The Art of Rivalry

Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art

By: Sebastian Smee

Narrated by: Bob Souer

Rivalry is at the heart of some of the most famous and fruitful relationships in history. The Art of Rivalry follows eight celebrated artists, each linked to a counterpart by friendship, admiration, envy, and ambition. All eight are household names today. But to achieve what they did, each needed the influence of a contemporary - one who was equally ambitious but who possessed sharply contrasting strengths and weaknesses. Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas were close associates whose personal bond frayed after Degas painted a portrait of Manet and his wife. Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso swapped paintings, ideas, and influences as they jostled for the support of collectors like Leo and Gertrude Stein and vied for the leadership of a new avant-garde. Jackson Pollock's uninhibited style of "action painting" triggered a breakthrough in the work of his older rival, Willem de Kooning. Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon met in the early 1950s, when Bacon was being hailed as Britain's most exciting new painter and Freud was working in relative obscurity. Their intense but asymmetrical friendship came to a head when Freud painted a portrait of Bacon, which was later stolen.

©2016 Sebastian Smee (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"This ambitious and impressive work is an utterly absorbing read about four important relationships in modern art." ( Publishers Weekly Starred Review)

Fun look at art

Really engaging look at several artists, nice jumping off point to learn about some new artists.

Interesting stories

It was an interesting book with collection of artists rivalries however not as insightful as I had hope, more of a collection of book I have already read.

Artists are people too.

The book itself:

When we think of artists whose acclaim we now take for granted, some of which completely changed the course of modern art, it's hard to imagine the kind of challenges and periods of great doubt that they experienced before fully developing their work. The author sympathetically looks at a rather human side of these people who became greater than life. He chooses four couples of painters who influenced each other as friends, but also as rivals: Francis Bacon and Lucien Freud, Manet and Degas, Matisse and Picasso, Pollock and de Kooning. The book is very accessible and fascinating from start to finish.

The narration:

I can't say that I'm a fan of Bob Souer's work here. He's competent at reading in English, but makes a mess whenever he reads in other languages, especially French, and there's quite a bit of it. It's nearly comical how unintelligible his pronunciation turns out. He even manages to read incorrectly a simple name like Gonzalez, placing the accent in the last syllable, which is annoying when done repeatedly. Also, although his English is very clear, I find his monotone style very boring. It reminds me of old, black and white documentaries that feel quite dated. I suppose it's a matter of taste. Luckily, the book is interesting enough that I remained engaged despite these issues.

Bad Behavior Mixed with Bad Narration

Four sets of artists living in different time periods but very much alike in their narcissism and selfishness, who expected that they had the right to do and say anything they pleased because of their talent. Some, like Jackson Pollock, seemed to even hate themselves but weren’t content to just destroy themselves but often took others with them. A strange sort of arrogance.

The pronunciation of artists, salons and methods by the narrator was terrible. How many different ways can he mispronounce Ingre in one chapter? Note to future readers: spend time learning correct pronunciations; it de-legitimizes you when you don’t, is distracting and brings down the quality of the author’s work.

Better read than listen

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to these so interesting stories but missed the 'real book' to look at the illustrations and to catch up on the many details and names.
While Bob Souer is an excellent narrator I felt unhappy with the pronunciation of foreign names.

Masterful storytelling

Smee brings art history to life with brilliant stories about these breakthrough artists supporting and competing with one another. I was compelled to go online to study the artwork throughout this audio book. Bravo!

Bob Souer's French pronunciation is atrocious.

I found the story and writing well-researched and engaging. Bob Souer's reading was excellent with the exception of his French words and phrases, of which there were many in the book. He was so far off in his guesses, and inconsistent that I had to look the names up elsewhere. It was laughable for example when the "Salon d'Automne" was read as "Salon de Thon" which means the Salon of Tuna.

Great Book!

As a painter ,this is wonderful insight to the modern art ,abstract world of the 20th centenary. I will listen more than just once or twice to this book. I will also buy the book to have in my personal library.

Death by bob souer

The book is interesting enough as a historical account of various artistic frenemies, but the narration is so bland and ugly that it kills any lyrical flow inherent in the stories. Bob Souer needs to learn how to pronounce foreign words— he waged an aural attack, with non-English terms as his weapons. Boo!

great read

lovely book. open my understanding about some very important life lessons in art. Thank you