Autumn (manet)

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Autumn
Édouard Manet , 1881
73 × 51 cm
oil on canvas
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy

Autumn ( French L'Automne ) is a painting by the French painter Édouard Manet . The work, painted in oil on canvas in 1881, is 73 cm high and 51 cm wide. It shows the actress and courtesan Méry Laurent in a dark fur jacket in front of a blue background decorated with flowers. The picture is part of a planned series in which the four seasons should be represented by women. Of these, however, only the spring and autumn motifs were used. The painting Autumn belongs to the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy .

Image description

The painting shows a half-length woman in side view. Méry Laurent, who is friends with Manet, is shown in this picture as autumn. Your face points to the left edge of the picture. The complexion changes from white in the nose area to pink tones on the chin and cheek. The closed lips are highlighted in a bright coral red. Her dark eyes look to the left of the picture. Méry Laurent wears no headgear. The slightly wavy blonde hair extends in front over the forehead to the dark eyebrows and in the back to the neck area. The hair is bare of the ear. A pendant on the ear with a blue gemstone set in gold is the only piece of jewelry of the sitter. For the art historian Françoise Cachin , Méry Laurent has a “fresh, rural face” in this picture, while the writer Robert de Montesquiou noted that she wore “the smile of a once award-winning baby”.

Méry Laurent wears a fur-trimmed dark brown jacket ( pelisse ). Françoise Cachin suspects that it could possibly be monkey fur. Méry Laurent had acquired this jacket especially for this portrait session in the fashion house of Charles Frederick Worth , as Manet's friend Antonin Proust reports in his biography of the painter. He goes on to say that this jacket has an old gold lining. However, this lining cannot be seen in the picture, as Méry Laurent wears the jacket closed. A stand-up collar extends below the chin so that the neck is completely covered. The voluminous jacket gives the sitter a rather lush silhouette overall. In front of her stomach, Méry Laurent has put her hands into a black muff that hangs on a long ribbon around her neck. The muff and the fur-trimmed jacket are the only indications of a cooler season and the autumn theme hinted at in the picture title.

The sitter is sitting in front of a light blue background decorated with flowers. In addition to individual stems and leaves, the flowers of chrysanthemums can be recognized. This patterned background, which looks like wallpaper or a screen, was a Japanese kimono that Manet had borrowed from Antonin Proust. Art historians such as John Rewald or Françoise Cachin see the portrait of a princess from the Este family by Antonio Pisanello , whom Manet must have known from his numerous visits to the Louvre , as the model for this female figure in half profile against a floral background . The painting Autumn is not signed or dated. With Manet this is usually a sign that he did not consider the picture to be complete. There is a clearly visible overpainting in the area of ​​the background in front of the chin. Here there were initially some flowers that were later covered with blue paint. Françoise Cachin suspected that Manet had done this overpainting himself, but the art historian Mikael Wivel has shown, based on a photograph of the painting that was made after Manet's death, that the overhaul was done by a third party. In addition, from the notes of Manet's godchild, Léon Leenhoff, we learn that the picture was finished “by the painter at Kievert”. The restoration company Kievert carried out these revisions - in addition to the painted over flowers, the area of ​​the hands and the muff - in preparation for the exhibition at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1884.

Manet's Portraits of Méry Laurent

The Méry Laurent depicted in the painting was around 32 years old at the time the painting was made. She appeared, mostly in supporting roles, on various Parisian theaters and was seen - more or less dressed - in entertainment revues. But she is best known as a successful courtesan who had several relationships with wealthy men. Among her patrons, who willingly funded her costly living, was Dr. Thomas Evans, dentist to Napoléon III. and his family. She also had liaisons with other personalities and among her circle of friends were poets, composers and painters. She met Édouard Manet in 1876. The nature of their relationship is not clearly established. Possibly she was his lover, she was most certainly his confidante and friend. A number of tender letters that Manet wrote to Méry Laurent bear witness to this. In addition, she occasionally brokered the sale of Manet's pictures to her acquaintances and put together a small collection of his pictures herself.

The art historian Françoise Cachin suspects that Méry Laurent first modeled Manet in 1878–1879 for four pastel pictures of women at the toilet. These include Woman with a Garter Belt ( Ordrupgaard Museum , Charlottenlund), Woman in the Bathtub ( Musée d'Orsay , Paris), The Bathing Pool (private collection) and The Toilet ( Foundation EG Bührle Collection , Zurich). When identifying the women at the toilet, Cachin refers to a poem by Henri de Régnier , who was friends with Méry Laurent. De Régnier wrote the poem on the occasion of a Manet exhibition at the end of the 19th century and referred to two pictures by Manet that showed Méry Laurent. On the one hand, the exhibition showed woman with fur , for whom Méry Laurent was clearly the model, the other picture is titled baigneuse nue ( bathing naked woman ), which is presumably a woman in the bathtub . This series of multiple nudes could be an indication of an intimate relationship between Manet and Méry Laurent. On the other hand, it was not unusual for a painter to paint nudes and Méry Laurent had already been seen half-naked on the stage.

