Brooklyn Museum–Sunday April 3rd, 2022. European Art Galleries, 5th floor. February 11, 2022 – May 21, 2023- Curated by Lisa Small Senior Curator, European Art with Shea Spiller and Talia Shiroma, Curatorial assistants, Arts of the Americas and Europe. Presented by Dior.
Welcome back friends, and welcome this week, this time, to the wonderful world of art history!
Yay!!!
And this week, welcome to one of the latest and most interesting New York art exhibits, focusing on a period of significant society transformation, in Europe, during the late 19th-early 20th centuries, and giving us a snapshot of relevant and pertinent society concerns, and trends of its time.
Wow! and yay!
Featuring about 90 European works, heavy on French Impressionistic works, and French artists (although many other European works are also exhibited), this exhibit includes as well, other movements, from that period.
Wow! and yay!
And what particularly interested me, was the focus from the curators of this exhibit, on that era’s (late 19th-early 20th centuries), most salient themes, in this vast “real and imagined” framework.
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And to me, the most important overall point of this exhibit, is that it has captured well, the evolution of these noteworthy topics or themes, which overtook both painters and collectors, of this “modern”, more industrialized era.
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And to summarize: reigning power, history, and religion which were all, incredibly prevalent in past centuries, although not absent, definitely take a back seat, to more everyday, and current 19th-early 20th centuries, bourgeois or society concerns, including more or less chosen escapist tendencies.
Wow!
And when historical figures, or history and power infused architecture, are depicted in that era, as in this gorgeous Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926) painting (above), from 1908, of Venice, Italy’s “The Doge’s palace”, it is rendered, with more wistful, lyrical and imaginary colors, and stunning, shifting light, than in past works, which says much of the powerful craving of the times, especially from the Impressionists, for more emotional appeal, modernity, and less classicism in its expression, a yearning for more imaginative, loosely painted, and atmospheric escapism, while still depicting clearly, the reality of the painting’s subject.
Wow! wow! wow!
And whether imaginary or real, many “impressionistic” or “modern” type of paintings, from other art movements, of that era, featured mostly the following seven themes: 1)bourgeois and working class portraiture, 2)leisure (including exoticism), 3) “plein air” nature, 4) engineering novelty and labor, 5)war, 6)religion/spirituality, and 7)still life, which all, coexisted, at the turn of the century, in an ever more industrialized world.
Wow! wow! wow!
Of course, I have selected just a few examples, for each theme.
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1)Let’s start with two unusual, everyday, bourgeois and working class portraits: in this first “bourgeois” portrait, by Post-Impressionist, Henri de Toulouse Lautrec (French, 1864-1891), of Paul Sescau, a studio photographer, this 1891 painting, soberly entitled “Mr. Paul Sescau”, is typical of the portraits Toulouse Lautrec made of men in his social circles. Sescau is dressed as a fashionable modern boulevardier, about to go out for the evening. On a wall, hangs a kakemono (a Japanese scroll), which attests of the times interest in “exotic” Japanese culture. Toulouse Lautrec, often immersed himself in the colorful and theatrical life of Paris, in the late 19th century, which allowed him to produce a collection of enticing, elegant, and provocative images of Paris’ night life.
Wow!
Toulouse Lautrec also loved this portrait.
Wow!
So elegant.
In this second portrait, by Louis Valtat (French 1869-1952), with its ferocity of color, and gestural exuberance, typical of the Fauvism movement, Valtat sits somewhere, between the Impressionists lyrical evocation of shifting light and atmosphere, and Fauvism.
Wow!
And here, this colorful, 1894-95, working class, “Café dancer” work, is equally, a portrait of an everyday event (attending by “bourgeois” circles, bohemian café-concerts/spectacles events in Paris), and yet its modernity here, stems not only, from the forceful brush strokes, but from the risqué (for the times), high kicking dancer’s leg subject, dancing the entertaining “cancan” genre (which certainly inspired the Rockettes, in St. Louis in 1925, and in New York, in 1932).
Wow!
So entertaining.
2) Regarding leisure at home/ countryside/ seaside/ including exotic destinations, here are four other beautiful portrait depictions, found in this exhibit: First, meet Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867-1947), a founding member of the Post-Impressionist group of avant-garde painters, Les Nabis. And Bonnard’s early work, was strongly influenced by the work of Paul Gauguin, another illustrious Post Impressionist, as well as, by the prints of Japanese artists, including Hokusai (a world renown ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period, and one of the most famous Japanese artists).
