Manet
Achievements: Major French 19th century painter
Born: January 23, 1832; Paris, France.
Died: April 30, 1883; Paris, France (Aged 51)
Field & Discipline: Art; Painter
Language: French.
Education: College Rollin, Paris.
Major Works:
"Olympia"
“The Bar at the Folies-Bergere"
Life & Times:
On instruction from his parents, Manet applied to enter the naval college but failed the entrance examination so, in 1848, he became an apprentice pilot on a merchant ship. On his return to France he began studying under Thomas Couture. Couture was a traditional painter and Manet learned sound technique from him, but he learned more in the Louvre from looking at masters like Titian and Diego Velasquez. After six years in Couture's studio, Manet moved to share a studio with another painter, Albert de Balleroy. In 1857, he met Henri Fantin-Latour and that year, painted "The Boy with Cherries" before moving on to another studio to paint "The Absinthe Drinker" in 1859.
In 1861, he exhibited at the Paris Salon, showing his "Spanish Singer". Manet had been inspired by the visit of a group of Spanish dancers and singers to Paris and executed a series of paintings influenced by them. In 1862, he showed "Lola de Valence" at the Salon which the poet, [a fan was] Baudelaire*, declared to be "a jewel in pink and black". Baudelaire suggested to Manet that he paint a picture of one of the concerts held in the Tuilieries gardens. The aptly named "Concert in the Tuileries Gardens" c. 1862 was exhibited in Paris.
In 1863, the Salon rejected Manet's next painting, "Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe" so he exhibited it at the Salon des Refuses, set up by Napoleon III for artists rejected by the Paris Salon. The portrayal of a naked woman sitting with two men in modern dress in a picnic scene caused outrage. It the same year, Manet married Suzanne Leenhoff, a Dutch woman by whom he had already had a son, Leon. He also began to be influenced by his friend [influenced by] Degas*. The best known work from this period is "The Races at Longchamp, Paris", 1864. He also painted "Christ with Angels" showing Christ as a human being, his body decomposing.
At the Paris Salon in 1864, he exhibited a nude "Olympia", which was considered lewd, but which inspired the artist [inspired] Cezanne*. By now, younger painters, also wanting to break free of neo-classicism and romanticism, were studying Manet's work and looking to him for leadership. In 1866, the Salon rejected "The Fifer", for which his son was the model, so [supported by] Zola*, then a young journalist, wrote several satirical articles for the press attacking the selection jury at the Salon. Manet suffered a further setback in 1867, when many of his paintings were rejected for the Universal Exposition. He reacted by putting up a stall in the street and exhibiting his work there, but the reaction to his work was still hostile.
Zola praised Manet's work in the press and Manet exhibited his portrait of Zola in 1868. He also showed "The Balcony" for which the painter Berthe Morisot modelled. He went on to paint a number of portraits of Morisot and she eventually married his brother. In the Salon of 1870, Fantin-Latour's painting "The Studio in the Batignolles" was exhibited. It showed Manet painting in his studio, watched by his supporters Zola, the sculptor Zacharie Astruc and the painters [a pal of] Monet*, Frederic Bazille and [a pal of] Renoir*.
When the Franco-Prussian war broke out in 1870, Manet joined the National Guard and remained in Paris through the siege of Paris. He left the city at the beginning of 1871, removing his pictures to a safe place before his departure. In 1872 he visited Holland in 1872 and was impressed by the paintings of Frans Hals. His later painting, "Le Bon Bock" shows Hals' influence, and was enthusiastically received at the Salon in 1873, where many of the modern artists, including Renoir and [knew] Pissarro*, were rejected. In 1874, he painted with the young Impressionist Claude Monet on the banks of the Seine and "Boating" is one of Manet's most striking paintings. The younger painters idolized him for his stand against the reactionary values of the art establishment, and he was encouraged by their response to his use of bright colours and modern subjects. He went on to complete some of his best paintings in the 1870s, including "The Plum" in 1877, "The Blonde with Bare Breasts" in 1878 and "Chez le Pere Lathuille" in 1879.
Manet’s health began declining at the start of the 1880s and he started to suffer from the early stages of paralysis. In 1881, he had a solo exhibition at the premises of the rmagazine "La Vie Moderne." In 1882 he painted a portrait of the actress Jeanne de Marsy, and his works were shown in an exhibition of French art at the Royal Academy in London at the beginning of 1883. He also showed "A Bar at the Folies-Bergere" at the Paris Salon but, in the spring of 1883, his illness confined him to bed. Suffering from gangrene, one of his legs was amputated, after which he died.
Extra Connections: Met [met] DG Rossetti*
Too ill to see [too ill to see] Sickert*
He illustrated the work of [illustrated poem by] Mallarme and Poe*
Assessment: Manet is seen by many as the decisive break with traditional art and the bridge between Realism and Impressionism.
Oneliner: Edouard Manet, painter who bridged realism and impressionism
Bibliography:
- Brombert, Beth Archer, Edouard Manet, Rebel in a Frock Coat, Little, Brown & Co., London, 1996.
Father: Auguste Manet
Mother: Eugenie-Desiree Fournier
Siblings: Eugene and Gustave.
Spouse: Suzanne Leenhoff.
Children: One son Leon.