Salon de Paris
The Salon de Paris ( French for Paris Salon ) was a regular art exhibition initiated by King Louis XIV in 1667 to promote the official courtly taste in art. In the 19th century, the salon was the center and stage of the French art business. For example, 891,682 visitors were counted during the Paris Salon of 1855 and in 1880 5,184 artists exhibited 7,289 exhibits. The year 1880 is also the last year in which there was an exhibition regulated by the French state. The exhibition was not only an internationally known meeting place for collectors and dealers, at which millions of euros were turned over every year, but also an important social event. In the 19th century in particular, he was also the cultural figurehead of the respective regime. The climax of this development was that at the Paris World Exhibition of 1855 the industrial palace with its range of industrial achievements was given a palace of fine arts on an equal footing.
In the course of its existence, the salon has undergone numerous changes with regard to the selection of exhibits, the artists and spectators permitted, and the date and rhythm of the exhibition. At first only reserved for members of the royal art academy , after the revolution the salon was also open to other artists. In 1804, individual exhibition participants were honored for the first time, and from then on a jury regularly decided on the admission, rejection and award of the works submitted to the salon. For a long time, admission to the exhibition was the basic requirement for an artist to be generally recognized. French salon painters on both sides of the Atlantic were able to fetch top prices for their paintings. During the so-called Salon era in the 19th century, the influence of the Salon de Paris made the profession of the painter in France an attractive profession with a state-regulated training path and above-average income opportunities.
The jury of the salon is still reputed to have opposed the avant-garde painting trends of the 19th century, namely Romanticism, Naturalism, Realism and Impressionism. Today, however, art historians point out that works of this art movement were very much part of salon painting and were also exhibited quite successfully in the salon. In the selection of the pictures selected for the salon, intrigues and irregularities regularly arose because of the great commercial importance of an adoption in the 19th century. As a result, there were a number of counter-exhibitions from the middle of the 19th century, in which, for example, gallery owners such as Louis Martinet gave rejected artists exhibition opportunities in their sales rooms. The most significant counter-exhibition in terms of art history is the Salon des Refusés from 1863, which many art historians classify as the birth of modernism.
Exhibition rhythm and time
Before the French Revolution
In 1665 there was a first exhibition of works of art at the royal court, but they were still privately owned . The first salon, to which the court society had access, took place in 1667 as part of the celebrations to commemorate the founding of the academy, it was opened on April 9th and lasted until April 23rd. After the visit of the King and Colbert , it was decided that the salon should be held every two years during Holy Week. However, the salon did not take place regularly until the 18th century. The next salon was opened as scheduled in 1669 and housed for the first time in the Grande Galerie of the Louvre - the previous one was held in the conference rooms of the Academy. The following salons took place irregularly until 1699 and the first salon in the 18th century - held in 1704 - was the last for the time being, as wars and the financial ruin of the French crown did not need funds for it. A salon was not organized again until around twenty years later, namely in 1725, but it only took place regularly since 1737: with the exception of 1744, it was held annually until 1748, then every two years until 1794.
Initially, only academy members were admitted to the exhibitions. Only 40 to 70 exhibitors took part in each of the 38 salons, which took place between 1665 and the revolutionary year 1789. Anyone who was not an academician had to look for alternative exhibition options. In 1751 the first exhibition of the Sant Lukas Academy opened, a picture show founded by the guilds. Participation was not limited to guild members; Any interested artist could take part against payment of a considerable participation fee. In 1776 such guild exhibitions were banned, especially the painters of the academy and the salon, which was sponsored by the king. In 1777 other exhibitions organized by private individuals were also banned.
After the French Revolution
On August 21, 1791, the Assemblée Nationale issued a decree establishing a public salon to which French and foreigners could submit works. The first salon, which opened on September 12, 1791, was attended by 255 artists and exhibited 794 works. In the following years the number of exhibiting artists increased significantly, if not continuously. This was influenced, among other things, by the fact that the state approval policy changed several times. During the Second Empire, the admission regulations were very restrictive, and the number of exhibitors stagnated accordingly, rising to 5,184 artists by 1880.
Opening time and duration of the exhibition
The exhibition began first in April, then in August, but since 1673 always on the 25th of the month, because August 25th is the day of Saint Louis , Patron of the French Crown. The salon usually lasted until the end of the following month.
The rhythm of the exhibition shifted after the French Revolution . The exhibitions in 1800, 1801, 1802 and 1804 began on September 2nd and ended in November. From 1833 to 1848, the exhibitions began in March and ended in early or mid-May. From the 1860s through the end of the State Salon, the first day of the exhibition was usually May 1st; the exhibition ended in the second half of June.
