Le Dejeuner sur L’Herbe FWN 610 1870 60cm x 81
Manet’s Dejeuner sur L’Herbe
It was in 1865 that Cezanne first met Manet in the fashionable Café Guerbois, where Manet gathered all the radical young artists: one of the crew, a certain unknown guy by the name of Monet tells the tale “Cezanne pushed his jacket aside with a movement of his hips worthy of a zink-worker, pulled up his pants, and openly re-adjusted his red belt to one side. After that, he shook everyone’s hand. But when he came to Manet, he removed his hat and smiling, said through his nose: ‘I won’t give you my hand, monsieur Manet, I haven’t washed for eight days’”. From then on, they kept their distance. Two years earlier in 1863, with pressure mounting each year from Manet and his crew (Sisley, Monet, Pissarro, Degas, Renoir, Bazille, and writers like Zola), the self-declared Emperor agreed to allow an exhibition of the paintings that had been refused by the Salon - “Salon des Refuses”. Manet’s Dejeuner sur L’Herbe -with naked women, and well-to-do men, casually having a picnic in the park - caused a scandal! A few years later, Cezanne produced his own version of the picnic in the park, putting himself as the central figure, though with his back to us, and his sisters each side; Cezanne replaces the bathing woman, with a guy smoking a pipe, and the trees with a couple moving away. The interpretation of Cezanne’ painting has been a matter of some speculation, as you might expect, with one commentator suggesting it is a presentation of sensuous desire versus rational moderation -whatever! The French Revolution (1793) abolished the condition of owning property as a right to register and vote, but it was not enacted in law until 1848, when universal suffrage became law – well, not quite ‘universal’: rather unbelievably, women did not get to vote in France till 1944! Julie-Victoire Daubie would campaign as a journalist all her life for women’s rights, writing her first essay as a journalist in 1859 on: ‘The poor woman in the nineteenth century – female conditions and resources’. Berthe Morisot (1841–1895), Mary Cassatt (1844–1926), Eva Gonzalès (1849–1883), and Marie Bracquemond (1840–1916) were all members of the Impressionist circle. These four women—three French artists and one American artist living in Paris—exhibited works that were as innovative as those of their male counterparts. While they have diverse biographies, each of these artists overcame daunting obstacles to contribute to the development of Impressionism. As they shaped their unique careers and artistic styles, Morisot, Cassatt, Gonzalès, and Bracquemond negotiated not only personal challenges but also those posed by the conventional ideas of acceptable behaviour for women of their time. Amongst the crew at the Café Guerbois at the time of which we speak, was Berthe Morisot – the only Impressionist painter, along with Pissarro, who had works exhibited in all the Impressionist Exhibitions of the next decade. Just as Pissarro would effectively be Cezanne’s mentor, so did Morisot support Manet to develop his technique. Much to the chagrin of the guys, I’m sure, she had paintings accepted by the Salon from 1864 onwards! She would eventually marry Manet’s brother, and she was, as Cezanne was, a close friend of Renoir.
“While Europe's eye is fix'd on mighty things,
The fate of empires and the fall of kings;
While quacks of State must each produce his plan,
And even children lisp the Rights of Man;
Amid this mighty fuss just let me mention,
The Rights of Woman merit some attention.” ― Robert Burns, 1792