December 16, 2024

Post 9: Impressionists painting each other

Portraits of Modern Painters by Modern Painters


       A bit about the history of portraiture: we can find portraits in the traces of ancient civilizations 5000 years old. None from the prehistoric period, though, and there is still speculation whether it is because the pigment for the faces was more fragile, or perhaps they didn't want to be "trapped' on the wall. From the 13th century portraits were established to preserve the image and the likeness of the rich and powerful. They became very popular in the 15th century during the Renaissance when painters would paint people around them not just the rich. From the mid-XIX century with the invention of photography, portraits lost the sole purpose of preserving the image of a person. For the Impressionists, the goal (in addition to presenting the 'inner' qualities of the subject), was to do it in their individual style. 


  As he was first in everything in his generation, I will start with Manet's masterpiece, a portrait of his favorite (and regular from 1868) model, painter Berth Morisot. Manet, influenced by one of the best portraitists of all time - Velasquez, uses black paint abundantly, but, looking closer, there is so much to see in it - each stroke has its purpose. Manet and Morisot were close friends, Manet was already married, and Morisot married his brother. In 2012 a TV movie was made in France dramatizing Manet and Morisot's relationship as a romantic one. Berth Morisot French TV movie




Berth Morisot au bouquet de violettes, 1872
Eduard Manet (1832-1883)
55.5 x 40.5 cm, oil on canvas
Morisot pour Manet Musee d'Orsay



      Here is Edgar Degas' (1834-1917) portrait of painter Mary Cassatt (1844-1926). Cassatt was one of the few international painters who participated in the Impressionist Exhibitions in Paris. Fed up with the lack of opportunities for women in the art world in the States, she moved to Paris. To better understand the innovation in portraying people brought by the Impressionists, we can see the similarities in these two portraits of female Impressionists: the background is blurred and undetermined, and the focus is on the eyes and the indication of a smile.




Mary Cassatt, 1880-84
Edgar Degas (1834-1917)
73.3 x 60 cm, oil on canvas
Degas paints Cassat National Portrait Gallery DC


     Unlike women, we rarely find men smiling in portraits, even today.  The other choice for the portraitist is whether the seater looks at the viewer. Portraits of women looking at the viewer were not a novelty, think of the Mona Lisa and even the angelic nudes. Impressionists introduced nudes daring the viewer and returning their gaze, even though it was clear they were real-life courtesans (again the first one to do it was Manet in Olympia and Breakfast in the Grass).


Alfred Sisley, 1876
Pierre-August Renoir (1841-1919)
66.2 x 54.8 cm, oil on canvas
Sisley by Renoir Art Institute Chicago


     Camille Pissarro's portrait of Cezanne stays on the Impressionist track of not beautifying its subjects. Pissarro was among the first to develop the Impressionist loose brush technique and to contribute to Impressionist theory. His work was present in all 8 Impressionist exhibitions, and he was on friendly terms with all other Impressionists until the Dreyfus affair, which split the group as it did French society. Among Pissarro's many portraits of his friend Cezanne, this is the first one he painted. He cherished their friendship, during which they both learned from each other, as Pissarro was the first to take Cezanne out of his studio to paint in the plein air. 



Portrait of Cezanne, 1874
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)
73 x 59.7 cm, oil on canvas
Pissarro's portrait of Cezanne National Gallery London


Frédéric Bazille was another Impressionist from a rich family, like Caillebotte, who helped his less fortunate peer painters by providing material and space to work. He, again similarly to Caillebotte, died young, much younger even, at 28 in the Franco-Prussian war. Great talent, too early gone. Here is his portrait of his friend Renoir.  Renoir is in a relaxed boyish position but has a serious look pointed away from us. 


Pierre Auguste Renoir, 1867
Frederic Bazille (1841-1870)
61.2 x 50 cm, oil on canvas
Renoir's portrait by Bazille Musee d'Orsay



Frédéric Bazille, 1867
Pierre August Renoir (1841-1919)
105 x 73.5 cm, huile sur toile
Bazille's portrait by Renoir Musee d'Orsay



Renoir did the most portraits of all the Impressionists, and famously took the longest to finish one (he would insist on over 100 sittings). He also did the most work by commissions, since his coloration was particularly vibrant and joyous to people. Although he didn't "beautify" Monet here, he did portray him with a hat and in his outdoor suit, which is not what Monet would look like while painting. In Renoir's opus of 5000 paintings, 2000 are the portraits of  women looking beautifully . 

