Renoir, Pierre-Auguste
(b. Feb. 25, 1841, Limoges, France--d. Dec.
3, 1919, Cagnes)
French
painter originally associated with the Impressionist movement. His early works
were typically Impressionist snapshots of real life, full of sparkling colour
and light. By the mid-1880s, however, he had broken with the movement to apply
a more disciplined, formal technique to portraits and figure paintings,
particularly of women (e.g. , Bathers, 1884-87).
In
1854 he began work as a painter in a porcelain factory in Paris, gaining
experience with the light, fresh colors that were to distinguish his Impressionist
work and also learning the importance of good craftsmanship. His predilection
towards light-hearted themes was also influenced by the great Rococco masters,
whose works he studied in the Louvre. In 1862 he entered the studio of Gleyre
and there formed a lasting friendship with Monet, Sisley, and Bazille. He
painted with them in the Barbizon district and became a leading member of the
group of Impressionists who met at the Cafй Guerbois. His relationship with
Monet was particularly close at this time, and their paintings of the beauty
spot called La Grenouillиre done in 1869 (an example by Renoir is in the
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm) are regarded as the classic early statements of the
Impressionist style. Like Monet, Renoir endured much hardship early in his
career, but he began to achieve success as a portraitist in the late 1870s and
was freed from financial worries after the dealer Paul Durand-Ruel began buying
his work regularly in 1881. By this time Renoir had 'travelled as far as
Impressionism could take me', and a visit to Italy in 1881-82 inspired him to
seek a greater sense of solidarity in his work. The change in attitude is seen
in The Umbrellas (NG, London), which was evidently begun before
the visit to Italy and finished afterwards; the two little girls on the right
are painted with the feathery brush-strokes characteristic of his Impressionist
manner, but the figures on the left are done in a crisper and drier style, with
duller coloring. After a period of experimentation with what he called his
`maniиre aigre' (harsh or sour manner) in the mid 1880s, he developed a softer
and more supple kind of handling. At the same time he turned from contemporary
themes to more timeless subjects, particularly nudes, but also pictures of
young girls in unspecific settings. As his style became grander and simpler he
also took up mythological subjects (The Judgement of Paris;
Hiroshima Museum of Art; 1913-14), and the female type he preferred became more
mature and ample. In the 1890s Renoir began to suffer from rheumatism, and from
1903 (by which time he was world-famous) he lived in the warmth of the south of
France. The rheumatism eventually crippled him (by 1912 he was confined to a
wheelchair), but he continued to paint until the end of his life, and in his
last years he also took up sculpture, directing assistants (usually Richard
Guino, a pupil of Maillol) to act as his hands (Venus Victorious;
Tate, London; 1914).
Renois
is perhaps the best-loved of all the Impressionists, for his subjects---pretty
children, flowers, beautiful scenes, above all lovely women---have instant
appeal, and he communicated the joy he took in them with great directness. `Why
shouldn't art be pretty?', he said, `There are enough unpleasant things in the
world.' He was one of the great worshippers of the female form, and he said `I
never think I have finished a nude until I think I could pinch it.' One of his
sons was the celebrated film director Jean Renoir (1894-1979),
who wrote a lively and touching biography (Renoir, My Father) in
1962.
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