Frenchimpressionista loves French movies and rates La Vie En Rose as a three Camembert winner! (Unlike most movie reviewers, Frenchimpressionista uses an inverse system of odor to quality of film. The smellier the cheese, the better the film!)
The film stars Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf. Her performance is brilliant, as it ranges from young adulthood to old age. If you saw her in A Good Year with Russell Crowe, you will find her appearance unrecognizable as she transforms herself physically and spritiually into the tragic and transcendental Edith Piaf. A supporting role by Gerard Depardieu sparkles as well.
A great film, surely not to be missed by anyone who loves Paris and Edith.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Friday, June 15, 2007
Manet at the Getty this Summer
For all of us who love Manet's brilliance, from June 5, 2007 to September 9, 2007, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles is exhibiting on loan from the Courtauld Institute of London, one of Manet's greatest masterpieces, Bar at the Folies Bergere. It was completed one year before his untimely death from syphilis. If you live in L.A. or are planning to travel there this summer, this is a must-see exhibit.
Here is an excerpt from the web page of the Getty.
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, Édouard Manet, 1882
The Samuel Courtauld Trust, Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, London
Curator Scott Allan discusses the visual inconsistencies in the painting.
French painter Édouard Manet presented A Bar at the Folies-Bergère at the 1882 Paris Salon exhibition just one year before his death. The painting is the culmination of his interest in scenes of urban leisure and spectacle, a subject that he had developed in dialogue with Impressionism over the previous decade. On loan from the Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery in London, the painting is a masterpiece that has perplexed and inspired artists and scholars since it was painted over 100 years ago.
The Folies-Bergère was one of the most elaborate variety-show venues in Paris, showcasing entertainment ranging from ballets to circus acts. Another attraction was the barmaids, who were assumed by many contemporary observers to be available as clandestine prostitutes. By depicting one of these women and her male customer on an imposing scale, Manet brazenly introduced a morally suspect, contemporary subject into the realm of high art. By treating the topic with deadpan seriousness and painterly brilliance, Manet staked his claim to be remembered as the heroic "painter of modern life" envisaged by critics like Charles Baudelaire.
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, Édouard Manet, 1882
Learn more about the Folies-Bergère and modern Paris.
In addition to the social tensions evoked by the painting's subject, Manet's composition presents a visual puzzle. The barmaid looks directly at the viewer, while the mirror behind her reflects the large hall and patrons of the Folies-Bergère. Manet seems to have painted the image from a viewpoint directly opposite the barmaid. Yet this viewpoint is contradicted by the reflection of the objects on the bar and the figures of the barmaid and a patron off to the right. Given such inconsistencies, Manet seems not to have offered a single, determinate position from which to confidently make sense of the whole.
In the installation at the Getty Center, a mirror has been installed to help dramatize the questions of vision and reflection raised by Manet's painting.
The visual and psychological ambiguities of A Bar at the Folies-Bergère have prompted many questions:
• How are we to characterize the barmaid's expression?
• What is the nature of the viewer's relationship to the barmaid?
• What is happening between the barmaid and the man reflected in the mirror?
• If we see the man's reflection in the mirror, why isn't his figure also visible in front of the bar?
• Why is there no indication in the mirror of the balcony walkway on which we imagine the man, or ourselves, to be standing?
• Why are the reflections of the figures and still life objects displaced so far to the right?
The more one reflects on Manet's painting, the more difficult it becomes to project a straightforward narrative onto it, and the more conscious and uncertain we become of our position as spectators. At once invoking and undermining the traditional notion of painting-as-mirror, Manet's work becomes a profound interrogation of the act of looking itself.
What's Your Reaction to the Painting?
What do you make of the painting's visual and psychological ambiguities?
The J. Paul Getty Trust
© J. Paul Getty Trust | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Contact Us
Here is an excerpt from the web page of the Getty.
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, Édouard Manet, 1882
The Samuel Courtauld Trust, Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, London
Curator Scott Allan discusses the visual inconsistencies in the painting.
French painter Édouard Manet presented A Bar at the Folies-Bergère at the 1882 Paris Salon exhibition just one year before his death. The painting is the culmination of his interest in scenes of urban leisure and spectacle, a subject that he had developed in dialogue with Impressionism over the previous decade. On loan from the Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery in London, the painting is a masterpiece that has perplexed and inspired artists and scholars since it was painted over 100 years ago.
The Folies-Bergère was one of the most elaborate variety-show venues in Paris, showcasing entertainment ranging from ballets to circus acts. Another attraction was the barmaids, who were assumed by many contemporary observers to be available as clandestine prostitutes. By depicting one of these women and her male customer on an imposing scale, Manet brazenly introduced a morally suspect, contemporary subject into the realm of high art. By treating the topic with deadpan seriousness and painterly brilliance, Manet staked his claim to be remembered as the heroic "painter of modern life" envisaged by critics like Charles Baudelaire.
