.jpg?w=1)
拍品专文
This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue critique of Pierre-Auguste Renoir being prepared by the Wildenstein Institute established from the archives of François Daulte, Durand-Ruel, Venturi, Vollard and Wildenstein.
In his important figure composition Les grandes baigneuses, completed in 1887 (Daulte, no. 514), Renoir had hoped to introduce more classical elements into Impressionism. The figures were precisely drawn, in the manner of Ingres, there is an emphasis upon realism, as well as some concessions to the direction of contemporary academic tastes, as seen in the nudes of William-Adolphe Bouguereau. The painting was poorly received, however; the novelist and critic Joris-Karl Huysmans called it "old-fashioned," and Renoir did not sell it until two years later, to the painter Jacques-Emile Blanche for the modest sum of 1,000 francs. This disappointment caused Renoir to question this new direction in his work. Subsequently, in his nudes of the 1890s, he returned to looser, more painterly handling of form and color. He began to make numerous sales, finally leaving behind the lean years he had endured during the previous decade.
John House has written that Renoir's "nudes of the 1890s are on the borderline between modernity and timelessness" (Renoir, exh. cat., The Arts Council of Great Britain, London, 1985, p. 264). In adapting his looser, more openly expressive technique to the fullness of the female figure, and eschewing the conventional linearity and precision of French classicism, Renoir forged his own brand of contemporary classicism. It was no longer "old-fashioned," as Huysmans had complained, rather, his forms seemed to burst open and flower into natural ripeness and fulfillment that appeared frozen in time. "The quintessence of beauty for him was still sensuousness, best expressed through plump young women who are the link between the cycle of life and artistic creativity" (B.E. White, Renoir, His Life, His Art and Letters, New York, 1984, p. 280).
In his important figure composition Les grandes baigneuses, completed in 1887 (Daulte, no. 514), Renoir had hoped to introduce more classical elements into Impressionism. The figures were precisely drawn, in the manner of Ingres, there is an emphasis upon realism, as well as some concessions to the direction of contemporary academic tastes, as seen in the nudes of William-Adolphe Bouguereau. The painting was poorly received, however; the novelist and critic Joris-Karl Huysmans called it "old-fashioned," and Renoir did not sell it until two years later, to the painter Jacques-Emile Blanche for the modest sum of 1,000 francs. This disappointment caused Renoir to question this new direction in his work. Subsequently, in his nudes of the 1890s, he returned to looser, more painterly handling of form and color. He began to make numerous sales, finally leaving behind the lean years he had endured during the previous decade.
John House has written that Renoir's "nudes of the 1890s are on the borderline between modernity and timelessness" (Renoir, exh. cat., The Arts Council of Great Britain, London, 1985, p. 264). In adapting his looser, more openly expressive technique to the fullness of the female figure, and eschewing the conventional linearity and precision of French classicism, Renoir forged his own brand of contemporary classicism. It was no longer "old-fashioned," as Huysmans had complained, rather, his forms seemed to burst open and flower into natural ripeness and fulfillment that appeared frozen in time. "The quintessence of beauty for him was still sensuousness, best expressed through plump young women who are the link between the cycle of life and artistic creativity" (B.E. White, Renoir, His Life, His Art and Letters, New York, 1984, p. 280).