Wednesday April 21, 1999

Announcements:

• none

    More on Manet

• treated painting as a canvas, not a window on life
• explored intrinsic properties of painting (techniques)
• advent of photography may have influenced this approach
• questioned tradition
• subject matter
• technique
• light to dark (few values in between)
• flat pictorial surface

• uses fellow artist as model
• she is staring out at us in am almost confrontational manner
• she's not a mythical figure, but instead a prostitute in high-class brothel
• her social standing (high-class, rather than street prostitute) was of concern to contemporary viewers
• the cat and its reaction represents aggressive sexuality
• very daring work
• her gaze makes the viewer a possible client (creates unease among some)
• no moralization of the image
• based on a similar Titian piece
• trying to bring Titian's subject matter up to date
• representation of the female nude was not considered offensive at the time--just Manet's approach
• an example of contemporary "acceptable" females nude: Alexander Cabanelle's "Birth of Venus", 1862
• why?
• mythological
• Olympia is not passive
• Cabanelle uses a traditional (traditional) approach to flesh, hair etc.
• Cabanelle's Venus is a passive, sexual/sensual figure (accessible to men)

• unusual depth techniques
• woman at back seems flat; part of a backdrop
• experiments with our expectations
• paint is thinly applied in places
• updated version of Renaissance topic: river gods
• woman not coy
• non moralizing approach

• plein aire painting
• would paint entire work outside
• coarse brush-stroke
• had to work quickly, before the light changed

• plein aire painting
• recording/capturing, rather than inventing natural light/color
• no extremes in values (dark/light)
• uses middle values
• even illumination
• shadows are colored (not black/brown)
• compare with  "Lise," Auguste Renoir, 1867
• shadows are also filled with color

• refinement of the brush-stroke
• mixing paint on canvas (immediacy)
• light/color are important

    "Le Moulin de la Galette," 1876

• modern subject, recreation at beer garden
• lighting and color are key (almost more important than the figures themselves)

       "Le Grenouillere," Monet, 1868   (at left and right)

• heavier brush stroke
• popular recreation area outside Paris

• lighter brush stroke
• more concern with human figures
• plan for both was to create these sketches that would later be developed into money-making projects
• paintings were exciting to colleagues because of their sketch-like properties
• recorded the first hand impression
• resulted in a new genre: Impressionism
• tries to parallel natural process of seeing

• technically radical
• especially free brush-work
• shards of light and color

• coarse application of paint

• were influenced by Japanese printmaking

• angles
• tilted perspective

• angles, perspective
• contemporary subject matter
• tilted/compressed composition

• the Impressionists had eight exhibitions from 1874-86
• they were ridiculed for their style
• stuck together for mutual support
• despite different styles, the group moved ahead the intrinsic qualities of painting