Manet 1832 - 1883
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Edouard Manet - Biography
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Grand Hotel de Paris, Puerta del Sol, Madrid, Sunday morning
(3 September 1865)
TO HENRI FANTIN-LATOUR
How I miss you here and how happy it would have made you to see Velasquez who
all by himself makes the journey worthwhile; the artists of all the other
schools around him in the museum at Madrid, who are extremely well representyed,
all look like shams. He is the supreme artist; he did not surprise me, he
enchanted me. The full-length portrait we have in the Louvre is not from his
hand. Only the Infanta is indisputable. There is a huge painting here, full of
little figures like those in the Louvre picture called the Cavaliers, but with
figures of women as well as men, perhaps of higher quality and above all
completely unrestored. The landscape in the background is by a pupil of
Velasquez.
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The most extraordinary piece in this splendid oeuvre and possibly the most extraordinary piece of painting that has ever been done is the picture described in thr catalogue as a portrait of a famous actor at the time of Philip IV; the background disappears, there's nothing but air surrounding the fellow, who is all in black and appears alive; and the Spinners, the fine portrait of Alonso Cano; las Meninas (the dwarfs)(sic), another extraordinary picture; the philosophers, both amazing pieces; all the dwarfs, one in particular seen sitting full face with his hands on his hips, a choice picture for a true connoisseur; his magnificient portraits- one would have to go through them all, they are all masterpieces; a portrait of Charles V by Titian, which is highly regarded and which I'm sure I would have admired anywhere else, seems wooden to me here.
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Then there is Goya, the most originial next to the master
whom he imitated too closely in the most servile sense of imitation. But still
he's tremendously sprited. The museum has two fine equestrian portraits by him,
done in the manner of Velasquez, though much inferior. What I've seen by Goya so
far hasn't greatly appealed to me; in a day or so I'm to see a splendid
collection of his work at the Duke of Osuna's… (p.41)
* * *
Chateau de Vassé, Thursday 14 September (1865)
TO CHARLES BAUDELAIRE (in Brussels)
…At
last, my dear Baudelaire, I've really come to know Velasquez and I tell you he's
the greatest artist there has ever been; I saw 30 or 40 of his canvases in
Madrid, portraits and other things, all masterpieces; he's greater than his
reputation and compensates all by himself for the fatigue and problems that are
inevitable on a journey in Spain. I saw some interesting things by Goya, some of
them very fine, including an incredibly charming portrait of the Duchess of Alba
dressed as a majo (sic)… (p.42)
* * *
Chatateau
de Vasse, 17 September (1865)
TO ZACHARIE ASTRUC
I'm back from my Spanish tour and am staying on for a few days. I'm planning to
take a bit rest, because I had a great deal to see in a short time and came back
to the family worn out. Your advice and excellent instructions guided me during
my stay, so it's to you, first and foremost, that I owe an account of what I
found there. What thrilled me most in Spain and made the trip worthwhile were
the works of Velasquez. He's the greatest artist of all; he came as no surprise,
however, for I discovered in his work the fulfilment of my own ideals in
painting, and the sight of those masterpieces gave me enormous hope and courage…
I was not at all impressed by Ribera and Murillo. They are definitely
second-rate artists. Compared to Velasquez's portrait of the Duke of Olivares,
Titian's Charles V looks like a dummy on a rocking horse. There were only two
painters, apart from the Master, who attracted me: Greco whose work is bizarre,
but includes some very fine portraits(I didn't like his Christ at Burgos at all)
and Goya whose masterpiece seems to be in the Academy (The Duchess of Alba [in
fact the Clothed Maja], what a stunning creation)… (p. 42-43)
* * *
(L'Evenement
illustre, 10 May 1868)
RECORDED BY EMILE ZOLA
(During the portrait sessions) …I can't do anything without the model. I don't
know how to invent. So long as I tried to paint according to the lessons I had
learnt, I produced nothing worthwhile. If I amaount to anything today, I put it
down to precise interpretation and faithful analysis. (p.49)
***
(c. 1868-70)
RECORDED
BY PHILIPPE BURTY
(A lesson in still-life painting for Eva Gonzales) Get it down quickly. Don't
worry about the background. Just go for the tonal values. You see? When you look
at it, and above all when you think how to render it as you see it, that is, in
such a way that it makes the same impresssion on the viewer as it does on you,
you don't look for, you don't see the lines on the paper over there do you? And
then, when you look at the whole thing, you don't try to count the scales on the
salmon. Of course not. You see them as little silver pearls against grey and
pink - isn't that right? - look at the pink of this salmon, with the bone
appearing white in the centre and than greys like shades of mother of pearl!
And the grapes, now do you count each grape? Of coursenot. What strikes you is
their clear amber colour, and the bloom which models the form by softening it.