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Also, Bonnard was a leading figure in the transition from Impressionism to Modernism.
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And below, this 1925, “Breakfast room”, Bonnard painting, is a gorgeous, intimate, domestic scene, where the backgrounds, colors and painting style, almost take precedence over the woman eating her breakfast, and the realism of the scene is bathed in an arresting, colorful, peaceful atmosphere.
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Probably, my favorite painting of the exhibit.
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And so quietly beautiful.
Second, now, let’s take a look at another intimate scene, set this time, in a countryside garden: this stunning, 1909 portrait, entitled “Woman with three girls”, is by József Rippl-Rónai (Hungarian, 1861-1927), another wonderful artist, inspired by the avant-garde techniques, he observed while living in Paris, where he studied with Munkácsy, the most important Hungarian realist painter, and became as well, friends with the Post Impressionists Nabis, in the last decade of the 19th century.
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Rippl-Rónai’s style will come to become synonym, with distinctive, modern Hungarian painting.
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And here, Rippl-Rónai included embroidered textiles and flowers (not only roses, but also tulips, which were traditional symbols of Hungarian culture and identity).
Wow!
So beautiful, poetic, and charming.
Third, in this 1908-10 “The Regatta” painting, by Raoul Dufy (French 1877-1953), a Fauvist painter as well, noted for colorful, leisurely scenes, of open-air, in vogue, social events, Dufy portrays here a leisurely crowd, of elegant spectators, watching a highly competitive boat race, in Sainte-Adresse, a popular seaside resort, near Le Havre.
Wow!
Also a favorite of mine.
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So thrilling!
And now, let’s take a look at another type of fashionable, exotic portrait, by Jean Joseph Benjamin Constant (French 1845-1902), a typical and beautiful “Orientalist” painting, from circa 1870-80, entitled “The Order of the Grand Vizier”, blending European misconceptions and fantasies, of North Africa and the Middle East, with intricate renderings of props, Constant gathered on a trip, to Spain and Morocco.
Wow!
So dramatic and what incredible and beautiful light in this gorgeous painting.
3) As for “plein air” nature types of painting, of course, this exhibit had/has many on display, and I wanted to focus on just a few, and start with this wonderful serene work, both realist and atmospheric, the circa 1887-1896 “The beach at Trouville” by Eugène Louis Boudin, (French 1824-1898), a precursor of “plein air” painting, and a “marine” painter as well.
Wow!
Early in his career, Boudin also befriended, and was also influenced in his work, by painters from the Barbizon school (a “Realism” art movement, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic movement of the time). Famous painters from this school include: Rousseau, Millet, Daubigny, Jacque, and Corot, and was an active movement, from 1830 through 1870. Many of these artists set up their easels in “plein air”, in Fontainebleau, to depict nature’s awesome forests.
Wow!
And the majority of Boudin’s paintings while in plein air, feature mainly, small “marine” landscapes of harbors and beaches, of the coast of northern France, colored often, by a sharp eye for social detail.
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And in about 1856, Boudin met young Claude Monet, and introduced him to outdoor painting. The two worked together in the late 1860s.
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And Monet, let me remind you, founded the Impressionist movement, born after an independent exhibition in 1874, featuring his 1873 “Impression Sunrise” work, which drew particular scorn for the unfinished appearance of its loose handling, and indistinct forms.
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Yet, the artists (including most illustrious Manet, Degas, Pissarro, Renoir, Caillebotte, and others), saw the criticism as a badge of honor, and subsequently, called themselves “Impressionists”).
Wow! and yay!
So poetic and yet, realist.
And here, admire by Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926), another beautiful 1882 “plein air” painting, entitled “Rising tide at Pourville”, which conveys so expressively, the choppy, wind swept sea, off of Normandy, with these assertive brush strokes.
Wow!
So lively.
And below, is a wonderful work by Gustave Courbet, (French 1818-1877), one of the primary figures of the “Realist” movement. Courbet was dedicated to presenting his independent style in art, and stayed away from traditional art techniques of his time. His unique style, became a huge source of inspiration among many Impressionists and Cubists (Cubism was a revolutionary new approach to representing reality invented in around 1907–08, by artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. They brought different views of subjects (usually objects or figures) together, in the same picture, resulting in paintings that appear fragmented and abstracted).
