlap in terms of people mentioned. In fact, this can tie into Giacometti biography (although no overlap of people as far as I can tell), or even Sue Roe's "In Montmarte". Regardless, it's always fun to read about Paris during this era, so much more so when written by Hemingway.

There are many curious parts, like how he keeps repeatings that Ernest Walsh was "marked for death". I'm not sure what that meant. Curious also to see how nice he finds Ezra Pound (although Gertrude Stein seems to hate him), but how much he seems to hate Ford Maddox Ford (always complaining about his breath). Also, the digs at F. Scott Fitzgerald didn't seem very becoming (even more so the digs at his wife). But then again, Hemingway never claims to be the nicest person, and seems quite unapologetic about it.

View all my reviews

Review: In Montmartre: Picasso, Matisse and the Birth of Modernist Art

In Montmartre: Picasso, Matisse and the Birth of Modernist Art by Sue Roe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This basically reads like a sequel to the book "The Private Lives of the Impressionists". So much so, in fact, that I'm embarrassed to say I didn't realize it was the same author until after finishing the book. Essentially, Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, Georges Braque, Henri Rousseau, Gertrude Stein, and even Igor Stravinsky, picked up the baton from the impressionists. Once again, this was a group of very poor artists who were hanging around Montmartre (in many of the same cafes as the impressionists), trying to find their way in art. 

The focus of this book is Picasso and Matisse, and their on-off rivalry, but it ends up encompassing the entire Montmartre scene, basically until the windmills are taken down and the scene moves down to Montparnasse (and I see she has a sequel of sorts here as well: "In Montparnasse: The Emergence of Surrealism in Paris, from Duchamp to Dali"). 

Regardless, once again I found the book excellent, enlightening, and I found myself having to look up many of the paintings mentioned by the author, as well as places I plan on visiting the next time I'm in Paris. 

View all my reviews