The lens of impressionism

"The Normany coast ... has long captured the interest of artists. Its seascapes are featured in the work of Impressionist masters Monet, Manet and Boudin. Its seafaring life is well-documented in the work of writers such as Victor Hugo and Guy de Maupassant. Through a stunning selection of paintings, photographs and drawings, [this work] argues that a unique convergence of forces - social, artistic, technological and commercial - along the Normandy coast impacted the development of early Impressionism and made Normandy a nexus for photographers and the avant-garde painters of the late nineteenth century ... The framing dates are 1850, when artists began photographing in Normandy ... and 1874, the year in which Claude Monet's painting Impression :Sunrise was exhibited ... The Lens of Impressionism explores the dialogue between the two media and the backdrop against which both evolved"--Publisher's description.