.jpg?w=1)
拍品专文
Although he worked in still-life only intermittently during his long career, Monet's achievement in the genre has been widely recognized. Faisans suspendus is the last work from a series of compositions depicting game birds which Monet painted from 1879-1882. During these years, the artist executed the largest number of nature morte works in his career and exhibited them in both the Impressionist exhibitions and his own solo shows.
While still-life has always been appreciated by collectors, it was historically accorded a lowly role in the established hierarchy of genres, due to the academic perception that the still-life did not employ ingenuity and inventiveness in its execution, as opposed to historical themes, for example, which sat at the top of the hierarchy. By the middle decades of the nineteenth century, however, the still-life was gaining in popularity among critics and the public alike, and the demand for such compositions deepened. In particular, there was a renewed interest in the work of the eighteenth century artist Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, which would lead to his established perception as France’s greatest master of still-life painting (fig. 1). In the 1840s, the Louvre acquired several of Chardin’s paintings, articles about him began to appear in specialist journals, and a critical catalogue of his works was begun. In 1860, the critic Philippe Burty organized an exhibition of French eighteenth century paintings and drawings at the Galerie Martinet, which included a total of 41 paintings by the artist, all drawn from local collections. Three years later, the novelists and critics Edmond and Jules de Goncourt published a comprehensive study of his life and work. These developments, which renewed esteem and deepened the market for Chardin, his followers, and the genre of still life in general, occurred during a formative time for Monet’s practice. For Monet and his circle, Chardin was recognized as “the great touchstone for contemporary still life” (G. Shackelford, Impressionist Still Life, exh. cat., The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., 2001, p. 21).
In addition to aesthetic considerations, Monet's interest in still-life painting in the late 1870s-early 1880s was likely spurred in part by commercial concerns. The artist’s depictions of fruit and trophies of the hunt were selling well and for higher prices than his landscapes at a period when his financial health was on the decline. Charles Stuckey has declared, "Financially speaking, landscape painter Monet was saved by his work in still-life" (Monet at Vétheuil, The Turning Point, exh. cat., University of Michigan Museum of Art, 1998, p. 56). An earlier work from this series, Faisans et vanneaux (Wildentstein, no. 550, fig. 2), was exhibited in the artist’s first solo exhibition in 1880, and two years later at the seventh Impressionist exhibition. The present work was exhibited in another solo show mounted by his dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel, in March 1883. Monet chose to exhibit eleven still-life paintings in this exhibition. Through his promotion of his still-life compositions, Monet asserts his place in the lineage of the 18th century still-life tradition, adding to the appeal for potential buyers and consequently assuring the sale of his work. However, he does not slavishly replicate this popular motif of the past. Rather, as John House has stated, “it was Monet's still-lifes of around 1880 that more systematically undermined the conventions of the then-dominant Chardin tradition...Monet played down the physicality of the objects in favor of emphasizing their optical effect, with the informality of their grouping suggesting that this effect has been rapidly perceived, rather than carefully ordered" (Monet, Nature into Art, New Haven, 1986, p. 42).
(fig. 1) Jean-Siméon Chardin, Un canard col-vert attaché à la muraille et une bigarade, circa 1728. Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature.
(fig. 2) Claude Monet, Faisans et vanneaux, 1879. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
While still-life has always been appreciated by collectors, it was historically accorded a lowly role in the established hierarchy of genres, due to the academic perception that the still-life did not employ ingenuity and inventiveness in its execution, as opposed to historical themes, for example, which sat at the top of the hierarchy. By the middle decades of the nineteenth century, however, the still-life was gaining in popularity among critics and the public alike, and the demand for such compositions deepened. In particular, there was a renewed interest in the work of the eighteenth century artist Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, which would lead to his established perception as France’s greatest master of still-life painting (fig. 1). In the 1840s, the Louvre acquired several of Chardin’s paintings, articles about him began to appear in specialist journals, and a critical catalogue of his works was begun. In 1860, the critic Philippe Burty organized an exhibition of French eighteenth century paintings and drawings at the Galerie Martinet, which included a total of 41 paintings by the artist, all drawn from local collections. Three years later, the novelists and critics Edmond and Jules de Goncourt published a comprehensive study of his life and work. These developments, which renewed esteem and deepened the market for Chardin, his followers, and the genre of still life in general, occurred during a formative time for Monet’s practice. For Monet and his circle, Chardin was recognized as “the great touchstone for contemporary still life” (G. Shackelford, Impressionist Still Life, exh. cat., The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., 2001, p. 21).
In addition to aesthetic considerations, Monet's interest in still-life painting in the late 1870s-early 1880s was likely spurred in part by commercial concerns. The artist’s depictions of fruit and trophies of the hunt were selling well and for higher prices than his landscapes at a period when his financial health was on the decline. Charles Stuckey has declared, "Financially speaking, landscape painter Monet was saved by his work in still-life" (Monet at Vétheuil, The Turning Point, exh. cat., University of Michigan Museum of Art, 1998, p. 56). An earlier work from this series, Faisans et vanneaux (Wildentstein, no. 550, fig. 2), was exhibited in the artist’s first solo exhibition in 1880, and two years later at the seventh Impressionist exhibition. The present work was exhibited in another solo show mounted by his dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel, in March 1883. Monet chose to exhibit eleven still-life paintings in this exhibition. Through his promotion of his still-life compositions, Monet asserts his place in the lineage of the 18th century still-life tradition, adding to the appeal for potential buyers and consequently assuring the sale of his work. However, he does not slavishly replicate this popular motif of the past. Rather, as John House has stated, “it was Monet's still-lifes of around 1880 that more systematically undermined the conventions of the then-dominant Chardin tradition...Monet played down the physicality of the objects in favor of emphasizing their optical effect, with the informality of their grouping suggesting that this effect has been rapidly perceived, rather than carefully ordered" (Monet, Nature into Art, New Haven, 1986, p. 42).
(fig. 1) Jean-Siméon Chardin, Un canard col-vert attaché à la muraille et une bigarade, circa 1728. Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature.
(fig. 2) Claude Monet, Faisans et vanneaux, 1879. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts.