Edouard Manet was born in 23rd January 1832 in France and died on the 30th
of April 1883. He defied traditional presentation techniques and chose subjects to form the event and circumstances of his time. His notable works include: “Olympia (1863)”, “A Bar at the Folies-Bergere (1882)” and “Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe (1863)”. His works are interesting and continue to attract the attention of artists.
Early Years
Edouard Manet’s father was August Manet who worked at the Ministry of Justice in France. He studied French and classics at Canon Poiloup’s school, Vaugirard from 1839 to 1843. Later, he joined College Rollin which was near the Pantheon from 1844 to 1848. He was not a good student and only exhibited interest in special drawing, a course that the school offered. After completing studies at College Rollin, he applied for the naval college but failed in the entrance exams. His father did not succeed in persuading him to pursue law. In 1848, he became an apprentice pilot on a transport vessel. When he returned to France in a year later, he tried the tried to do the naval exam for the second time but failed again.
In 1850, he met Thomas Couture who was a classical painter. He worked for six years in the studio of Couture and well learned the drawing and pictorial techniques of Couture. Afterward, he set up his own studio. He shared the studio with Albert de Balleroy who was a painter of military subjects. “The Boy with Cherries (1858)” is one of the works which he painted at that studio. He moved to a different studio and pained “The Absinthe Drinker (1859)”. In 1856 he made a trip to Germany, Netherlands, and Italy. At Louvre, he copied the paintings of Diego Velazques and Titian. In 1857 he became friends with Henri Fantin-Latour who was to paint his portrait. He also met Charles Baudelaire who influenced his painting “Music in the Tuileries Gardens (1862)”.
Adult life and Works
Manet married Suzanne Leenhoff who was a Dutch woman that had given him piano lessons. In that same year, Jury of the Salon did not approve of his work Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe. Instead, Manet exhibited the work at Salon des Refuses. The work received further criticism. In 1865, his work “Olympia” created a scandal. Critics considered it indecent since it depicted a nude female. In 1865, Manet went to Spain but never stayed there for long since he did not like the food and the language was hard for him to understand. While in Madrid, he met Theodore Duret who influenced most of his work.
Later Years
In 1874, Manet became a friend to a young impressionist named Claude Monet. Together, they painted on the banks of the Seine. He painted “Boating (1874)” which represented two figures seated in a boat under the sun. At Argenteuil, Manet painted his famous work “Monet Painting on His Studio Boat (1874)”. Despite being friends with impressionists, he would not participate in exhibitions. He thus submitted his paintings to the official Salon. In 1880, Manet’s legs had been affected by a malady. In the following year, the infection had worsened. In 1883 he had his leg amputated after it became gangrenous. He later died and was buried at a cemetery.
Legacy
Manet’s work was mainly criticized until a time close to the end of his career. It was in the 20th century that his reputation became positive among the critics and historians. He main his works paved way for impressionists and post-impressionists revolution. He was mainly distinguished for his focus on modern urban subjects. His works secured a place in the history of modern art.
Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe
Manet first exhibited “Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe” in the Salon des Refuses. Accordingly, the large oil on canvas painting depicted a nude female seated close to two fully dressed men, looking at the viewer while another scantily dressed woman bathed in a stream at the background. In front, there was the woman who was not clothed. There was also a display of a round loaf of bread and a fruit basket. The woman at the background seemed to be floating over the rest individuals in the painting. This is mainly because the background lacked depth. With that, there is a high chance that the painting took place in a studio.
The painting was done on a large canvas which measured 208 by 264.5 cm (Armstrong 97). the painting actually broke the tradition of the time. The main reason for the criticism was the naked woman that sat between two men. When one looks closely at the painting, it reveals that the brush strokes were not hidden. The kind of canvas that Manet used in this work was reserved for religious, historical and mythological subjects. The painting broke the academic tradition of that time.
Basically, Manet fascinated artists by doing something unique, that is, using a traditional scale of oil painting with contemporary nude female picture and the picnic lunch. From viewing the work, the viewer is struck by the image of a nude woman sitting amidst men who are fully dressed and do not seem to be on the same occasion. The nude woman in the image does not seem to be a classic painting when keenly observed. The pose of the woman and the men in the painting challenges both the 16th-century artists and the modern day notion of sexuality and nudity (Boime 676). Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe continues to elicit queries and explanations.
