SALUT! Book Review — French Art in Philadelphia’s Culture

Paintings of waterlilies, gardens of wildflowers, charming towns, and calm rivers fill the pages. Ephemeral concepts of beauty and youth inspired these French artists to paint girls on swing sets in abundant gardens and young women tranquilly reading novels in sunlit rooms. With over 150 photos of paintings and sculptures, Salut! by Lynn Miller and Therese Dolan allows us to explore the relationship between French art and Philadelphia. As we see paintings with lush, ranging brush strokes, we read about the histories and diverse backgrounds of French and Philadelphian painters and their techniques.

We discover that portraiture and history paintings dominated the colonial American art scene, but American artists such as Edward Redfield created impressionist paintings depicting French quaint towns and the Seine. In his work, France, we see a snowy village glow beneath the golden lampposts. We feel a sense of warmth as we imagine the pedestrians rush into a homely pub after walking outside in the snow. In another Redfield painting, Evening on the Seine, we see a ship cruise the River Seine as the sun sets in a multicolor sky, with waves sparkling under the fading light.

Later in the Moving into Modernism chapter of Salut!, we learn about intricate floral paintings by artists including Van Gogh, Monet, and Garber. As light pours into the room, we feel our moods brighten at the sight of what are, in this writer’s opinion, blissful paintings. Further in the chapter, we see more artists develop modernist styles as they create darker paintings of women draped in elegant dresses in French bars and restaurants.

SALUT! Explores the Political Significance in Philadelphia’s Art

In the streets of Philly, French-influenced gilded, bronze-cast, and golden art reflects the grandeur surrounding French art and the historical emphasis on freedom and liberty in both Philadelphia and France. The bronze sculpture of Lion Crushing a Serpent, which can be found in Rittenhouse Square, is a powerful figure of a snarling lion with a dying snake suffering in its paw. As the bronze-cast beast defeats the languishing serpent, Salut! explains the political strength and significance of this work of outdoor art to us.

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Price (Hardcover): $40.00
Order the book at the Temple University Press website.

First slider images are L'Éstaque, Melting Snow by Paul Cézanne and A Bar at the Folies-Bergère by Édouard Manet

Images courtesy of Salut!