Pierre Auguste Renoir

Transcription

1 Pierre Auguste Renoir French Impressionist Artist ( ) Art is about emotion; if art needs to be explained it is no longer art. Pierre-Auguste Renoir Welcome Back to our Country Isles Museum! We hope you enjoyed the history of Pop Art and now we want to send you back in time about 174 years to the birth of Pierre Auguste Renoir who was born on February 25, 1841 in Limoges, France. He came from very humble beginnings as the son of a tailor and a seamstress, and was in fact the sixth of seven children! The family moved to Paris when he was just 3 years old and they were lucky enough to live near the Louvre, which as you know is still today - one of the world s most renowned art museums. He would often visit the Louvre to go see and study the French master painters in hopes of becoming one of them one day! As a teenager, Renoir became an apprentice to a porcelain painter. He learned to copy designs to decorate dishware by hand painting flowers and other motifs from the eighteenth-century onto cups and plates. While employed there, he painted profiles of Marie-Antoinette on the fine white tea cups. At night he attended free drawing classes and gained a year s pass to the Louvre. His painting skills assured him a secure position as a porcelain painter, and he relied on this trade until he was 18. Later, after the factory had gone out of business, he worked for his older brother who had a company that produced painted curtains and wall hangings and decorations on fans until he saved enough money to move to Paris. Like most of the artists we have studied, he used imitation as a learning tool, as the now nineteen-year-old Renoir started studying and copying some of the great works hanging at the Louvre. He learned and practiced enough to eventually enter a famous art school. It wasn t long before Renoir became fast friends with another great master we have studied Mr. Claude Monet. 1

2 In 1869 Renoir and Claude Monet worked together to produce the first landscape paintings in the impressionist style. This new style sought to capture the effect of the light on their subject. Because they were painting outside, they painted with bright colors and quick brush strokes, capturing the key elements before the light changed. It was then that Renoir and Monet made their discovery that shadows are not brown or black but are colored by their surroundings, and that the 'local color' of an object is modified by the light in which it is seen, by reflections from other objects and by contrast with juxtaposed colors (placed side by side) Soon after, he met other such emerging talents like Camille Pissarro and Paul Cézanne whose works you can see on our museum walls. At just 23, Renoir won acceptance into the snobby yet very prestigious Paris Salon exhibit. You may remember that artists who wanted to show their work at the Paris Salon had to send their work in to be accepted by a group of judges. The judges decided whose work was good enough to be displayed. For this reason, Renoir showed his most realistic paintings at the Salon because he KNEW that was what the Judges were used to and would appreciate. There he showed the painting, "La Esmeralda," which was inspired by a character from Victor Hugo's Notre- Dame de Paris. The following year, Renoir was again invited to show his work at the prestigious Salon when many of the other young Impressionists were overlooked. While his Salon works helped raise his profile or visibility in the art world, Renoir still had to struggle to earn a living. He sought out commissions for portraits and often depended on the kindness of his friends, mentors, and patrons. Renoir also remained close to the friends he met in school and sometimes stayed at their homes or shared their studios to make ends meet. According to many biographies, he seemed to have no stable address during his early career. Renoir had become friends with the Charpentier family, and in times of need they helped him financially. In return he painted portraits of their family. Madame Charpentier and Her Children became one of his most successful works. We also see that he painted Claude Monet s young family as well. When he painted his most famous work, moulin de la Galette. It depicted a joyful event, with people dancing and socializing; a passing moment in time. The light bounces off the Parisian jubilee, giving the impression that this is a grand affair. Since some of the people are sliced in half on the edge of the canvas which gives the illusion that this scene extends beyond canvas. A scene as joyous as this is usually categorized as a joie de vie, meaning the joy of life which is how many people feel still today when they see a Renoir! With the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, when he was 29 - Renoir had to take a break from the work he so loved as he was drafted into Napoleon s French army. He was assigned to train Cavalry horses for in the Pyrenees but he soon fell ill with dysentery and lucky for him, he never saw any action during the war After the war ended Renoir eventually made his way back to Paris. He and some of his friends, including Pissarro, Monet, Cézanne and Edgar Degas, decided to show their works on their own in Paris in 1874, which became known as the first Impressionist exhibition. 2