Claude Monet, 1875
Pierre-August Renoir (1841-1919)
84 x 60.5 cm, oil on canvas
Monet by Renoir Musee d'Orsay


We can find Impressionists outside of France too, in Nordic countries, Germany, the UK, and the USA. Often, they rejected the label Impressionist, but they are classified as such mainly for their rebellion against conventions, unique styles, and loose brushwork. Olga Boznanska is one of the strongest portraitists in the Impressionist style. She was born in Poland but worked in Paris until the end of her life. 


Portrait of Paul Nauen, 1893
Olga Boznanska (1865-1940)
121 x 91 cm, oil on canvas
Paul Nauen by Olga Boznanska Krakow Museum


Making a connection to the modern art of the 20th century, my recommendation would be to see the movie "Final Portrait" by Stanley Tucci. It is about the tormenting process of genius artist Giacometti working on a portrait. The portrait in question is one of American critic James Lord who wrote among others, the book Giacometti Portrait.



James Lord, 1964
Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966)
45.66 x 31.69 cm, oil on canvas
J.Lord by Giacometti, private collection


To highlight one contemporary portraitist, a friend reminded me of Amy Sherald (who became famous by painting Michel Obama's portrait), looking at her paintings, it seems that she is rebuilding history one portrait at a time. 


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December 2, 2024

Post 8: Impressionists painting themselves

 

Mirror Mirror


  
The precursors to the first self-portraits would be the prehistorical handprints on cave walls, the first time an artist marked its presence. We can find self-portraits in ancient Egypt, Greece, and the Middle Ages, but they were usually incorporated into bigger paintings and were anonymous. Self-portraiture became popular in the Renaissance when Humanism redirected art towards individuality. It picked up even more popularity with the invention of mirrors, which were, at first convex (and self-portraits incorporated its effect). To dive into the history of self-portraits, a place to visit in Florence is the Uffizi Gallery, and within it is the Vasari Corridor, with the biggest collection of painters' self-portraits—1600 paintings. 

Trying to balance the injustice done to female painters throughout history, here is the self-portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi, an Italian Baroque painter, one of the first women  presenting themselves as painters:


Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, 1638
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1656)
98.6 x 75.2 cm, oil on canvas
Self-Portrait as and Allegory Royal Collection






The history of portraiture radically changed in the mid-XIX century with the invention of photography. Artists focused on what features they wanted to reveal about others and themselves while prioritizing their painting method. For this post on Impressionists, I chose only self-portraits in which Impressionists portray themselves as painters.



Auto portrait, 1885
Berthe Morisot (1841-1895)
61 x 50 cm, oil on canvas
Self portrait Morisot Musée Marmottan

   


     Berthe Morisot presents herself as confident and content. Looking straight at us, she takes the classic (bust 3/4 towards us) pose, but she paints it with a shockingly brave and modern style for her time. It looks like her message to us is: this is my painting and it is finished to my liking, not for critics nor for viewers. 




Autoportrait à la Palette, 1878,79
Edouard Manet (1832-1883)
83 x 67 cm, oil on canvas
Manet, Self-portrait private collection


Manet painted only two self-portraits during his lifetime. The first one, Self-Portrait with a Palette depicting him as a painter, was sold by Sotheby's to a private collector for 30 million dollars in 2020, making it the most expensive Impressionist portrait ever. The second, The Self-portrait with a Cap, of his full figure posing in a suit, is in the Artizon Museum in Japan. Manet was not left-handed which tells us that this self-portrait is a painting of his reflection in a mirror. At this point in his life, Manet was recognized as a master painter and a member of the social elite, which is how he wanted to be remembered.




                                                                                       

Self-Portrait, 1876 

 August Pierre Renoir (1841-1919)

 73.3 x 57.3 cm, oil on canvas

                                                                                            

                                                                             Self-portrait

                                                 August Pierre Renoir (1841-1919)

                                                                          Private Collection

    

  These are the first and last of Renoir's self-portraits and the only ones where he presents himself as a painter. He was 25 years old in the first one and was already, after two Impressionist exhibitions, aware of the effect his paintings have on people. 





Self-Portrait with a Beret, 1886
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
46 x 56 cm, oil on canvas
Monet Self-Portrait Private Collection


     What is it about artists and berets? Rembrandt is the one who made them famous, as he wears them in most of his nearly 100 self-portraits. Berets were especially popular in the XIX century among different branches of artists, writers, sculptors, and painters. Berets represent the struggling, but also, independent and nonconventional artist. For Monet, the beret checks all previous boxes plus this flat wool hat would come in handy since he was painting mostly outdoors (en plein air) during all seasons. 





Self-Portrait, 1880
Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)
32.7 x 24.6 cm, gouache watercolour grafite on paper
Selfportrait Mary Cassatt National Portrait Gallery DC


Mary Cassatt was a strong and independent woman who was also fierce in her artistic expression. Her work is mostly based on portraits of women and children in the domestic context. She inspired women artists to defy the social norms and follow their path. Invited to join the Impressionists by Degas, she was strongly influenced by him in terms of methodology and mediums. 



Portrait de l'artiste or Degas holding charcoal,1855
Edgar Degas (1834-1917)
81.5 x 65 cm, oil on paper glued on canvas
Degas Self-portrait Orsay

Speaking of Degas, here is his self-portrait from a young age when his idols were Ingres and Delacroix. He was loyal to the Impressionist group, participating in and helping around all their exhibitions. Nevertheless, he preferred to be called a "realist," although his colors were more expressive than naturalistic. He experimented with many techniques and materials (over 70 sculptures were found in his atelier) and instead of light, he focused more on movement, moment, and composition. 

The painter who painted most self-portraits, from that generation, is Vincent Van Gogh (although he belongs to the Post-Impressionists) - 43!

Among contemporary artists, I would like to mention Cindy Sherman, although she is not a painter and does not really portray herself. Still, she creates unforgettable art. Sherman manipulates photography of herself to explore the idea of a female identity and feminism. I was standing in front of her life-size series "Untitled" at the Venice Biennale 2011 remembering still the fascinating effect of her being masked but vulnerable and honest in front of the audience. 



Untitled, 2010
Cindy Sherman (1954-)
Series exhibited at Venice Biennale 2011



Sources: 

The Vasari Corridor reopening | Uffizi Galleries

List of self-portraits in the Uffizi Gallery - Wikipedia

10 Most Famous Self-Portraits - Artst

Self-Portrait with Palette (Manet) - Wikipedia

Mirror Mirror: Self-portraits by women artists - National Portrait Gallery London

Impressionists autoportraits - Search - autoportraits

Self-Portrait Renoir's portrait in The Clark Art Institute Massachsetts

10 Important Impressionist Painters Who Shaped the Iconic Movement

Paul Cezanne | Self Portrait | NG4135 | National Gallery, London

F. Bazille self portrait

Self-portraiture - Wikipedia

Mary Cassatt | Portrait of the Artist | American | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Portrait painting - Wikipedia

File:Olga Boznańska 1893 Autoportret 1893.jpg - Wikipedia

Portrait | Tate - selfportraits




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November 17, 2024

Post 7: One particular Impressionist

 The Curious Case of Gustave Caillebotte


Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894) with his dog, 1892


      The trouble the Impressionist movement imposed on critics at the time, was understanding the unifying idea among its painters. Caillebotte's expression only added to this confusion. Born into a rich Parisian family and losing his parents in his late twenties, Caillebotte found himself in a unique position of not only being able to use his fortune as he pleased but also to paint what he pleased. Here, I will focus on his less celebrated (except The Parquet Workers) but more daring paintings,  to show Caillebotte's uncompromising fight for freedom of artistic expression.

