In concert with the reopening of the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) to the public, this edition coincides with the debut exhibition at the newly restored and expanded museum. The striking, full-color illustrations and fascinating albumen and salt prints augment the detailed study of a location and nineteenth-century timeframe that was instrumental in the way painting and other art forms were produced. Within this context, the argument is forged that a novel set of dynamics - social, artistic, scientific, and economic - was the catalyst for a change in the rendering of art, specifically, early Impressionism.

This rising school of thought renewed and revolutionized the direction painting, drawing, and photography carved out, the foundation and starting point being the Normandy coastline with all its beauty and uniqueness.