3 This name was first used by critics, viewing the exhibition and was directed specifically at Monet s painting of a harbor at dawn which he titled Impression: Sunrise. This painting was a striking example of the new style which critics felt were nothing but mere Impressions rather than finished paintings done using traditional methods. Renoir, like other Impressionists, embraced a brighter palette for his paintings, which gave them a warmer and sunnier feel. He also used different types of brushstrokes to capture his artistic vision on the canvas. He is also known today - as a master at facial expressions which can give a painting real attitude and help tell the story While the first Impressionist exhibition was not a success, Renoir soon found new and very wealthy patrons to propel his career. Through these friendships, Renoir was featured in many private shows and was again commissioned to do several portraits of their friends and family. During the 1880s Renoir began to separate himself from the impressionists, largely because he became unhappy with the direction the new style was taking in his own hands. In paintings like the Luncheon of the Boating Party, he felt that his style was becoming too loose and that forms were becoming less distinct. As a result, he looked to the past for a fresh inspiration. In 1881 he traveled to Italy and was particularly impressed by the art of Raphael ( ). During the next six years Renoir's paintings became increasingly dry: he began to draw in a tight, classical manner, carefully outlining his figures in an effort to give them increased clarity. The works from this period, such as the Umbrellas are generally considered the least successful of Renoir's mature works. Now that Renoir was actually making money he began traveling and made several inspirational journeys to Africa and Italy and spent time in the south of France. While in Italy, Renoir finished three of his Master works "Dance in the Country," "Dance in the City" and "Dance at Bougival" (Boo-zhee-val) around this time. Renoir had a unique style he liked to use a palette knife to lay down layers of lead white paint. This process of layering filled the weave or crevices of the canvas, resulting in a smoother, more reflective surface. And while it was still wet, he would rapidly brush in thin layers of wash-like or water color paint, achieving a remarkable transparency and fluidity, particularly in flower petals such as orange and yellow blossoms and in the background. Amazingly enough, Renoir used only five different colors on his palette so he became a genius at blending those few colors to make a rainbow of others. When Renoir grew older, his style changed. It became softer and the outlines less definitive. He used very strong colors - often reds and oranges - and thick brush strokes. Renoir continued to use his trademark feathery brushstrokes to depict primarily rural and domestic scenes. His work, however, proved to be more and more physically challenging for the artist. 3

4 Final Years In 1907, Renoir bought some land and built a stately home for his family. He continued to work, painting whenever he could. By the end of the 1880s Renoir had passed through his dry period. His late work is truly remarkable: a glorious outpouring of luscious figures, beautiful girls, and lush landscapes. Examples of this style include the Music Lesson (1891), Young Girl Reading (1892), and Sleeping Bather (1897). Renoir's health declined severely in his later years. In 1903 he suffered his first attack of arthritis and settled in his winter home in France. The arthritis made painting painful and often impossible. Still, he continued to work, at times with a brush tied to his crippled hand. Instead of giving up on what he loved most this is when he tried his hand at sculpture. He worked with assistants to create works based on some of his paintings. Unlike most of the other artists we have studied, Renoir experienced a supreme triumph: the state had purchased his portrait of Madame Georges Charpentier and he was able to travel to Paris to see it hanging proudly in the Louvre. The world-renowned Renoir continued to paint until his death. He is undoubtedly one of the most prolific artists to have ever lived. He produced several thousand paintings during his 60 years as an active artist. Renoir served as an inspiration to so many other artists like Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso who are just a few who benefitted from Renoir's artistic style and methods His vibrant and colorful paintings are among the most well known and most reproduced works in the history of art. He is also known today - as a master at facial expressions which can give a painting real attitude and help tell the story 4

5 Renoir Project Notes 1. Please make sure to put the Child s Name and Teacher s Name on the Back of the Construction Paper 2. Glue the Artist Profile to the back of the construction paper (Pls have someone do this while video is running) 3. Fold the Construction Paper in Half (Horizontal) 4. Open the Paper and start to create a Landscape layer above the midway line or Horizon Line 5. Then add a layer or 2 more above that with different Earth tones. (Browns, Beiges, Greens, Yellows) etc 6. Then color fill in the sky above the Landscape - Blues 7. Add a few Trees, Grasses etc for effect above the landscape 8. Fold the Paper in half and rub thoroughly end to end with a Ruler 9. Open the Paper to observe the Reflection created on the lower half of the paper 10. Begin to add a few details if you wish (Boat or Umbrella or Birds) 11. Use Kleenex or QTips to texturize, blend and colorize different parts of your painting 12. Spray each child s work with Hair Spray to seal it in and dry instantly 13. Please FILE their work in their Class Portfolio in the File Cabinet 14. Please give the Children a wipe for their hands and then to wash their desks 15. Replace all of the Pastels 16. Please clean up and restock for next class!!!! 17. Thank you!!!! 5