Monet And Impressionism Essay
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"Manet and His Influence on Impressionism"
In 1832 Manet was born and the art world was never to be the same again. He was considered a rebel for much of his career, yet his genius can scarcely be ignored. Even as a young art student under the tutelage of Couture, Manet was at odds with the traditional way of learning and doing things. His art teacher is quoted as saying that Manet should set up a school of his own (Adler 18). Manet would later be considered one of the founders of Impressionism. His break with the traditional forms and rhetoric of painting caused his work to be unfavorably received at times, nonetheless, his contributions cannot be ignored. Degas makes the comment of his friend Manet, after his death "We did not know he was this great"(Schneider 7). By all appearances Manet did not seem to be likely to cause such a revolution in painting. In his quest for spontaneity and the search for the heroism of modern life, Manet rejects the old notions of the past and forges into new territory that most of his contemporaries did not understand. Many of his most outstanding works were ridiculed by his colleagues and scarcely appreciated, some works were outright scandalous. The frigid reception that his painting Olympia received was evidenced in the fact that it treated the subject matter in a way that too bold for public at the time. Yet, throughout his career Manet wished to be praised and receive acclaim for his work. His friend Baudelaire once wrote to Manet that even someone as great as Wagner was laughed at and ridiculed at one time or another and that public opinion should affect him so much. Manet's time eventually came when he was awarded the chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
Manet was able to tear down the old attitudes toward art. His treatment of subjects in his work was to bring a sense of immediacy to them as opposed to the heroic style of painting, with its dramatic lighting and dark colors, that was in practice at the time. Also, he was able to cause a fundamental shift in the way that painting was seen. Until Manet's time painting was seen as a window to the world, in its realistic treatment of subjects and the idealized version of beauty represented on canvas, Manet was able to transcend this with his approach of seeing the canvas as a sort of laboratory where colors could mingle and produce startling new images, where the subject was not as important as the shapes and textures that the paint could produce. Manet is considered the first to venture into this area and later was to become a significant influence to future generations of Impressionists. This break with tradition gives us the first serious step towards the abstraction of art that has culminated itself in some of the more extreme forms of today's abstract modern art. Thus, the words of his early teacher ring true when he said to Manet to start a school of his own.
Some of the pieces that will be examined will be Dante and Virgil in Hell, The Absinthe Drinker, Picnic on the Grass, Olympia, and The Execution of Emperor Maximillian. These works are chosen because they best demonstrate Manet's talent and tend to be the milestone works of art that differentiate Manet from the rest of his peers. Each piece will be analyzed visually, contextually, compositionally, and comparatively to other works and the critics of then as opposed to the critics of today.
In one of his earlier works, Manet decides to copy Delacroix's Dante and Virgil in Hell. Delacroix was and somewhat of a hero to young Manet and his friend Antonin Proust. Though it was rumored that Delacroix was very cold, Proust's account of the affair was that Delacroix had received them with great courtesy (Adler 20). In his life Manet copied this painting twice which shows that he greatly admired and respected the work calling it a choice piece. Not much is said about the painting other than it exhibits his initial tendency to break with traditional forms. Although the color gradations still show hints of Couture influence, it can be seen that Manet early on preferred the drier harmonies of Spanish painting (Hanson 39). The painting is basically a study in the compositional techniques of Delacroix, but the brushwork and color are decidedly that of Manet with hints of Couture's influence that can be seen. As a young student Couture impressed upon Manet the technique of ebauche', which is the preliminary rendering of a subject with the focus only on the earth colors and can be seen in some of his earlier work. This is essentially an impressionistic work of an earlier period. There is not much in terms of critical review of this work considering it is a student work. The impressionistic tendencies are clearly seen, although they do undergo quite a bit of refinement.
In The Absinthe Drinker Manet uses an even bolder approach to painting. The boldness in this painting is in terms of the subject, which was considered inappropriate and inconsistent with the idealization of the common people. This not only includes the subsequent artistic technique, but also the selection of his subject. It was rejected from the Salon of 1859, and his former teacher is noted to have remarked "only another absinthe drinker could have painted so foolishly" which effectively ended their strained relationship (Wadley 30). It seems that the critics of the time do not understand where Manet is trying to go with this portrait, Manet himself states that he simply painted a Parisian with the simplicity of technique that he had discovered in Velasquez (Wadley 30). His treatment of the subject is different and quite detached. Manet does not flatter the subject, and what is more visually striking is that he begins to eliminate the halftones that are imperceptible to the eye. It is noted that only Delacroix voted for it to be hung in the Salon. It is speculated that the elimination of the graduated tones may have prompted this decision, because the painting did not conform with the standard practices of the time. Manet later goes on to state that if he had depicted a Spanish subject that it would have been more...
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