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It was Courbet’s paintings from the 1840s, that made him quite popular. His masterpieces attempted to challenge the conventions of the time. Most of his paintings also, featured less political subjects, such as nudes, still life paintings, hunting scenes and landscapes (especially from his native Ornans, in the East of France, with its distinctive limestone cliffs of the surrounding Jura Mountains).
Wow!
Courbet’s “marine” landscapes, appeared later, in the 1860’s, and this particular painting from circa 1869, entitled “The wave”, focuses on a majestic cresting wave, which was interestingly, considered at the time, anti-picturesque and radical, in its subject and technique.
Wow!
So striking and dynamic.
And now, we are heading to the South of France, with this brilliant 1908 “The Vineyards at Cagnes” painting, from Pierre Auguste Renoir (French 1841-1919), one of the central figures of Impressionism, with his own unique flair.
Wow! and yay!
Renoir’s wonderful work, is always characterized by a richness of feeling, and incredible warmth towards the world and the people in it.
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And Renoir’s early works, were typically, Impressionist snapshots of real life, full of sparkling color and light.
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By the mid-1880s, however, Renoir had broken with the movement to apply generally, a more disciplined, formal technique to portraits and figure paintings, particularly of women.
In this instance, this inhabited “landscape” still feels, very impressionistic to me.
Yay!
So beautiful, summery, and sunny.
With this 1860-70, “The Old Forest” painting, by Charles-Emile Jacque (French, 1813-1894), an artist from the “Realist” Barbizon school, and famous for his etchings and lithographs; considered a “Pastoralist”, as he became over the years, increasingly interested in working on scenes from rural life, including landscapes, peasants, shepherds and animals (sheep were his favorite animals to paint), from the Seine valley, and here is, again, a different kind of landscape rendering.
Wow!
And below, in this work, we can feel Jacque’s love of rural life, forests, animals and peasants; an often rewarding life, despite its constant demands, beautiful, and respectful of nature’s seasons and cycles; and yet, never still.
Wow!
So incredibly expressive and poetic, and what gorgeous light.
With this mysterious and beautiful “Mountains in Auvergne”, from 1841-42, by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, (French, 1796-1875), an “open/plein air” artist, also from the “Realist” Barbizon School, who travelled extensively, in France and in Europe, here, Corot is offering us again, another unique and beautiful style.
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Corot was illustrious for filling numerous notebooks with drawings. His early oil sketches, were clearly defined and fresh, using bright colors in fluid strokes.
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Corot’s reputation was established by the 1850s, which was also the period, when his style became softer, and his colors more restricted, as we can already, see it start to happen, in this gorgeous, muted, mountain ridge landscape work.
Wow!
So beautiful and peaceful.
4)And now let’s leave the “plein air “nature theme, and switch to another topic, to idealized engineering paintings in the 19th century, with two terrific examples.
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So first, this evocative, impressionistic, yet realist, 1885 or 1887, “Railroad bridge at Argenteuil” painting from Gustave Caillebotte (French 1848-1894), is indeed, an ideal modern symbol of industrial modernity (a steam train about to cross a concrete and iron railroad bridge, above the Seine river), and leisure, as Argenteuil is also, a charming suburban town.
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Born into a wealthy family, Caillebotte originally trained to be an engineer, but became interested in painting and photography.
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Caillebotte became the chief organizer, promoter, and financial backer of the “Impressionists” exhibitions for the next six years, and a more realist impressionist than his peers.
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What is also outstanding, in his case, is that, Caillebotte used his wealth to purchase works by other “Impressionists”, notably Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Alfred Sisley, and Berthe Morisot.
Wow! and yay!
So charming.
Second, with this gorgeous example of “Realism” from 1885, “Hacienda La Fortuna”, from one of the most celebrated native Puerto Rican painter (Puerto Rico was then, a Spanish colony), Francisco Oller (1833-1917) celebrates, in an even more forward manner, the intrinsic beauty of an industrial building, a sugar mill, and of the labor being done on site, and this 1885, “Hacienda La Fortuna” painting, despite its industrial quality, takes on a rural poetic softness as well.