Trained conventionally, he depicts his scenes and subjects accordingly, but his choice of subjects breaks every existing mold. To give us all time to acclimate, I am starting with his stunning "Vue de Toits", noting that besides some photos, this would be the first time urban roofs are chosen as a subject. On his 'impressionistic side', like Monet, he uses roofs as an excuse to paint the atmosphere above them, the light and the air, the smoke and the snow. His subject is what surrounds the roofs:


Vue de Toits (Effet de Neige), 1878
Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894)
64.5 x 81 cm, oil on canvas
Roofscape Caillebotte Musee d'Orsay


 He will also be the first to paint urban workers transforming the city in "Haussmann's Paris". Furthermore, he was the first to paint them with their shirts off! Suddenly, we are gazing at these men, their muscles, skin, and sweat!  Again, Caillebotte surprises us with the subject but then re-joins the rest of the Impressionists by exploring the effect of light coming from the window. This painting was refused by the official Salon but got him an invitation to join Impressionist exhibitions.


 


Raboteurs de Parquet, 1875
Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894)
102 x 147 cm, oil on canvas
Raboteurs Caillebotte Musee d'Orsay



He didn't need to sell art for money like his Impressionist peers. He did not need to accommodate the taste of collectors and buyers, therefore he felt free to explore his darker or deeper reflections. And here is another sparkling moment I came up with while reading and researching for this blog: I present to you still life by Caillebotte from 1882, the year he left Paris bitterly disappointed by, mainly, Monet and Renoir giving up on group exhibitions after the 7th Impressionist exhibition that year and pursuing their solo ones:


Calf's Head and Ox Tongue, 1882
Gustav Caillebotte (1848-1894)
73 x 54 cm, oil on canvas
Still Life Caillebotte Art Institute Chicago


While other Impressionists were inspired by female beauty in harmony with nature, he was interested in studying the new modern man. His most famous paintings present men at work, at leisure, in sport, at home, or in public spaces.  And here it is, another of his ground-breaking masterpieces, almost life-sized - Man at his Bath. Paris was not interested, so he sent it to Brussels, to be exhibited in 1889 in the exhibition of "The Twenty". " Les Vingt" was an independent group of Belgium painters protesting against strict Belgian academic rules and starting their exhibitions in 1884, ten years after the French Impressionists. It was hung on the furthest dark wall of the exhibition hall. 



Man at his Bath, 1884
Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894)
144.8 x 114.3 cm, oil on canvas
Man at his Bath Museum of Fine Arts Boston



By now, your guess is as good as the guess of the current Musée d'Orsay's exhibition (October 2024-January 2025) on Caillebotte - that he was a homosexual and he let his paintings tell us that. XIX century in its second half acknowledges for the first time homosexuality as a personal characteristic and not only a punishable act of sodomy as until then.

From the moment Caillebotte joined the Impressionists in 1875, he was the movement's beating heart. He organized all the exhibitions, bought many paintings, rented apartments and studios (for Monet), and pleaded with the leading Impressionists (Monet, Renoir, Degas) not to leave the group. Although he died young, his legacy as the painter, patron, collector, and donor made an enormous impact on the French ability to preserve and admire the heritage of Impressionism. His private collection of Impressionist paintings became the core of the Musée d'Orsay's collection. Recommendation to visit: Caillebotte Property in Yerres, 20 km south of Paris.

To make a connection from Caillebotte to our days' artists with conventional style but shocking subject matters - one of the best in the XX century - Lucian Freud. Here is his self-portrait:


Painter Working, Reflection 1993
Lucian Freud (1922-2011)
101.2 x 81.7 cm, oil on canvas
Lucian Freud Archive




 The main sources for this post were catalogues for the Musée d'Orsay exhibition on Caillebotte Paul Perrin and the special issue of Beaux Arts magazine dedicated to this exhibition.

Other Sources:
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September 12, 2024

Post 6: Impressionists and Venice

 "Devilishly hard to paint"



Grand Canal, Venice  1908
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
73.7 x 92.4 cm, oil on canvas



     The seed of Western modern art was planted in the XVI century in Italy. Not in Florence, but in Venice. The first painter to develop a unique technique using loose brushwork was Titian (1488-1576). Inspired by Titian, Velasquez carried the torch of modernity to Spain. Inspired by Velasquez, Manet, and other Impressionists would forever free their brushes, themselves, and all the artists, establishing individuality as the "new black" in art. 


