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Sebastian Smee Books

1 book·~10 min total read

Sebastian Smee is an Australian-born art critic and author. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2011 for his work at The Boston Globe and has written extensively on modern and contemporary art.

Known for: The Art of Rivalry: Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art

Books by Sebastian Smee

The Art of Rivalry: Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art

The Art of Rivalry: Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art

art_history·10 min read

The Art of Rivalry explores the complex relationships between pairs of modern artists—Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, and Edgar Degas and Édouard Manet. Through these intertwined stories, Sebastian Smee reveals how friendship and competition fueled their creativity and shaped the course of modern art.

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Degas and Manet: The Realist’s Push and Pull

In Paris of the late 19th century, the friendship between Edgar Degas and Édouard Manet represented a turning point in the story of realism. Both sought truth in everyday life, yet they approached that truth through different temperaments. I aimed to show how Degas, the meticulous observer of moveme...

From The Art of Rivalry: Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art

2

Matisse and Picasso: Color and Form in Combat

When Matisse and Picasso entered each other’s orbit in the early 20th century, modern art was still finding its vocabulary. Their meeting in Paris initiated one of the greatest rivalries—yet also collaborations—in art history. Matisse was calm, deliberate, a master of color as a vehicle for serenity...

From The Art of Rivalry: Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art

About Sebastian Smee

Sebastian Smee is an Australian-born art critic and author. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2011 for his work at The Boston Globe and has written extensively on modern and contemporary art. Smee is known for his insightful and accessible writing that bridges the gap between artists and au...

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Sebastian Smee is an Australian-born art critic and author. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2011 for his work at The Boston Globe and has written extensively on modern and contemporary art. Smee is known for his insightful and accessible writing that bridges the gap between artists and audiences.

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Sebastian Smee is an Australian-born art critic and author. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2011 for his work at The Boston Globe and has written extensively on modern and contemporary art.

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