Dr. Janetta Rebold Benton: Impressionism- Part I: Edgar Degas & Claude Monet
Under the aegis of the 92Y.
Leaving behind the dark colors, smooth surfaces, and subjects approved by the official Salon, the Impressionists painted with bright colors, let their brushstrokes show, and focused on scenes of everyday life. In fact, the artists’ goal was to capture an impression of what the eye sees in a fleeting glance.
“The history of art in the 19th century is a series if isms.” Dr. Rebold begins by setting the scene with three realists who preceded Impressionism, Courbet, Bonheur, and Manet. Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) was impatient, aggressive, and ambitious; his work considered too big and of ordinary subjects the public disdained. “If you show me an angel, I’ll paint one,” the painter declared. Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899) was known for images of agrarian peasant life, animals and her dramatic contrasts. She was the first woman to receive the Grand Cross/Legion of Honor.
A pivotal figure in the transition between Realism and Impressionism, Eduard Manet (1832-1883) came from money and had academic training. His paintings Le dejeuner sur l’herbe which shows a naked woman picnicking with fully clothed men (after a portion of Raimondi’s Judgment of Paris) and his Olympia (based on Venus of Urbino by Titian) caused considerable scandal. The latter was thought to be too much like a sketch, its outlines obvious, light falling evenly. Female nudes were accepted only in allegorical context. In 1863, the prestigious Paris Salon rejected over 2,783 works including these. In response, Emperor Napoleon III created Salon des Refusés (Salon of the Rejected).
Though considered an Impressionist, Edgar Degas (Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas- 1834-1917) hated the term. He created art from childhood, but secured a degree in literature and started law school before turning to art full time. In 1855 at École des Beaux-Arts, the young man met neo-classicist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres who advised “draw lines and fill more lines, both from memory and life.” We’re shown several early works. From a sojourn to Italy, we see The Bellini Family, a formal portrait where the family’s attitude towards one another is clear.
Degas’ first Salon work was a scene of war in which men on horseback shot and captured women. Around the time he met Manet, he abandoned more popular history painting for subjects taken from everyday events and was drawn to portraiture. Asymmetric composition, brighter color, and more relaxed poses followed. Independently wealthy, Degas could paint to please himself.
His focus moved to ballet- orchestra, on stage, backstage, and class images emerged. None depicted specific dancers. “Degas was obsessed by the art of classical ballet, because to him it said something about the human condition. He was not a balletomane looking for an alternative world to escape into.” (John Berger: the dark side of Degas’s ballet dancers- The Guardian 2011.) Dr. Benton points out that the artist showed dancers at their least graceful, focusing on what the audience never sees, often with a view that looks down. (This is true of the women he painted doing private things as well. He kept a prop bathtub in the studio.)
Degas served in The French National Guard, then spent time in New Orleans with his mother’s cotton broker family. He was, we’re told “witty, nasty, snobbish, unfriendly, conservative, and didn’t think art should be available to the lower class.”
Despite not getting along with the group and pointedly ignoring some of their commonalities, Degas joined the Impressionists. He never, for example, painted outside. “You know what I think of people who work out in the open. If I were the government I would have a special brigade of gendarmes to keep an eye on artists who paint landscapes from nature. Oh, I don’t mean to kill anyone; just a little dose of bird-shot now and then as a warning” (ED) He took a lead role in organizing exhibitions, showing his own work in all but one.
In addition, he painted café life, circuses and horse racing, this last sometimes from a combination of sketches and a jointed wooden horse he kept at the studio. Miss LaLa at the Cirque Fernando is particularly captivating. Often empty spaces make compositions more interesting. Sometimes figures are intentionally cut off. Dr. Benton calls it “carefully cultivated carelessness.” The artist worked methodically from multiple sketches. “No art was less spontaneous than mine.” (ED) The work sold well and he was able to collect art.
Starting in his 40s, Degas vision grew impaired. Images blurred, he grew sensitive to light. The precise drawing of earlier work was replaced by looser forms. “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” (ED)
We’re shown a cast of, then the finished sculpture Little Dancer which was so natural, critics called it “a flower of cultural depravity.” An original combination of cast bronze with linen bodice, muslin tutu, and satin slippers broke all tradition. The corps de ballet was made up of daughters of working class people. His 14 year-old model lived near Degas and was undoubtedly grateful for payment. Over 150 dancer figures/studies were later found in his atelier.
The American artist Mary Cassatt became an important part of his life for a time. When the Salon rejected her work, Degas invited her to join the Impressionists, introducing her to both pastels and printmaking. (Cassatt was the second woman artist to join after Berthe Morrisot.) In turn, Cassatt was instrumental in helping Degas sell his paintings and promoting his reputation in America. “Most women paint as if trimming hats,” he said. “Not you.”
They dined and visited museums maintaining a prickly relationship for some years. Degas described himself as celibate, so it’s likely nothing physical occurred. For a wonderful fictionalized story of their liaison read I Always Loved You by Robin Olivera.
