Book excerpt: "Between 1870 and 1910 the burgeoning populations and hectic speed of life in London and Paris fascinated artists on both sides of the English Channel. French artists such as Edgar Degas and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec pioneered new ways of representing city life, profoundly influencing many British artists." "This publication examines the exciting and controversial exchange of pictorial and aesthetic ideas that took place as British art adapted to modernity, and explores the rich interplay between the making, exhibiting and collecting of new figurative art." "The pivotal figures in this cross-cultural dialogue are Degas, hailed in Britain as a genius; Sickert, whose Degas-inspired art explored the gritty, urban side of modern life; and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, whose largest one-man show was staged in Regent Street, London. Works by these and other key artists, including Vuillard, Bonnard, Tissot, Whistler, Steer and Rothenstein, involved society portraiture and posters, scenes of the street and public entertainment, creating evocative images of the decadence and spectacle of the fin-de-siecle metropolis."--BOOK JACKET.