Book excerpt: "Encounters with modern life: a painter's impressions of modernity - Delacroix, citizen of the 19th century, Michele Hannoosh. Second Empire impressions: curiosite, John House-- on his knees to the past? Gautier, Ingres and forms of modern art, James Kearns-- "Le peintre de la vie moderne" and "La peinture de la vie ancienne", Paul Smith. Innovating forms: matter for reflexion - 19th-century French art critics' quest for modernity in sculpture, David Scott-- visual display in the realist novel - "l'aventure du style"-- dirt and desire - troubled waters in realist practice, Alan Krell. Modernity and identity: the dancer as woman - Loie Fuller and Stephanie Mallarme, Dee Reynolds-- the "atelier" novel - painters as fiction, Joy Newton-- to move the eye - impressionism, symbolism and well-being, circa 1891, Richard Schiff." (résumééditeur)