Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Renoir

Auguste Renoir
Self-portrait
ca. 1875
oil on canvas
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts
 
Auguste Renoir
Wheatfield
1879
oil on canvas
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Auguste Renoir
Woman with a parasol in a garden
1875
oil on canvas
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

The myth of embattled Impressionists defying public taste is particularly porous when applied to Renoir. Fairly early he began to attract an adoring following of picture-buyers, including many Americans. By mid-career a new show could be sold out before it opened. Art writers contrast Renoir's "eagerness to please" with the perceived non-commercialism of Pissarro or Cézanne. In our own age, of course, the work of Auguste Renoir has spawned uncountable posters, mouse-pads, mugs.  As my daughter pointed out on Pippa's Cabinet, the original work that generated the merchandise can easily become difficult to envision at all. That is why this selection is devoted to paintings not known to be prominent in reproduction.

Auguste Renoir
Woman on staircase
1876
oil on canvas
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
       
Auguste Renoir
Young Girls
1877
oil on canvas
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen

Auguste Renoir
Portrait of a woman, called Madame Georges Hartmann
1874
oil on canvas
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Auguste Renoir
Still-life with peaches
1881
oil on canvas
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Auguste Renoir
Still-life with peaches and grapes
1881
oil on canvas
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Auguste Renoir
Bouquet of Chrysanthemums
1881
oil on canvas
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Auguste Renoir
Woman in flowered hat
1892
oil on canvas
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Auguste Renoir
Still-life with bouquet
1871
oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Auguste Renoir
Bay of Moulin Huet, Guernsey
1883
oil on canvas
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Auguste Renoir
Girl Reading
ca. 1885-95
oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Auguste Renoir
Portrait of Claude Monet
1875
oil on canvas
Musée d'Orsay, Paris