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, Édouard Manet, 1882
Learn more about the Folies-Bergère and modern Paris.
In addition to the social tensions evoked by the painting's subject, Manet's composition presents a visual puzzle. The barmaid looks directly at the viewer, while the mirror behind her reflects the large hall and patrons of the Folies-Bergère. Manet seems to have painted the image from a viewpoint directly opposite the barmaid. Yet this viewpoint is contradicted by the reflection of the objects on the bar and the figures of the barmaid and a patron off to the right. Given such inconsistencies, Manet seems not to have offered a single, determinate position from which to confidently make sense of the whole.
In the installation at the Getty Center, a mirror has been installed to help dramatize the questions of vision and reflection raised by Manet's painting.
The visual and psychological ambiguities of A Bar at the Folies-Bergère have prompted many questions:
• How are we to characterize the barmaid's expression?
• What is the nature of the viewer's relationship to the barmaid?
• What is happening between the barmaid and the man reflected in the mirror?
• If we see the man's reflection in the mirror, why isn't his figure also visible in front of the bar?
• Why is there no indication in the mirror of the balcony walkway on which we imagine the man, or ourselves, to be standing?
• Why are the reflections of the figures and still life objects displaced so far to the right?
The more one reflects on Manet's painting, the more difficult it becomes to project a straightforward narrative onto it, and the more conscious and uncertain we become of our position as spectators. At once invoking and undermining the traditional notion of painting-as-mirror, Manet's work becomes a profound interrogation of the act of looking itself.
What's Your Reaction to the Painting?
What do you make of the painting's visual and psychological ambiguities?
The J. Paul Getty Trust
© J. Paul Getty Trust | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Contact Us
Monday, June 11, 2007
Paris in the Nineteenth Century
I wish I could time travel to Paris in the 19th century. If you do too, here's a fascinating website you'll love. I'll show you a preview and you can go to the URL below. Bon Voyage!
Social class in Paris in the nineteenth century determined how people lived, worked, interacted, traveled, and relaxed. Each class participated in and responded to the rapid changes of the era differently. Urbanization and industrialization increased the standard of living for the average Parisian, but the wealth gap between rich and poor remained very wide. Social classes diversified, fragmented, and expanded to accommodate many newly created occupations.
Upper Class
Middle Class
Lower Class
For more general information visit our More About Social Classes page.
http://gallery.sjsu.edu/paris/social_classes/social_class.html
Social class in Paris in the nineteenth century determined how people lived, worked, interacted, traveled, and relaxed. Each class participated in and responded to the rapid changes of the era differently. Urbanization and industrialization increased the standard of living for the average Parisian, but the wealth gap between rich and poor remained very wide. Social classes diversified, fragmented, and expanded to accommodate many newly created occupations.
Upper Class
Middle Class
Lower Class
For more general information visit our More About Social Classes page.
http://gallery.sjsu.edu/paris/social_classes/social_class.html
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Deauville/D.C.-Summer French Impressionist Exhibit
The artist who led the path for Manet who led the path for Impressionists will be on view at one of the greatest museums in the world.
March 25 - August 5, 2007. In honor of the centennial of Gallery benefactor Paul Mellon's birth, a special exhibition of 40 paintings and works on paper by French impressionist Eugène Boudin has been organized. Be inspired by the vaporous air and light of the beachscapes. If you can't actually be on the sand at Deauville, you can be transported there in the midst of Washington D.C.
Admission: FREE
Location: National Gallery of Art 6th St. & Constitution Ave. NW
Phone: 202-737-4215
Metro: Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter (green/yellow)
March 25 - August 5, 2007. In honor of the centennial of Gallery benefactor Paul Mellon's birth, a special exhibition of 40 paintings and works on paper by French impressionist Eugène Boudin has been organized. Be inspired by the vaporous air and light of the beachscapes. If you can't actually be on the sand at Deauville, you can be transported there in the midst of Washington D.C.
Admission: FREE
Location: National Gallery of Art 6th St. & Constitution Ave. NW
Phone: 202-737-4215
Metro: Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter (green/yellow)
Summer French Impressionist Exhibit not to be missed
One of my favorite museums in the world is the National Gallery of Art West Wing, in D.C. Here's a great chance to see Eugene Boudin, the artist who led the path for Edouard Manet who led the path to Impressionism. Boudin's seascapes with their vapoorous air and light made a profound impact on young Manet. See this free exhibit at the mighty National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. this summer. Not to be missed.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Welcome to my blog
Bienvenue. Welcome to the frenchimpressionista blog. Lets share our impressions about France, about the Impressionist painters, about travel to France, about French cheese, wine, fashion, politics, movies, and anything else we feel passionately about. Mademoiselle Victorine would be blogging right now if she lived today instead of in the 1860's.
Vive La France!
Vive La France!
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