"The Age of Impressionism describes not so much a style as a dazzling assembly of individuals who shared a common urge to create something new--something unacademic, realist rather than romantic, recording immediate visual impressions. Some artists were devoted to outdoor painting: Monet, Pissarro, Sisley--whereas Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec preferred to stay indoors with their dancers and laundresses; and Renoir's taste was for pretty women in either setting...This lucid guide containing 83 full-color illustrations embraces every significant direction in the age we now chiefly associate in art with Impressionism."--inside flap.