What you have to decide with the cloth is where the highlights come and then the
planes which are not in direct light. Halff-tones are for the Magasin
pittoresque engravers. The folds will come by themselves if you put them in
their proper place. Ah! M. Ingres, there's the man! We're all just children.
There's the one who knew how to paint materials! Ask Bracquemond… Above all keep
your colours fresh!... (p.54)
* * *
(1873)
RECORDED BY THEODORE DURET
(To
friends posing for the Opera ball) How do you put on your hat when you do it
without thinking and feel completely at your ease? Well then, do it the same way
when you are posing, without any affectation. (p. 119)
* * *
TOUT ARRIVE Wednesday evening (8 April 1874 postmark)
TO EUGENE MONTROSIER
I very much appreciate your sympathy; I've had two paintings refused, the Opera
ball and a Landscape with figures. They really are an ill-mannered lot, these
artistic worthies! But if you are willing to help me a little, that is a great
compensation. (p. 119)
* * *
TOUT ARRIVE (12 April? 1874)
TO STEPHANE MALLARME
My dear friend, Thanks, if I had a few supporters like you, I wouldn't give a f…
about the jury. (p.119)
*
* *
(1870s)
RECORDED BY ANTONIN PROUST
(To Jean Béraud, on
Monet) ...Coquelin has a good eye, one day he will appreciate Claude
Monet. There's not one of the school of 1830 who can set down landscape like
him. And when it comes to water - he's the Raphael of water. He knows all its
movements, whether deep or shallow, at every time of the day. I emphasise that
last phrase, because of Courbet's magnificent remark to Daubigny who had
complimented him on a seascape: "It's not a seascape, it's a time of day."
That's what people don't fully understand yet, that one doesn't paint a
landscape, a seascape, a figure; one paints the effect of a time of day on a
landscape, a seascape, or a figure. (p.121)
* * *
(Venice, winter 1874-5)
RECORDED BY CHARLES TOCHE
(On
the encounter with Toché at Café Florian) I can see you're a Frenchmen… Heavens,
how boring it is here! (On a motif for a picture near the Salute) I'll put in a
gondola with a gondolier wearing a pink shirt and an orange scarf, one of those
handsome fellows, as dark as a Moor.
… It's the most difficult thing, to give the impression that a hat is sitting
properly on the model's head, or that a boat has been constructed from planks
cut and fitted according to the rules of geometry.
(On planning a picture of the regatta at Mestre) When faced with such a
distractingly complicated scene, I must first of all choose a typical incident
and define my picture, as if I could see it framed. In this case, the most
striking features are the masts with their flittering, multicoloured banners,
the red-white-and-green Italian flag, the dark, swaying line of boats crowded
with spectators, and the gondolas like black and white arrows shooting away from
horizon; then, at the top of the picture, the watery horizon, the marked target
and the islands in the distant haze.
I would first try to work out logically the differen values, in thir nearer or
more distant relationships, according to spatial and aerial perspective.
The
lagoon mirrors the sky, and at the same time acts as a great stage for the boats
and their passengers, the masts, the banners, etc. It has its own particular
colour, the nuances it borrows from the sky, the clouds, from crowds, from
objects reflected in the water. There can be no sharp definition, no linear
structure in something that is all movement; only tonal values which, if
correctly observed, will constitute its true volume, its essential, underlying
design.
The gondolas and other boats, with their generally dark colours and reflections,
provide a base on which to set my watery stage. The figures, seated or in
action, dressed in dark colours or brilliantly vivid materials, with their
parasols, handkerchiefs and hats, appear as crenellated forms of differing tonal
values, providing the necessary repoussoir and defining the specific character
of the areas of water and gondolas that I can see through them.
Crowds, rowers, flags and masts must be sketched in with a mosaic of coloured
tones, in an attempt to convey the fleetingly quality of gestures, the
fluttering flags, the swaying masts.
On the horizon, right at the top, are the islands. There should be no more than
a suggestion of the most distant planes, veiled in the subtlest, most accurately
observed tints.
Finally the sky should cover and envelope the whole scene, like an immense,
shining canopy whose light plays over all the figures and objects.
The brushstrokes must be spontaneous and direct. No tricks, you have to pray to
the God of all good, honest artists to come to your aid!
(On painters and schools) Spain is so simple, so grandiose, so dramatic, with
its bone-dry stones and green-dark trees! Venice, when all's said and done, is
just a decor…
(On Veronese's Triumph of Venice in the Palazzo Ducale) It leves me cold! Such
wasted effort, such empty expanses! No emotion whatsoever! I love the Carpaccios
with their naive charm like illuminated books of hours. And… the Titians and
Tintorettos in the Scuola di San Rocco are imcomparable…But in the end, you see,
I always come back to Velasquez and Goya!