At the suggestion of his friend Antonin Proust , Manet began a cycle in 1881 in which beautiful women were supposed to represent the four seasons. He began with the painting The Spring , for which the future actress Jeanne Demarsy sat portrait. Manet exhibited the work successfully at the Salon de Paris in 1882. For the next picture in this series, Manet tackled the autumn motif with Méry Laurent as a model. It is not clear whether he started painting Fall 1881, that is, in the same year as Spring . Possibly the success of Spring in the Salon of 1882 encouraged him to continue the sequence of seasons with the picture Autumn . Manet did not finish the series of pictures with the four seasons. From his godchild, Léon Leenhoff, it is known that Jeanne Demarsy was supposed to be the model again for the summer and that Manet wanted to hire Méry Laurent for the winter motif. The art historian Anne Coffin Hanson put forward the thesis that Manet intended the painting Amazone, blue ground ( Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza , Madrid), begun in 1882, as the summer motif . For this unfinished picture, however, it was not Jeanne Demarsy but Henriette Chabot who was the model. Manet was able to refer to a long art-historical tradition with the seasonal pictures. Ready in Hellenistic and Roman art there were representations of the four seasons personified by female figures . A few years before Manet, the painter Alfred Stevens created such a season cycle. In his painting Herbst ( Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute , Williamstown) from 1877 Stevens portrayed a woman as a full figure in the vicinity of a garden. In Stevens' case, the leaves that have fallen from the trees clearly indicate the season of the year , unlike Manet's picture Autumn . But Manet was less about the portrayed him women as allegories represent, but retain the typical Parisian in the picture - attractive young women in fashionable clothes as the flâneur in his walks in the streets of Paris or the Jardin des Tuileries could watch .

Around 1882, Manet also created a series of pastel pictures portraying Méry Laurent. A precise chronological classification of these images is not possible. They may have been created before the painting Autumn , he may also have been working on the painting and the pastels in parallel or only created the pastels after he had stopped working on Autumn . Manet turned to the pastel technique especially in the last years of his life. He was already seriously ill and found it difficult to stand at the easel for long periods of time. Pastel pictures had the advantage over oil painting that they could be worked on quickly. Most of these pictures were probably created within a few hours in a day, while Manet's oil paintings required several sessions and the work dragged on over several days or weeks. The series of pastel pictures for which Méry Laurent was the model include Méry Laurent with her head in her hands (private collection), Méry Laurent with a dog ( Pushkin Museum , Moscow), Méry Laurent with a veil (private collection), Méry Laurent with black hat ( Musée des Beaux-Arts , Dijon), woman with fur (private collection), Méry Laurent with a small hat ( Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute , Williamstown), Méry Laurent with a hat decorated with flowers ( Hiroshima Museum of Art ) and Méry Laurent in Profile ( Artizon Museum , Tokyo). Françoise Cachin comments on these pictures that Manet took “his pleasure in underlining the somewhat conspicuous refinement of Méry's clothes”. With the exception of the portrait of Méry Laurent in profile , all portraits of Méry Laurent, like the painting Herbst, are executed as a half-length portrait - in none of the portraits is she seen as a full figure. In the picture woman with fur she can be seen in winter clothes, but there is no evidence that this picture was intended as a continuation or preparation for the completion of the season cycle.

  • Antonio Pisanello:
    Portrait of a Princess from the House of Este ,
    around 1436–38,
    Louvre, Paris

  • Alfred Stevens:
    Fall , 1877,
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

  • Édouard Manet:
    Woman in the Bathtub ,
    around 1878–1879,
    Musée d'Orsay, Paris

  • Édouard Manet:
    Woman with Fur ,
    around 1882,
    private collection

  • Édouard Manet:
    Méry Laurent with a black hat ,
    around 1882,
    Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon

Provenance

The painting was in the artist's possession until Manet's death in 1883. It was first exhibited in public in January 1884, when a memorial exhibition in honor of Manet was on display at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts . The picture was then put up for auction with the Manet estate on February 2 and 3 at the Hôtel Drouot auction house. The picture with lot number 21 changed hands for 1,550 francs. The art dealer Jacob appeared as the buyer for the painting. It is not entirely clear what assignment he was acting on. Possibly he bought on behalf of the opera singer Jean-Baptiste Faure , as Léon Leenhoff claimed. He may have later given or sold the painting to Méry Laurent. But it is also possible that Méry Laurent himself commissioned Jacob to buy the picture. She kept the painting until her death in 1900 and bequeathed it to the Musée des Beaux-Arts in her hometown of Nancy . It was Manet's first painting to find its way into the collection of a French provincial museum. On the occasion of the donation to the museum, the Société Artistiques de l'Est described the painting as “the main work of the Impressionist master”, which was a “milestone in the history of 19th century art”.