Organization and financing
In the Ancien Régime , the Académie Royale was responsible for organizing the salon. First, the general assembly of the academy in May or June chose the opening date pro forma and submitted it to the Directeur des Bâtiment , who approved it on behalf of the king. Then the organization started. Occasionally a new petition had to be drawn up, because the costs of the exhibition were largely borne by the king: He paid for the furnishing of the exhibition rooms, the two or four guards for the entire duration of the exhibition and the expenses of the so-called tapestry , who was responsible for setting up and arranging the Exhibits at the salon was responsible.
With the nationalization of the salon by the decree of August 6, 1791, the salon became a state event. Which state authority was responsible has changed from regime to regime during the 90-year history of the state salon. The Ministry of the Interior was responsible until 1814. During the Restoration the Ministère de la Maison du Roi and during the July Monarchy the Intendant de la List Civil , who was subordinate to him, was responsible. After that, responsibility changed back to the Ministry of the Interior, during the Second Empire to the ' Ministère de la Maisen de l'Empereur . In 1870, the Ministère des Beaux-Arts was finally assigned and the exhibition was assigned to an independent art department. In the 3rd Republic it became the Ministère de l'instruction Publique, des Cultes et des Beaux-Arts .
In the 18th century, the salon was financed mainly through the sale of the exhibition catalog. Admission to the exhibition was free until the first decades of the 19th century. Both the Ancien Régime and Napoleon I , Louis XVIII. , Charles V and Louis-Philippe I saw themselves as hosts for the artists and the public. From 1848, entry cost money, only Sundays were free. However, significant income was also achieved through the cloakroom and the buffet. In 1855, when the art exhibition was part of the world exhibition, 4.04 million francs was collected. However, this was the exception: in 1859 the income amounted to 409,604 francs.
The income came from the costs of the state museum staff, the furnishing of the rooms, the payment of the salon jurors (from 1833) and the prizes to be awarded to the artists. In the past three decades of the state salon, the exhibition had become a grant business for the French state.
Showrooms and construction
Until 1725 the salon was housed in the Grande Galerie des Louvre , then always in the Salon Carré , from which the exhibition is named. Initially, the paintings were simply attached to the walls or placed against a backdrop of tapestries with floral patterns - the so-called " verdures " - provided by the royal Garde-Meubles (the central depot of the king's household). In total, about the (western) half of the gallery was used, the eastern part was cordoned off with a partition, which was decorated with the design cardboard for the Acts of the Apostles according to Raphael . Before that, the sculptures participating in the salon were set up.
A similar procedure was followed in the Salon Carré until 1746 - and since then - the walls were hung with green fabric and the paintings were presented in front of a uniform, somewhat neutral background. In particularly extensive salons, such as the one from 1748, the exhibits were also exhibited in the Galerie d'Apollon and even in the courtyard of the Louvre. Some of the participating artists left their works in studios, which were also located in this wing, namely exactly under the Grande Galerie of the Louvre.
The arrangement of the exhibits was done by the "Tapissier" or "Decorateur", who was chosen by the members of the Academy, and very often an artist was entrusted with the hanging: 1755 and from 1751 to 1777, for example, Jean Siméon Chardin , 1775 Joseph- Marie Vien and in 1785 Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo . The “tapestry”, however, proceeded according to a very simple scheme: a portrait of the king was placed in the middle of the main wall, the large religious paintings were hung in favorably lit places, the least valued along the stairs. The paintings hung close together and in at least three or four rows, the sculptures were placed on long tables without any particular order. The tasks of the “Tapissier” also included responding to complaints during the salon and - not infrequently - integrating subsequently submitted works into the existing exhibition.
Authorized issuers
Only members of the academy were allowed to exhibit at the salon , all in all around 40 artists, from the most senior rector down to the youngest provisional members (agrées). Occasionally, non-members were allowed to exhibit “à la porte”, i.e. in front of the actual salon rooms.
Originally, all members were allowed to exhibit as many works as they wanted, which they also chose themselves. The total number grew steadily over time: it did not exceed 200 works by 1763, then suddenly doubled to over 400 in 1765 and remained at this level until the revolution. The majority, around three quarters of the exhibited works of art are paintings, the rest are sculptures and prints, which were also permitted.
