Hitting the Books with Gary Thorne: "In Montmartre: Picasso, Matisse and Modernism in Paris, 1900-10"

In this edition of "Hitting the Books," we take a look at Sue Roe's "In Montmartre: Picasso, Matisse and Modernism in Paris, 1900-1910," a work depicting the scene in Montmartre outside Paris during a time when the giants of modernist painting were creating a new class of canvas work.

Centered on Picasso and Matisse, this is a "feel the scene" book. Montmartre was a shabby area with the low rents that these new artists could afford. It had the cobblestone streets, the facades that would make art history and the cabaret nightlife the artists seemed to love.

The author says there is no answer as to why this collection of artists ended up here. The established Paris art community often dismissed their works, but the artists found a communal atmosphere, at times combative and always competitive, under which they thrived.

Roe gives you the feel of this competition, often voiced into into the early-morning hours in the cafes, with plenty of liquids to loosen the tongue.

Much has been written of these artists and this time and place. Roe does not seek to detail the characters so much as to let us peek into their lives about the neighborhood.

We see the significant others who come and go, impacting the artists' works and moving through this community of expression.

We also see those who come with the money and/or fame to take the artwork out of Montmartre and begin the process of creating the modernists' impact worldwide - and the art prices to go with it.

The history and the names are in this book, but it's the sense of this place and these people that linger after the read. It's a nice lingering.

"No one is good; no one is evil; everyone is both, in the same way and in different ways. ... It is so small a thing, the life of a man, and yet there is time to do great things, fragments of the common task." ― Paul Gaugin

Gary Thorne is the play-by-play voice of the Orioles on MASN, and the 2016 season is his 10th with the club and 31st covering Major League Baseball. His blog will appear regularly throughout the season. The Orioles and Sarasota County have partnered on the Big League Reader Program, which rewarded kids who read three books in February with tickets to a Grapefruit League game at Ed Smith Stadium in March.

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