Wow!
And Oller, who spent a number of years living and studying in Paris, captured the “Realism” look of his time, and made it his own.
Wow!
Depicting rural workers, on a typical day, it reflects well Oller’s unique style, combining atmospheric light, to his realistic depiction, and awarding thus, an extra “dreamy” quality to his every day “labor” painting.
Wow!
So poetic!
And now, see below, another beautiful depiction of idyllic rural labor, by Jules Breton, (French 1827-1906), considered a “naturalist” painter of peasant themes in the 19th century, and an artist strongly influenced by his own native traditions from northern France, Jules Breton’s reputation rivaled, that of Eugène Delacroix or Jean-Dominique Ingres, at the time of his death in 1906.
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Since then, after a long period of relative obscurity, Breton has returned to considerable favor; he is now regarded as a primary painter of daily life, and here, in the gorgeous, 1886/1887,”The end of the working day”, we can admire Breton’s unique, lifelike, and uplifting style, depicting a beautiful young woman’s back, warmed up by the glow of the setting sun.
Wow!
Just glorious.
5) And concerning war, there were very few works on display, and those exhibited, unsurprisingly, were all painted, during or after, the first or the second World Wars, and were for some, realistic depictions, and for others, symbolic in style, all conveying accurately, and personally, suffering and despair.
Sigh.
And the painting which I found the most striking, as it vividly symbolized agonizing pain, misery and hardship, is this much later, 1946, haunting, almost distorted, “Human Forest” painting, by Ossip Zadkine (French, Belarusian born, 1890-1967), primarily, a modernist sculptor, but also at times, a painter.
Of course, we can see the influence of sculpture here, as well.
And Zadkine’s vivid, and almost colorless, gouache painting below, of metamorphosing, interconnected, warped, contorted, human-tree figures, was made after Zadkine returned to France, from New York, where he had fled, during the second World War, in 1941, and was particularly arresting to me.
Sigh.
So chilling.
6) And in terms of spirituality/religion, rewind time, by a few decades, and two beautiful paintings caught my attention: the first, again, by Jules Breton (French 1827-1906), a circa 1869 painting, entitled “Breton peasant woman holding a taper/ candle” in which a peasant woman, in a traditional dress, takes part in a penitential rite, a pious symbol of a culture unspoiled by modern life; Brittany being then, a conservative religious region in north western France, and underscoring the still important influence, of Roman catholicism at the time.
Wow!
So introspective.
And the other spiritual/ religious painting that caught my eye, is this beautiful, circa 1905-1910 “Jacob wrestling with the Angel” work, by Odilon Redon (1840-1916), an emotionally charged piece and yet, and immediately understandable, which was key to Redon. He once said that “I should never make a single mark with a pencil unless my feeling and my reason were in it”.
Wow!
And paradoxically, Redon was also an artist, in favor of the representation of imagined things, as we can also tell, in this gorgeous lyrical painting.
Wow!
So mystical.
And with this beautiful 1914, “Still life with strawberries” work, from world-renown, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French 1841-1919), we are reminded that everyday inanimate objects can also, convey beauty and emotion, and were still, immensely fashionable in that era.
Wow!
Also, interestingly, and to prove these still life paintings’ popularity, for that very reason, Renoir made many still life paintings throughout his career, as they were easy to sell.
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So mouthwatering and beautiful.
And finally, with this gorgeous, 1906, “Flowers” still life, from illustrious Henri Matisse (French 1869-1954), a Post-expressionist artist, turned “Fauvist”, as we can see in this painting, by his bold brushstrokes and vivid non realistic colors, which both, underscore the importance of color for him, as for his collectors; and we realize as well instantly, that an imaginary bouquet, can have as much, or even more impact, than a real one.
Wow!
So extravagant and optimistic.
So, to sum up my feelings about this “Monet to Morisot” exhibit, enjoyed last Sunday, in great company: what a wonderfully interesting show, showcasing not only, mostly everyday topics that were relevant at the time, for and from these European 19th-early 20th centuries, artists and collectors, but also a variety of modern art movements, all wonderfully intriguing, whether depicting real or imagined subjects.
Wow!
And yay! yay! yay!
Until next time friends!
Soft…
Fluttering…
Sunny
Joyful…
Happy…
Loving…
Eternal butterflies 😊