Louis Leroy (art critic)
Louis Leroy (* 1812 in Paris ; † 1885 ibid) was a French journalist, playwright, painter and art critic. He coined the term Impressionism with disparaging intent .
Life
Leroy worked for Le Journal amusant , Charivari and Gaulois for three decades . He also wrote a good dozen successful plays, mostly comedies , two of them in collaboration with Eugène Labiche ( Il est de la police and Brûlons Voltaire! ). Leroy was also active as a landscape painter and graphic artist. From 1835 to 1861 he exhibited regularly at the Salon de Paris .
The term impressionism
He coined the expression Impressionism in a contribution of April 25, 1874 by Charivari , inspired by Claude Monet's picture of a sunrise ( Impression soleil levant ). In the article, Leroy talks about an alleged tour of the exhibition with a conservative old landscape painter. While the reporter is campaigning for understanding for the works on display, he also notes the critical and increasingly outraged comments made by the fictional traditionalist Joseph Vincent on some of the paintings on display, including those of Auguste Renoir , Camille Pissarro , Alfred Sisley and Berthe Morisot . Vincent's criticism relates primarily to the quality of the craftsmanship; it culminates in Vincent's claim that a “first draft for a wallpaper pattern is more mature than this seascape by Monet”. At the end of the farce-like scene, the overwhelmed old painter goes crazy.
literature
- John Rewald : The History of Impressionism (1946)
- Ursula E. Koch , Pierre-Paul Sagave : Le Charivari. The story of a Paris daily newspaper in the struggle for the republic (1832–1882) . Leske Verlag, Cologne 1984, ISBN 3-921490-29-4 , p. 383
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Leroy, Louis |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French journalist, theater writer, painter and art critic |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1812 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1885 |
| Place of death | Paris |