(On Tiepolo) They're so boring, these Italians, with their allegories, their
characters from Jerusalem delivered and Orlando furioso, with all that showy
bric-'a-brac. An artist can say everything with fruit and flowers, or simply
with clouds… (p.124)
* * *
(Undated)
RECORDED BY ANTONIN PROUST
We're on the wrong track. Who was it who said that drawing is the transcription
of form? The truth is, art should be the transcription of life. In other words,
at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, they do fine work but a lousy job…
An artist must be a 'spontaneist'. That is the proper term. But in order to
achieve spontaneity, you must muster your art. Trial and error won't get you
anywhere. You must translate what you feel, but your translation must be
instanteous, so to speak. One talks of l'esprit de escalier, or taking a belated
step with a witty retort. No one has ever talked of l'escalier de l'esprit, or
the steps that lead to wit and wisdom. Yet so many people try to climb them and
never succeed in reaching the top, given the difficulty of getting there at a
single bound. The fact is, you always find that what you did yesterday is no
longer in harmony with what you are doing today.
Personally, I am not greatly interested in what is said about art. But if I had
to give an opinion, I would put it inthis way: everything that has a sense of
humanity, a sense of modernity, is interesting: everything that lacks these is
worthless. (p.202)
* * *
(1882)
RECORDED BY GEORGES JEANNOT
Concision in art is a necessity and a matter of elegance. The concise man makes
you think; the verbose man is a bore. Always aim for concision… Look for the
essential areas of light and shade in a figure; the rest will fall into place,
often with no greater effort. And because nature can only give you factual
information, you must cultivate your memory which will act as a safety net and
save you from falling into banality… You must always lead the dance and provide
entertainment. Don't make it a chore, no, never a chore!... (p.202)
* * *
(Undated)
RECORDED BY ANTONIN PROUST
If Bacon's definition, that art is man added to nature, homo additus naturae, is
an absolute truth, you still have to be sure that nature is what you've got.
Even the most faithful memory is no substitute.
(On colour and line) …without punctuation there can be no spelling nor grammar,
and its absurd to try and distinguish between colour and line.
…It's true I don't draw the sort of stupid lines one is taught at the Ecole (des
Beaux- Arts). But just ask the illustrious professors who teach there to sketch
in a picture with a feeling for light in their fingertips. I defy them to do it.
There is such a radiance and mobility in the atmosphere that envelops everything
in its dazzling splendor! Try telling that to people who pin a figure on a
canvas as one pins a butterfly in a display case.
(On
a portrait by a fashionable artist) I can see, of course, that he has painted a
frock coat. And this frock coat is impeccably cut. But where are the sitter's
lungs? He isn't breathing under it. He has no body. It's a portrait for a
tailor. (p.202)
* * *
(c.1878)
RECORDED BY GASTON LA TOUCHE
Thank you for having thought of me, but I can not take any pupils. Anyway, what
would I teach you? Nothing; or at least a very few things that can be summed up
in a couple of words: black does not exist, that's the first precept; don't do
anything that is seen through someone else's work, that's the second. So go back
home and paint from nature, which is much more important than Messrs X,Y and Z.
(p.203)
* * *
(1868-78)
RECORDED BY BERTHE MORISOT
You can do plein air painting indoors, by painting white in the morning, lilac
during the day and orange-toned in the evening. (p.203)
* * *
(c.1878-1882)
RECORDED
BY HENRI GERVEX
(On Robert-Fleury Senior [1797-1890], béte noire of Impressionist painters)
Isn't he ever going to leave us in peace, that old monster with one foot on the
burnt sienna ground and the other in the grave! (p.203)
* * *
(1870s)
RECORDED BY GEORGE MOORE
When Degas was painting Semiramis (in the early 1860s), I was painting modern
Paris. (p.203)
* * *
(1870s)
RECORDED BY EDMOND BAZIRE
(to visitors to Manet's studio) Just look at this Degas, this Renoir, this
Monet! Ah my friends, what talent!(p.203)
* * *
(Art Monthly Review, 30 September 1876)
RECORDED BY STEPHANE MALLARME
(Originial English translation from the lost French text) Each time (one) begins
a picture… (one) plunges headlong into it, and feels like a man who knows that
that his surest plan to learn to swim safely is, dangerous as it may be, to
throw himself into the water… No one should paint a landscape and a figure by
the same process, with the same knowledge, or in the same fashion; nor what is
more, even two landscapes or two figures. Each work should be a new creation of
the mind. The hand, it is true, will conserve some of its acquired secrets of
manipulation, but the eye should forget all else it has seen, and learn anew
from the lessons before it. It should abstract itself from memory, seeing only
that which it looks upon, and that as for the first time; and the hand should
become an impersonal abstraction guided only by the will, oblivious of all
cunning. (p.204)
(*) All quotations from book edited by Juliet Wilson-Bareau, Manet By Himself,
Time. (Page numbers noted after quotation.)