Manet in Venice:

Le Grand Canal à Venise (Blue Venice), 1875
Eduard Manet (1832-1882)
57.5 x 47.9 cm, oil on canvas
Manet Venise Blue


      Gazzetta di Venezia, on 13 September 1874, announced the arrival of the "Signori Manet"(he and his wife checked into Grand Hotel, "one of the smartest establishments in town" p.371, Gayford). This was his second and last visit to Venice, which lasted one month during which he painted these two paintings of the Grand Canal. Like in Argenteuil, Manet would go immediately to the water, where he would paint from gondolas and boats. 

     Several companions and admirers wrote that although Manet's Venice paintings looked deceivingly casual, they were actually painted through the painful process of hours and hours spent on the water and starting over numerous times. The first painting he finished (Venice Blue, above) was sold for almost 52 million dollars by Christie's in November 2022 to a private collector (the public is unable to see it, thank you very much "1%"). The view is of Palazzo Barbaro with its staircase to the water, the exact Palazzo where Monet and his wife will be staying 36 years later. 


 

Le Grand Canal a Venise, 1875
Eduard Manet (1832-1883)
58 x 71 cm, oil on canvas
Shelburn Museum Vermont

What helps me to differentiate Manet from Monet painting, is to imagine if it is a painting with a "sound" or not. Manet will always include people, transport, and whatever makes noise around him while he paints. Monet's paintings are mostly "quiet", with no people, no boats, just air as the main subject, therefore perfect to be looked at with some background music. I would say that Manet's Venice is a bustling city, while Monet's Venice is a true Serenissima. 

Inciteful Manet realized that Venice is "devilishly hard" to paint. He told his friend: "faced with such a distractingly complicated scene, I must choose a typical incident and define my picture as if I could already see it framed" (p374, Gayford).

Renoir in Venice:

Venice -Fog, 1881,
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
45.4 x 60 cm, oil on canvas
Renoir Venice Kreeger Museum Washington DC


Venice, The Dodge Palace, 1881
Pierre- August Renoir (1841-1919)
54.5 x 65.7 cm, oil on canvas
Renoir Dodge Palace Clark Museum






The Piazza San Marco, Venice, 1881
Pierre-August Renoir (184101919)
89.5 x 104.46 cm, oil on canvas
Renoir Piazza San Marco Minneapolis Institute of Art



     Renoir arrived in Venice in the autumn of 1881, starting his three-month tour of Italy. Further down his journey, he painted more under the influence of classicism, but in Venice, he was still a true Impressionist at heart. These are the three paintings I found from this visit, and for me, they land right between Manet and Monet. We can still see the daily activities and the life of the city, but at the same time, the theme is the fog, the air, the sun reflections, and the atmosphere that 'envelops' the scene as Monet would say. It could be argued, that whenever Renoir holds on to ambiguity and combines it with his uniquely soft brush touches, he rises to the very top, but he had to or chose to compromise his standards occasionally. 

Monet in Venice:


San Giorgio Maggiore by Twilight, 1908
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
65.2 x 92.4 cm, oil on canvas
Monet Venice Museum Wales



     Monet arrived in Venice on 8 September (October 1, by some sources) 1908 at the age of 68. He immediately regretted not coming earlier and promised himself and his wife Alice that they would be back next year, saying that "one can never leave Venice without the plan of coming back". A promise not fulfilled. Their only stay in 1908 lasted 10 weeks during which he painted 37 paintings. Not all of them were finished. He returned to them after his wife died in 1911, remembering their happy moments. 



Palazzo da Mula, Venice, 1908
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
61.4 x 80.5 cm, oil on canvas
Monet Venice National Gallery of Art Washington DC

     In Venice, Monet did not create a series of the same scenes in a different light as he did in France. He would work just on one canvas at a time, choosing in total a dozen views a short distance from each other. He focused on air, mist, and haze between him and the building he was looking at, or him and the water. He called it "the envelope". He writes in a letter: "The Palace that features in my composition was just an excuse for painting the atmosphere". 


 

Le Palais Ducal, 1908
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
81.3 x 99.1 cm, oil on canvas
Monet Venice Brooklyn Museum

     In May 1912, a big exhibition of 29 Monet's Venice paintings opened at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery in Paris. It was a huge success for Monet, who was already established as a leading Impressionist. The only painting Monet left unrevised as it had been painted in the 'plein air' was the last  - "Gondola in Venice". He gave it to his great friend Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929) French Prime Minister of two mandates, who established the separation of church and state in France. Today this painting is in The Nantes Museum of Art. 

 


Gondola in Venice, 3 December 1908
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
81 x 65.2 cm, oil on canvas
Monet Venice Art Museum Nantes




Next year, the Brooklyn Museum and the de Young Museum in San Francisco will organize the exhibition Monet & Venice (October 2025 to July 2026). If you would like to see more beautiful Venice paintings look at those of Turner and Whistler's, two of my favourites in capturing her beauty.

To make a connection to contemporary art related to Venice, here is a photo I made on our visit to the Venice Biennale this year 2024:


Migrant Child, 2019, Banksy (background)
The Vitruvian Man, 2019, Invader? (foreground)

The work of these two street artists can be seen in public spaces worldwide. Both are trying to stay as anonymous as possible but we know that Banksy is from England and Invader from France. The former is a school drop-out and the latter finished Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Banksy's work is always a sharp criticism of the powerful and speaking in the name of the poor and those needing help, while Invader's designs come from video games and mark the most popular cultural points in cities. Here, Banksy is addressing a terrible migrant crisis and across from him Invader responds with the stylized image of Vitruvian Man by Leonardo de Vinci. In 2019, celebrating 500 years after Leonardo's death, we could see the original drawing of The Vitruvian Man in the Academia Museum in Venice. 



Sources:

Book Venice City of Pictures by Martin Gayford

Claude Monet (1840-1926), Le Rio de la Salute | Christie's

CLAUDE MONET (1840-1926), Saint-Georges Majeur | Christie's

Museum Barberini | Claude Monet: The Rio della Salute

(#6) CLAUDE MONET | Le Palais Ducal

Venice, the Doge's Palace - Renoir

The Piazza San Marco, Venice, Pierre Auguste Renoir

The Magic of Light on Water in Monet's Venetian Masterpiece | Impressionist & Modern Art | Sotheby’s

Claude Monet | The Doge's Palace Seen from San Giorgio Maggiore | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Venice by Famous Artists | DailyArt Magazine

Venice Art Bucket List: 20+ Famous Paintings In Venice - The Geographical Cure

Monet in Venice - National Gallery London short video

Artistes — G-P.F.DAUBERVILLE

Titian's innovations

Venice in the Eyes of Claude Monet | DailyArt Magazine

EDOUARD MANET (1832-1883), Le Grand Canal à Venise | Christie's

Claude MONET in Venice

Bing Videos - Trailer for Luchino Visconti masterpiece film : "Death in Venise".
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August 13, 2024

Post 5: Impressionism and Japonism

 

West meets East in Paris




Boulevard Saint-Denis, Argenteuil in Winter, 1875
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
60.9 x 81.6 cm, oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts Boston

 

 Evening Snow at Kanbara, 1833-34

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 - 1858)

22.5 x 34.9 cm, woodblock print

Met Museum Japanese art



One of the main resources for this post was the book Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal. A fascinating story of a family actively involved in art movements at the turn of the XIX to XX century, only to be a victim of the events leading to world wars. My constant obsession is how did we as a civilisation, on the brink of liberating power of art becoming integrated in growing middle class' everyday life, took the wrong turn towards the world wars in the XX century. And how is it possible to have the same anxiety in 2024...

Back to the blossoming second half of the XIX century... Art connoisseurs and artists in Paris (most of Impressionists too) were passionate collectors of art and decorative objects coming from Japan. Manet, Monet, Van Gogh, Degas and many others collected Japanese prints. Monet was greatly influenced by Japanese art, his house at Giverny has a considerable amount of Japanese art displayed there. The most passionate was Degas, in whose collection were found more than 100 eighteenth-century Ukiyo-e woodblock prints.
 