literature

Web links

Commons : Automne, Méry Laurent  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Françoise Cachin: Autumn in Réunion des Musées Nationaux Paris and Metropolitan Museum of Art New York: Manet , p. 491.
  2. ^ Robert de Montesquiou: Les pas effacés , p. 175.
  3. ^ Maryanne Stevens: Manet, portraying life , p. 199.
  4. ^ Françoise Cachin: Autumn in Réunion des Musées Nationaux Paris and Metropolitan Museum of Art New York: Manet , p. 491.
  5. ^ Antonin Proust: Édouard Manet , p. 95.
  6. ^ Nara Prefectural Museum of Art: Edouard Manet , p. 216.
  7. ^ Mikael Wivel: Manet , p. 150.
  8. ^ Françoise Cachin: Autumn in Réunion des Musées Nationaux Paris and Metropolitan Museum of Art New York: Manet , p. 491.
  9. ^ Françoise Cachin: Autumn in Réunion des Musées Nationaux Paris and Metropolitan Museum of Art New York: Manet , p. 491.
  10. ↑ The painting was photographed by Fernand Lochard. The record is in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris. Shown in Mikael Wivel: Manet , p. 150.
  11. ^ Mikael Wivel: Manet , p. 150.
  12. ^ Françoise Cachin: Autumn in Réunion des Musées Nationaux Paris and Metropolitan Museum of Art New York: Manet , p. 491.
  13. ^ Maryanne Stevens: Manet, portraying life , p. 199.
  14. ↑ She visited Manet in his studio in 1876 when he was holding an exhibition there. See Maryanne Stevens: Manet, portraying life , p. 199.
  15. ↑ For example, she owned the small version of Manet's painting The Execution of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico , which is now in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen. See Mikael Wivel: Manet , p. 151.
  16. ^ Françoise Cachin: Woman in the Bathtub in Réunion des Musées Nationaux Paris and Metropolitan Museum of Art New York: Manet , p. 432.
  17. ↑ The title Woman with a Garter can be found in Réunion des Musées Nationaux Paris and Metropolitan Museum of Art New York: Manet , p. 434. There is also the name Das Garter in Sandra Orienti: The painted work of Edouard Manet , p. 107.
  18. ↑ The title Woman in the Bathtub can be found in Réunion des Musées Nationaux Paris and Metropolitan Museum of Art New York: Manet , p. 432. There is also the name Das Bad in Sandra Orienti: The painted work of Edouard Manet , p. 107 .
  19. ↑ The title The Bathing Pool can be found in Sandra Orienti: The painted work of Edouard Manet , p. 107.
  20. ↑ The title The Toilet can be found in Ina Conzen: Edouard Manet and the Impressionists , p. 117. In addition, there is the term nude study in Sandra Orienti: The painted work of Edouard Manet , p. 107.
  21. ^ Françoise Cachin: Woman in the Bathtub in Réunion des Musées Nationaux Paris and Metropolitan Museum of Art New York: Manet , pp. 432–433.
  22. ^ Françoise Cachin: Woman in the Bathtub in Réunion des Musées Nationaux Paris and Metropolitan Museum of Art New York: Manet , p. 433.
  23. ^ Ina Conzen: Edouard Manet and the Impressionists , p. 136.
  24. ^ Anne Coffin Hanson: Manet and the modern tradition , p. 86.
  25. ^ Françoise Cachin: Autumn in Réunion des Musées Nationaux Paris and Metropolitan Museum of Art New York: Manet , p. 489.
  26. ^ Réunion des Musées Nationaux Paris and Metropolitan Museum of Art New York: Manet , p. 537.
  27. ^ Julius Meier-Graefe: Edouard Manet , p. 320.
  28. ^ Mikael Wivel: Manet , p. 150.
  29. ^ Mikael Wivel: Manet , p. 151.
  30. ^ Réunion des Musées Nationaux Paris and Metropolitan Museum of Art New York: Manet , p. 491.
  31. ^ Réunion des Musées Nationaux Paris and Metropolitan Museum of Art New York: Manet , p. 491.
  32. ↑ Announcement of January 1903: “M. le Maire de nancy vient d'être avisé que le musée de peinture allait entrer en possession régulière de tableau de Manet, l'Automne, qui lui a été légué par Mme Méry Laureent. (...) C'est une bonne fortune pour le Musée des beaux-arts de Nancy, une des œuvres capitales du maître impressioniste. Elle sera pour les élèves de notre école des beaux-arts un intéreeant sujet d'étude, car l'apparition de l'ecole nouvelle a marqué une date dans l'histore de l'art au XIXème siècle. ”Quoted from Nara Prefectural Museum of Art: Edouard Manet , p. 216.