Art Notes Caillebotte – Painting Men – Secrets behind Caillebotte

Among the hundreds of Impressionist paintings, the Floor Scrapers has always been one of my favorites. I’m not certain where I first viewed it in person, but I’ve never forgotten it. The neutral pallet ranging from bright sunlight to dark shadows combine to produce stark contrasts. An obvious variance to pastel impressionist paintings.

Autumn opening for the exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay focuses on Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894) and his predilection for masculine forms and portraits of men and seeks to examine this artist’s profoundly radical modernity through the lens of art history’s changing perspective on 19th-century forms of masculinity.

In a desire to produce a new, authentic form of art, Caillebotte took his subjects from his surroundings (Haussmann’s Paris, the country houses around the capital), his male acquaintances (his brothers, the workers employed by his family, his boating friends) , and ultimately from his own life. In response to the realist movement, he introduced new figures into his paintings: an urban worker, a man on a balcony, a sportsman, and even an intimate portrait of a male nude at his ‘toilette’. In an era when virility and republican fraternity prevailed, but traditional masculinity was also in crisis for the first time, these new, powerful images challenged the established order, both social and sexual. Beyond his own identity – that of a young rich Parisian bachelor – Caillebotte also brought profound questions into the male condition at the heart of Impressionism and Modernism.

This project was inspired by the recent acquisition of two of Caillebotte’s major works, by the J.Paul Getty Museum ( Young Man at His Window ) and the Musée d’Orsay ( A Boating Party ), and centers around a masterpiece from this artist, Paris Street; Rainy Day, on loan from the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition, which presents around 70 pieces, includes Caillebotte’s most important paintings of people, as well as pastels, sketches, photographs, and documents.

This event is organized in the year of the 130th anniversary of the artist’s death (1894), which is also the date when his outstanding collection of Impressionist paintings was bequeathed to the French government. To mark the occasion, the entire bequest will be on show in a temporary exhibition in one of the museum’s permanent galleries, reproducing the 1897 opening of the “Caillebotte Gallery” at the Musée du Luxembourg.

Mostly active in the 1870s and 1880s, Caillebotte stands apart from the other Impressionists for being the one artist to frequently depict men, and often in ambiguous scenes where one is never entirely sure of the artist’s intention or the viewpoint of the male figures within.

This is one of a long series of exhibitions, beginning with a major retrospective in 1994-1995 (Paris, Chicago), which have allowed the public to reconnect with Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894) and have shed light on certain aspects of his work: the Yerres period, the connection between his paintings and photography, and his passion for garden design, among others.

Paris: Musée d’Orsay – October 08th, 2024 to January 19th, 2025. The exhibition will be on display at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, from February 25 to May 25, 2025, and at the Art Institute of Chicago from June 29 to October 5, 2025.

Art Today London & Paris

Passing through London or Paris?

Everyone benefits from a measure of art when traveling; museums are frequently some of the grandest architectural structures in a city and contain additional riches inside.

My recent Journey to London and Paris was enhanced by a few memorable hours in museums. Picasso is always an invitation to linger, and London and Paris have a plethora of Picasso’s at the moment. Might I recommend a few hours of wandering?

London’s National Portrait Gallery is one of my favorite museums; geographically accessible in St Martin’s Place, right off Trafalgar Square. When it opened in 1856, it was the first portrait gallery in the world. Primarily housing portraits of historically famous and important British people, it also hosts many traveling exhibitions.

Picasso’s Portraits runs until February 5, 2017. If I were required to choose between several exhibits in Paris at the moment and this exhibition, I would say get thee to Paris on the next plane…however, my schedule delivered me initially to London.

Picasso’s Portraits provide an immense variety of drawings, paintings and sketches of over 80 works focusing on friends, family, his numerous lovers and wives. The body of the work includes realist oil paintings, including many self-portraits from his early career and provides a full representation of his evolving technique and his experimenting with various painting styles. The website has a marvelous video presentation of many of the pieces.

Picasso- Woman in a Hat (Olga)

Picasso- Woman in a Hat (Olga)

Personally, I love Picasso and never tire of seeing an exhibit or visit the Picasso Museum in Barcelona. His career spanned so many interesting periods and styles…the moody Blue period, seeing his travel influences, in particular I love his perspective change after he saw an African mask exhibit in Paris. The female shape became so angular and descriptive, Picasso didn’t seem to be ruled by fear of change and loved to experiment.

picasso-maya-in-sailor-suit

Picasso – Maya in A Sailor Suit

picasos-self-portrait

Picasso – Self Portrait

PARIS-

Separate blog on the block buster exhibition at Fondation Louis Vuitton.  But while in Paris also look for ‘Frederic Bazille The Youth of Impressionism’ at the Musee d’Orsay until March 5. Monet and his best friend Bazille shared an Impressionist history, unfortunately Bazille  died on the battlefield during the Franco-Prussian War, his reputation as a significant contributor to the movement has been building. Much of his work and a number of pieces by Monet, Renoir are on display. This show moves to Washington’s National Gallery in April.