A bit of historical context: after centuries of isolation, in 1854 Japan (forced by Americans) opened up its ports to the world. Merchandise and art started flowing towards the West and once it reached Paris, it's artists had an instant "coup de coeur" (immediate favourite). The phenomenon of Japanism (love for décor and art coming from 'the land of the rising sun"), started after Japan's unique and diverse exhibition at the World Fair in Paris in 1878. That year, to help with translation for the Japan exhibition, came Hayashi who will be from then on the main connection between Japanese and French art. While importing to Paris hundreds of thousands of Japanese prints and illustrated books, he bought many  Impressionists and other famous French artists' paintings. Hayashi himself is to be thanked for the rich French and European XIX century art collections in Japan museums. 

What Impressionists liked in Japanese prints? Similarly to Impressionists, Ykiyo-e artists from the XVIII century rebelled against the old tales' and history, turning to light-hearted scenes from the quotidian life around them. Those prints presented "transient beauty and pleasures of everyday life". Some of the characteristics that we can find both in Impressionist' and Japanese work are: empty space in the fore and middle grounds of the paintings, "the flattened scene" without deep perspective nor detailed background, lack of tonal gradations.


Manet was one of the first to be influenced by the Japanese art. He felt encouraged by Japanese prints, as well as Spanish masters, to use 'flat' colour or often just black and white (although if we examine closer his colours are never 'flat'). Emile Zola, a big supporter of Impressionism as well as the influence Japanese art had on it, is here down painted by Manet together with a Japanese sumo wrestler print on the wall.

Emile Zola, 1868
Edouard Manet (1832-1883)
146 x 114 cm, oil on canvas
Manet, Museum d'Orsay



     Combing the Hair (La Coiffure), 1896
H.G. Edgar Degas (1834-1917)
114.3 x 146.7 cm, oil on canvas




Illustration from One Hundred Qualities of Women, 1723
Nishikawa Sukenobu (1671-1751)
28.5 x 19.5 cm, Woodcuts




Mary Cassatt inspired by Utamaro's domestic scenes produced a series of ten colour etchings



Hour of the Rat: Mistress, 1790

Kitagawa Utamaro (1754-1806)

36.5 x 24.4 cm, Woodblock print 
                                                                                            Utamaro in Met                                                                                                                




Maternal Caress,1890-1

Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)

36.8 x 26.8 cm, aquatint on paper


Japonisme is at the very foundation of Western Modern Art. Besides Impressionists, it  influenced Post-Impressionists (Vang Gogh, Cezanne, Gaugin...), Art Nouveau artists, as well as the artists of the Aesthetic movement in Britain (Whistler, Rosetti, Wild...). Enjoy the immersive experience of visiting The Peacock Room by James Whistler in  Smithsonian Museum of Asian Art in Washington DC. It was created in 1923 as an homage to the aesthetics of East Asia in general. 

To make the connection with contemporary art, here is a link to Japanese artist Mari Katayama. "By photographing herself in poses reminiscent of the works of the Impressionists, Katayama reinterprets Western aesthetic canons while confronting viewers with contemporary questions about identity and representation."



Sources:

Book: The Hare with Amber Eyes (2010) by Edmund de Waal

Met Museum publication: "The Private Collection of Edgar Degas" 1997.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jvXfux6mTM
Japan, 1800–1900 A.D. | Chronology | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org)

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/avant-garde-france/impressionism/a/japonisme

https://mymodernmet.com/japanese-art-impressionism-japonisme/Perry Expedition - Wikipedia

NCAW_436.pdf (19thc-artworldwide.org) - About Charles Ephrussi, he got Edgar Degas pass for the Opera coulisse, which is not in the bookThe Private Collection of Edgar Degas - Ann Dumas, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) - Google Books

Degas and Hiroshige

Les amis de l'art japonese - Sorbonne

‘A true multi-sensory experience’: the Met celebrates Japanese poetry, calligraphy and painting | Art | The Guardian

When east inspired west: the extraordinary influence of Japanese art | Art UK
tissot.pdf (dijon.fr)5 Mary Cassatt Artworks Inspired By Japanese Woodblock Prints – Street Art Museum Tours
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