The Art World in Paris - April 1874

As a fan of the Impressionist Moment (Movement?), it gives me great satisfaction to know that a daring group of artists organized the first impressionist exhibition in the former studios of photographer Nadar. You may recognize some names: Renior, Degas, Morisot, Cézanne, Pissarro, and Sisley. All these artists (and lesser-known ones) were seeking to escape from the subjects and styles preferred by the "official" Salon of that time and to introduce new subjects and styles in an exhibition of their own. Apparently, their Plein Air and other brushstroke styles of paintings of Friendships, Modern Life, Nature, Parisienne, Scandal, and other themes were not only an invitation to this "new way," but still loved and cherished 150 years later!

Most of the works shown at the exhibit in 1874 celebrated (in that style, as stated above) the emergence of an urban and bourgeois lifestyle. High society was represented most often, including fashionable clothes, going to the theater, horse races (and the finery associated with it - big hats!), "ladies of the evening," and seaside vacations (beaches).

As I may have mentioned in a previous post earlier this year, I thought Mick Jagger was in the house in Paris at the Musee d'Orsay. Loud, rocking voices in every language pinged around every gallery as the paintings seemed to glow off the museum walls. I even recorded a video of the packed galleries, with young and old alike fawning over each piece, especially from the most well-known Masters. It was incredible!

While enjoying the Impressionist show at the National Gallery of Art this weekend, the crowds were subdued, and only whispers emanated from the galleries. Although I felt the excitement from the crowd (lines to get into the first gallery took us 15 minutes, which is supposedly the best timing since the show began), it was not on par with the cacophony in Paris.

If you read my post yesterday and knew the artist, pat yourself on the back. If you could not place it with all the Masters' floral works, that still life was created by Augustus Renoir!

BSoleille!

Terri

Photos below are a sampling of the Paris show, with the last photo by Edouard Manet gracing both shows in Paris and Washington, DC (and I'll space out the Masterpieces over the next couple of days):

1) Pissarro (considered the grandfather of Impressionism "Femme au Ficher"(The Women with the Green File), 2) Renoir "Madam Alphonse Daudet), and 3) Manet "Le Chemin de fer" (The Railway)