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Edouard Manet (1832-1883)

Born in January of 1832 in Paris, Edouard Manet lived to become what many believe to be the originator of the painting style we call Impressionism. As is the case with many artistic geniuses, Manet followed his dream and became an artist against the wishes of his parents. His father was an influential government official who had hoped Edouard would follow in his footsteps, but Edouard had other ideas.

Edouard, who had been exposed to museums--especially the Louvre--as a youngster, had shown a real talent in drawing and the arts. He was not particularly gifted in scholarly endeavors, and to avoid being pushed into a profession he did not enjoy, he opted to become a merchant seaman. In 1850, after his enlistment at sea, he began his formal art training. He entered the academic studio environment of Thomas Couture, where he studied until 1856. He visited Germany, Italy and the Netherlands to study the work of the Old Masters. Although influences during these early studio years were Dutch painter Frans Hals and Spanish painters Diego Valazquez and Francisco Goya, he preferred to reflect the ideas and images of current times rather than to concentrate on the past. He assumed the philosophy of contemporary realism to reflect what was happening in his own time. This was a strong departure from what most other artists of his period were doing.

His subjects included everyday (genre) subjects, and depicted street urchins, café scenes, Spanish bullfights, old beggars, and drunkards - subjects far removed from Manet's circle of economic background and not what most Parisians preferred to be recorded. His subjects and their style went against what was then considered acceptable and proper and was dismissed by the general public. Thus Manet became part of that strong group of rejected artists who formed the original Salon des Refuses exhibition. One early Salon exhibition included the now famous scene of a trio of picnickers, two clothed gentlemen and one nude female ("Dejeuner sur l'herbe" or Luncheon on the Grass), about which much has since been hypothesized. It attracted immediate attention, but was panned by the critics.

This very exhibition launched Edouard Manet as the champion for all young painters, those who encountered the same rejection and scorn from critics and the public. He became a central figure in the then-hot dispute between academic and rebellious art factions.

At this same time, Paris was going through a major transformation. Modernization and revitalization programs were implemented, and physical, cultural and social change was afoot. It was this connection to a modern Paris that Manet chose to concentrate on in his work. Imagine the spirit and electricity in a city going through such transformation! It energized Manet's work and allowed him to experiment with a method of paint application that loosened tight detail and near pictorial duplication. The difference in his work and the highly finished canvases approved of by the academy, especially by the Salon, shocked the fashionable society. In addition, his style originated a look referred to as "snapshot"--quick, simple color areas and vivid brush techniques. Later, artists like Degas followed Manet with this style, as did many others, and slowly the process known as Impressionism was born.

The first work by Manet to be accepted by the formal Salon, "Guitar Player" (1861), now hangs in the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. It represented Manet's great emphasis on acceptance by the Salon. He felt that the only way an artist of his time could be successful was through recognition by the Salon.

It had never been Manet's intention to shock or repulse with his work. He was not a radical artist, nor was he a bohemian, as his critics had thought. He was a newly married man, well mannered and well bred and a member of high society.

In 1870, Paris was besieged by the Franco-Prussian war and Manet enlisted as a gunner in the National Guard. Paintings of that period depict his sentiments, his loathing of war and what it extracts from its people. By 1874, Manet's reputation was that of experimental artist and leader of the Impressionists. This group of avant-garde artists was gaining in popularity and was exhibiting publicly. Included in the group were Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne and Camille Pissarro. Manet influenced their work, and they in turn influenced his. While he offered support and financial aid to his artist friends, he chose never to exhibit with them; his focus remained centered on the Salon.

Contradictions of tone and content in his later works energize the scenes and draw the viewer in. While Manet was never united with the artists known for true Impressionism, his work can surely be viewed as setting trends in style, form and content - all elements used by the Impressionists of his time and those who followed. Manet once said he wanted to create "not great art, but sincere art." While he did not gain recognition for his work until late in his life, in 1882, only one year prior to his death, Manet was awarded the Legion of Honor for his influence on Parisian art. Manet died on April 30, 1883. Besides many watercolors and pastels, he left 420 oil paintings.Manet: The Still Life Paintings is on view at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, MD, through April 22. It features 55 works of art, including a number of rarely seen works. Included are 37 oils, as well as a selection of works on paper in a variety of media, that represent the entire range of Manet's production in the genre. Portraits and figure paintings into which the artist incorporated still lifes and samples of the artist's private correspondence--decorated with deft, intimate renderings of flowers and fruit--are also included.

Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 11 No. 4 -- February 2001