Philadelphia in the Life of America: Art Reports |
Oscar Claude Monet was born in Paris in 1840. When Claude was 5 years old, his family moved to Le Havre. Monet studied with the landscape painter Eugene Boudin when he grew older. Boudin exposed him to the "en plein air" technique, which took the painter into the field and out of the studio. The painter had to experience nature, not rely on others or the painter's memories. Monet's first known painting was "Landscape at Rouelles." Monet moved back to Paris to study painting in 1859, two years after his mother died. Monet's first son was born in 1867, and Camille Doncieux became his bride in 1870. In 1883, Monet moved to Giverny. He bought a house there in 1890, where his garden inspired many of his famous paintings. At the Exposition Universelle of 1900, Monet was seen as one of the greatest painters in the French tradition. Monet was a terrific artist and colorist. He researched and experimented all his life. Light, its effects, and nature were all parts of his experiments. The Musee d'Orsay holds five of Monet's twenty "Cathedrals." Each painting in the series explored the differing light and shadow at different times in the day. Monet worked on and perfected each painting until the canvas was thick with paint. Each painting became a snapshot of a specific moment after Monet had perfected it. Monet worked on the exhibit of "Cathedrals" from 1893-1895. This amount of dedication and perfectionism on one exhibit demonstrates the care and skill Monet took with all of his work. Impressionism is defined as "crude colors; sketchy techniques; their fragmentation of traditional narrative, didactic or moralistic modes of representing contemporary life, and their demand that the spectator participate in their process of creation" (Spate 92). Most critics disliked the Impressionists' use of unconventional colors. One critic said that "Monet exhibits a collection of landscapes lit up by fireworks" and said that their canvases were "a shimmering chaos of brutal brushwork" (Spate 117). The Impressionists frequently used blues, pinks, and yellows. In 1882, the critics made a turnaround and started to understand the Impressionists' work. One critic said Monet was a "great lanscapist whose eye seizes with surprising fidelity all the phenomena of light" (Spate 150). Monet was one of the foremost Impressionists, and his work is still studied and revered. Even critics who didn't like other Impressionists exclaimed the virtues of Monet's work. "Monet is not only the most exquisite of the Impressionists, he is also one of the true contemporary poets of the things of nature; he does not simply paint it, he sings it; a lyre seems hidden beneath his palette" (Spate 150).
Summary by Corrie Davis, student, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Last year I chose to fulfill one of my electives by taking an Art History class, which covered art produced from the time of the Renaissance to the present. I have always had a great appreciation for visual arts ever since I was young, and I felt that this class would be very interesting. As we began to learn about the nineteenth century artists, I was disappointed that we only briefly discussed the sculpture of Auguste Rodin. When our professor put samples of work on the screen, it was evident that Rodin had a style unlike sculptors before him, and in most cases, a different style in art history led to a new movement or perspective on art. That is why I chose to learn more about the sculptor and where his inspiration came from.
Auguste Rodin grew up in Paris, along with his father, Jean-Baptiste, his mother Marie, and his sister, Maria. He had a very special bond with his sister, even though the two of them were complete opposites. Rodin could be seen as a dreamer and eloquent, whereas his sister was to the point and organized. As the two of them grew older, Maria entered a convent and then passed away in 1862, when Rodin was twenty-one. His sister's death proved to be a great tragedy in his life, and some say that it led to the fact that he could never find a true companion/soul mate.
Rodin was no stranger to hard times. In France, in order to be recognized as a successful artist, one must attend the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Believe it or not, the sculptor passed the drawing competition, but failed three times to pass the sculpture competition. Although this was a great failure, he never gave up and continued with his work. Rodin's style was indeed different, and he often used subjects in crude or uncomfortable positions. At the time, his innovation was not considered ideal for sculpture, though. His determination and love for art helped him to continue with his training, and in 1865 he began to exhibit his work in the Salon. The Salon at the time was exhibiting more contemporary styles which were both accepted and criticized. At the same time, he met a young woman named Rose Beuret, who then became his first lover. She gave birth to his son when she was twenty, and after four more sons, they married later on before they died in 1917.
Rodin's work consisted of commissioned works, gifts, and miscellaneous pieces. One of the greatest pieces that he was commissioned to create were "The Gates of Hell," which was meant for the Musee des Arts Decoratifs. As he prepared for their exhibition, he and Claude Monet became close friends. Other works such as "The Kiss," "The Thinker," and monuments to Victor Hugo and Balzac are some of his more famous works. He had a great admiration for Victor Hugo and based "The Thinker" on one of Hugo's statements about Dante and the human intellect.
At the turn of the century, Rodin ventured to make his work known in the Americas. By this time he established himself as one of the greatest sculptors of the time, and even though it was a gradual introduction, Americans in general were appreciative of the naturalistic form of his art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art was highly responsible for making his work famous, and the interest in his work has yet to die out.
There is a quote that could describe Rodin in a great way; he once said, "I'm tired and I've lost the sense of balance--I'm not as experienced in life as I am in sculpture." Rodin was greatly immersed in his work and often did not have as smooth of a life. Many women entered and left, and he often fell victim to scandal. He fell ill in 1917, went into a coma on th 16th of November, and died a day later. Even though he was a lonely man and had few great relationships, he still produced works that set the tone for modern day sculpture of the twentieth century. I look forward to seeing the Rodin Museum and learning more about this famous artist.
Summary by Jenny Koch, student, North Carolina State University