The woman seems to directly engage the viewers with her gaze and posture as well. That is, the gaze is confrontational and amusing. She does not seem to be worried about the fact that she was naked and close to the men by her side. Her concern was the viewer or rather, whatever was directly in front of her. Manet intriguingly placed the Victorine’s clothes on the ground by the food basket. The men wore contemporary clothes and the lady also has clothes but she chose not to wear them. This could mean that a mythological woman had been placed between the men or the modern scene. The men do not pay attention. The reason for her removal of the dress is not known. As it stands, it seems she removed the clothes after getting to the picnic site. The work was Manet challenge towards the idea of classical nudity.
A Bar at the Folies-Bergere
In 1882, Manet presented “A Bar at the Folies-Bergere” at the Paris Salon Exhibition (Kenneth 73). This was one year before his death. The work shows that he had developed an interest in scenes of urban spectacle. He had developed this interest as a result of impressionism decades earlier. The work has since impressed artists. Accordingly, the painting depicts a scene in a Paris nightclub named Folies Bergere. The original composer of the work is Emmanuel Chabrier, a close friend to Manet. In the painting, a lady stands before a mirror. It has been assumed that there was a conversation between a barmaid and a gentleman.
It is important to note that the painting was created by Manet when he was terminally ill. The setting was modern and featured The Folies-Bergere, a famous Paris's cafe-concert halls which were modern since the new-fangled electric lights are evident. The brush works utilized by the artist while developing the painting was mainly Impressionistic. The meaning of the work is totally obscure and baffling, just as Manet’s work life had been. The picture seems to be a straightforward frontal image of a barmaid serving behind her marble-topped counter. Behind the barmaid, there a big mirror which contains confusing reflections. At the top-right corner, a ghostly image of a man who appears to be directly in front of her is seen. She leans forward to enthusiastically serve the man who is only seen on the reflection.
As some critics and scholars observed, Manet constructed the scene while standing slightly to the right and not from a frontal head-on position as one might think. With the perspective, the barmaid conversed with the man. The gentleman is considered to be nothing but an optical trick. The man is actually seen to be standing outside and to the left of the new viewpoint. He was most likely looking away from the barmaid. That is he was not standing directly in front of the barmaid who was facing him. The barmaid's image is also optically deceptive.
The fruit, bottles, and vase of flowers are well arranged on the counter. The woman behind the bar is most likely a prostitute since the bar was known for harboring prostitutes and the male patrons who went there to seek the pleasure of the flesh. There are some observers who believe that Manet painted the barmaid while in his studio. While the content of this great work of Manet seems to be resolved, its main meaning is still obscure. It is not clear whether the work was his last trial to produce works that would be accepted by the professional painters of the time.
Conclusion
Edouard Manet was mainly chosen owing to the kind of legacy that he left behind. Interestingly, his work which was mainly criticized during his living years became famous towards the end of his career and posthumously. It was in the 20th
century that his reputation became positive among the critics and historians. He was also chosen because his work paved way for impressionists and post-impressionists revolution. His focus on modern urban subjects was a daring move for an artist at the time. His works have surely secured a place in the history of modern art.
Works cited
Armstrong, Carol "To Paint, To Point, To Pose" Manet's Le Déjeuner Sur L'Herbe. (1998).Cambridge: Cambridge UP. pp. 93–111.
Boime, Albert. Art in an Age of Civil Struggle. 2007.Los Angeles: The University of Chicago Press. p. 676.
Bradford R. Collins, ed., 12 Views of Manet's Bar, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1996
Fried, Michael. Manet's Modernism or, The Face of Painting in the 1860s. 1996. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. pp. 56–57.
Kenneth Bendiner, Food In Painting: From The Renaissance To The Present, Reaktion Books, 2004, pp. 73–74.
Thierry de Duve, "Intentionality and Art Historical Methodology: A Case Study". Nonsite.org Issue #6, July 1, 2012 [1]; builds and corrects previous work Thierry de Duve, How Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergere is Constructed, Critical Enquiry, Vol. 25, No. 1, Autumn 1998, pp. 136-168.