Also important in his life was art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel who mounted the first Impressionist exhibits in the United States, London, Berlin, and Brussels. In keeping with Degas’ belief “the artist must live alone, and his private life must remain unknown,” he became increasingly solitary. The Dreyfus affair brought out the artist’s Anti-Semitism alienating Jewish and liberal friends – including Cassatt. He even refused to use models who he believed might be Jewish. “What a creature he was, that Degas. All his friends had to leave him!” (Renoir)
In the corner of Oscar Claude Monet’s (1840-1926) Portrait of Zola, is an image of several works he admired including a Japanese print and Manet’s Olympia. Dr. Benton notes there can be no confusion between the two artists as they were conveniently born in alphabetical order. Monet, we’re told, had the ignominious honor of being the first to be called an Impressionist. The term “Impressionism” is derived from the title of his painting Impression, soleil levant (Impression Sunrise). Years later he was one of Manet’s pallbearers.
The painter was Paris born, moved to Le Havre and returned to study in Paris at 19. Landscape painter Eugène Louis Boudin introduced him to painting outdoors. Monet favored scenes with bodies of water and boats. He painted quickly, summarizing what the viewer sees. Colors appear different up close and further back. Flickering light is more important that subject matter. The painter was objective. We look at some work. “You can estimate temperature, time of year, even time of day,” Dr. Benton remarks.
Drafted into the African Light Cavalry, Monet spent seven years in the military. His father could have paid to have the young man excused, but refused when Claude wouldn’t give up painting. Finally, after a bout of Typhoid, his aunt intervened to remove him from the army if he agreed to complete a course at an art school. After she gave birth to their son, Jean, the artist married his favorite model, Camille Doncieux. For a time they lived in London, where Pissaro introduced him to the art dealer, Durand-Ruel. Then it was back to the countryside of France. In 1874, rejected by the Salon, he joined the Impressionists.
The Lunch shows a pastoral garden where light and shadow are all important. A field of red poppies looks particularly vibrant because they’re next to the complimentary color green. (Complimentary colors enhance others beside them.) We’re shown a photograph and the painting side by side. The technique of broken color, “application of small dabs of pure color intended to blend in the viewer’s eye,” was used, especially with water. (A precursor to pointillism.) He had a second son. The artist made money but always lived beyond his means.
Monet painted outdoors both on land and in a floating studio. We’re shown a photo of a cloth-covered space with two open sides in a smallish boat. Camille’s health failed and she died. When the artist’s patron Ernest Hoschede went bankrupt and returned to Belgium, Hoschede’s wife Alice and children joined Monet in a house in Vétheuil. The brood moved twice more landing at last in Normandy’s Giverny. He eventually married her.
Extremely picturesque, Giverny would be Monet’s last home. Photos show a pale pink, ivy covered house with dark green shutters. The salon is pale blue with cornflower detail/moldings, the kitchen a cheerful yellow with blue and white tiles and a terra cotta-colored floor. His bedroom features a Louis IV desk, a Louis VI chest, a brocade armchair and wood burning fireplace. Over the years, the barn was turned into a studio, greenhouses built, a Japanese bridge added, gardeners hired. The water lily garden has become iconic.
Monet himself designed the beautiful gardens, brought in a vast array of flowers and exotic plants. “I’m good at only two things, painting and gardening,” he said. He rose early, punctually ate considerable breakfast, and worked. Dr. Benton describes him as angry, depressed, and obsessive; a stout man wearing a felt hat, wood clogs, and shirts with lace cuffs. We’re shown a few of his numerous haystack paintings and a series on the Rouen Cathedral. There are no fine lines, no beautiful brushwork. The edifice is created in dabs. “The viewer learns nothing about Monet from his painting,” she says.
At 68, his eyesight began to fail. Alice then Jean died. Monet was discouraged, but continued to take inspiration from his garden. There are 48, increasingly loose water lily paintings. “Monet was only an eye, but what an eye!” a peer declared. The painter died in 1926. His gravestone declares: Here rests our great friend, Claude Monet… The artist’s younger son Michel left the house and garden to the Académie des Beaux-Arts.
Dr. Benton is clear and enlightening if somewhat repetitive. A good introduction to these two superb artists.
Part II Fri. Dec. 18 at noon: Impressionism Pt. II: Berthe Morisot and Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Janetta Rebold Benton is the Distinguished Professor of Art History at Pace University, NY. In 2018 she was visiting professor in the graduate school of Art History, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China; in 2012 she was visiting professor in the graduate school of Art History, European University, St. Petersburg, Russia. Dr. Benton regularly presents subscription seminars at the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 92nd Street Y, NYC, and elsewhere in America and abroad.
Photos from Bigstock
Top: Visitors in museum Orsay. People looking at Ballet Rehearsal on Stage by impressionist Edgar Degas. Woman taking photo at exhibition inside art gallery.
