}
Masterworks of Nineteenth Century French Realism
By Robert Amos
Masterworks of Nineteenth Century French Realism from the National
Gallery of Canada is the latest in a string of very popular
"blockbuster" shows to arrive at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
(1040 Moss Street, 384-4101, 2 December 2 - February 20, 2005). Pierre
Theberge, director of the National Gallery of Canada, describes it as a
"prequel", following the Impressionist Masterworks (seen in Vancouver)
and the Post-Impressionist Masterworks (seen in Victoria three years
ago).
Masterworks they are - among the sixteen paintings is Camille Corot's
dazzling Bridge at Narni (1827); Honore Daumier's Third Class Carriage
(1863), said to be his finest painting; Edgar Degas's haunting and
unfinished Woman with an Umbrella (1876); and The Letter by James
Tissot (1878), an intriguing canvas which I will address at length
next week.
The Letter by James Tissot
So what's the story?
European art had, until the 19th century, been a commodity purchased by
churches and governments, to decorate their halls and propagate their
myths and messages. During those times, artists of promise were trained
up in guilds and, later, in schools called academies. There, they
learned how to achieve what was expected by their patrons. At annual
exhibitions properly trained Academy artists could display their
abilities before their betters from the church and state, hoping for
possible commissions.
The resulting academic work did not represent the inner feelings of the
artists, but portrayed subjects drawn from the Bible, classical
mythology and ancient history. These paintings was impeccibly smooth,
and breathed an atmosphere typically airless. Entirely painted in the
studio, academic paintings appeared to be inhabited by artists' models
wearing "antique" costumes and assuming histrionic poses. The pictures
were intended to present a model of moral behaviour.
In France in the 19th century, a movement called Realism intended the
overthrow of this system. Beauty would no longer be measured against
the eternal standard of Antiquity, but was defined by what fed the
passions of contemporary Parisians - crowded street scenes, cabarets,
cafes, circuses, dance halls, or the interiors of bourgeois salons. It
would be painted by the people, for the people, with a freshness and
immediacy they would recognize as of their own times.
The 19th century was a time of turmoil in France, a time of the Citizen
King, the 1848 Revolution, the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune of
1871. Contemporary life had became more interesting than the past. Many
artists became involved in political actions, striving to change the
direction of the Academy and even taking to the barricades, to prison
or to exile.
As the new middle class rose to a sense of its own power, the artists
discovered this new world of patrons. The nouveaux riches patrons
wanted paintings to hang in their homes, not for the walls of the
church or state.
This great shift repositioned the artist in society. No longer was he a
hired decorator. He was now an individual - a citizen, a thinking
person. Courbet explained that "art is entirely individual and is, for
each artist, simply the ability that issues from his own inspiration
and his own studies of tradition." From now on, each artist's
experience and message was foremost.
Bridge at Narni by Camille Corot
The change from Academy to Realism took many forms. Moving away from
myths and Bible stories, some artists sought exotic new locales.
Jean-Leon Gerome's Camels at the Watering Place (1857) is derived from
his studies in Egypt. More artists chose France herself as the subject,
ennobling the timeless activities of the peasant - Jean-Francois
Millet's The Pig Killers (1867-70) shows a grisly farm scene composed
as if it was a classical freize.
Gustave Courbet's view of The Cliffs at Etretat (1866) is a
straightforward landscape study of a popular scene on the French coast.
Such landscapes seem commonplace to us, but at the time such a painting
seemed to lack subject matter. Furthermore, it was obviously painted
to some extent in the open air.
Eugene Boudin was influenced by Courbet's courageous practice. "His
approach is broad, and perhaps," he wrote in his journal, "I could
adapt this to my own work, yet at the same time I find it very coarse
and his attention to detail very summary and rather styleless". Boudin
built on Courbet's inspiration. He went on to be the father of
Impressionism and the original inspiration of Claude Monet. Boudin's
Port of Rotterdam (1880) is a painting by an artist who has left the
studio behind.
Another plein-air painter who worked on the French coast was Johan
Barthold Jonkind. His sunny Entrance to the Harbour of Honfleur (1864)
shows a well-known setting, the modern shipping rendered with the
sparkling clarity appropriate to a day at the seashore.
As the bourgeois replaced the church and state as patrons, it was only
natural that portraiture would take a much more important position in
the artists' production. Jean-Leon Gerome's Portrait of a Woman (1850)
presents a well-dressed woman painted with the gloss of the Academic
style. Yet, in the modern way, the emphasis is on her character rather
than the hieratic details of her costume. Cezanne's Portrait of Gustave
Boyer (1870-71) is not a painting of a pope or a king. It is a painting
of the artist's friend. As ever with Cezanne, his struggle to express
form eclipses any interest he might have had in a smooth finish.
Perhaps the highlight of the show is a canvas from Edgar Degas titled
Woman with an Umbrella (1876). Inscribed on a tinted background, the
summary sketching of the sitter's coat and arms would not begin to pass
muster at the Academy. Probably this is an unfinished painting. The
sitter's head is not flattering, and rendered with economy of means.
Yet it makes a soul connection with the viewer - her forthright gaze
meets our eyes. Even now, 130 years later, we confront our
contemporary.
Woman with Umbrella by Edgar Degas
Each of the sixteen paintings bears consideration. One still life by
Henri Fantin-Latour shows Roses(1885) of wonderful freshness, the
perfect enhancement to a lovely home. Another still life, a bowl of
blotchy and blemished apples by Gustave Courbet (1871), was painted
while the artist was imprisoned for subversive activity connected with
the downfall of the Commune in 1871. Though he was allowed paint and
canvas in his cell, he had no model, so he painted fruit and flowers.
The political tone of the times is perfectly evident in Honore
Daumier's masterpiece, The Third-Class Carriage (ca. 1863-65).
Remember, travel by rail was a remarkable subject for an artist at the
time. The social dimensions implied by every one of the travellers is
made more complex when one considers the drama imposed by the "class"
ticketing system.
The artist, during the 19th century, left his humble position as
decorator-for-hire and came to be respected as an individual, a poet
painting signs of the times. The unfolding of Realism is the birth of
the Modern, a saga whose evolution has been the main story of art
history ever since.
___________________________________________
Copyright © 2004Robert Amos
Robert Amos is an artist and art writer who lives in Victoria, B.C.. He can be contacted by
e-mail and you can view his paintings at
www.robertamos.com