In 1748 a commission, the so-called “jury”, was formed which, in a secret ballot, made a selection from the works to be submitted by August 17th. In 1777 the Directeur des Bâtiments was forced to urge them to be more rigorous with regard to the artistic value and moral decency of the works of art. In 1791 a new commission was formed, which since then has exclusively included functionaries of the academy - before that, simple members without academic posts were also allowed. Works by incumbents were always excluded from this preselection.
The most successful academy members usually preferred to exhibit their works in their own atelier, where they could present more objects and deliver them to buyers more quickly, namely before the salon was over - Boucher and Greuze , for example, did this .
Salon visitors
_-_Madame_X_(Madame_Pierre_Gautreau)_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
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| Madame X |
|---|
| John Singer Sargent , 1883/1884 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 208.6 × 109.9 cm |
| Exhibited at the Salon de Paris 1884 |
Access to the salon was open to all social classes: the nobility as well as servants, the bourgeoisie and interested craftsmen could be found there. Many hired exhibition guides who were available, mostly young artists or writers who had previously studied the salon catalog, the so-called “livret”. The most distinguished visitors had the "Directeur des Bâtiments" assure them an inspection outside of the opening times.
During the 19th century, the State Exhibition was one of the most popular mass attractions in the French capital as a public event and, on certain days, also free of charge. This was partly used consciously. The Salon de Paris also took place in 1793 and 1794, when during the so-called reign of terror all persons suspected of disagreeing with the revolution were brutally suppressed . There was also a salon during the revolution in 1848 and during the cholera epidemic of 1849.
The number of visitors was very high. According to the contemporary art magazine L'Artiste , around a million people visited the salon at the beginning of the July monarchy and in 1846 there were around 1.2 million visitors. Mathematically, every resident of the French capital visited the salon once during the exhibition months. In 1855 there were accurate counts of the salon visitors for the first time, because the visitors had to go through the turnstiles at the entrance. 891682 people visited the exhibition in 1855. In 1876, the last year for which exact counts are available, the number of visitors was still 518,892. The introduction of admission prices in 1848 was largely responsible for the fact that the number of visitors decreased and the social composition of the audience also changed. Only on the traditionally free Sundays was there the usual crush.
The specific atmosphere on an exhibition day is passed down by a number of contemporary witnesses. An example is the letter from Ralph Curtis , which describes the reaction of the audience to the portrait of Madame X by John Singer Sargent :
“There was a lot of spectacle all day before [the portrait]. After a few minutes I found [John Singer Sargent] hiding behind a door to avoid friends who were peering in very seriously. I later got him to show me. I was very disappointed with the color. It looks decomposed. All women mock. Ah voilà , la belle! , oh source horreur! etc. Then another painter calls out superbbe de style , magnifique accuracyace! , quel dessin! ... the whole morning was nothing more than a string of bon mots , bad jokes and angry discussions. John, the poor boy, was devastated ... in the afternoon the mood changed, as I was predicting all along. It was discovered that as a connoisseur one had to speak of étrangement épatant - of the strange impression . "
Exhibition catalog
Exhibition catalogs up to 1790
The paintings on display were usually signed and dated, the content aspects were sometimes explained in cartouches that were attached to the frames - but this was soon omitted because it had a detrimental effect on the sale of the exhibition catalogs, through which the exhibition was in part was refinanced. Apparently no catalog was published on the occasion of the early salons, until the beginning of the 18th century only reference is made to the one from 1673, of which only a few copies have been preserved. It is a four-page booklet in 4 ° (quart, approx. 30–35 cm high). The catalog from 1699 is an 8 ° ribbon (octave, 22–25 cm high) with 23 pages - this is the size and size of all the following “livrets”.
The “livret” opens with a similar praising preface, followed by a descriptive list of the exhibited works. Until 1739 the exhibits were listed in a topographical order without any numbering, from 1740 onwards the works are listed according to the hierarchy of the author in the academic hierarchy - only numbered in the catalog: Senior Rector, Rector, the professors, the professors' adjuncts, the members (reçus), the temporary members (agréés). From 1775 on, artists were initially grouped according to the genre in which they were active: painters, sculptors, graphic artists; then within these groups according to academic rank. This made it difficult to find the exhibits, which is why numbering was introduced in the catalog and on the object.
The exhibition catalog was edited between 1738 and 1753 by a treasurer (not treasurer!) Of the academy, the “Receveur et Concierge de l'Academie”, although the task was actually the secretary's. He also pocketed the proceeds from the sale, although they were actually intended for the academy treasury - this had to be corrected by Marigny. Two months before the salon opened, the secretary received all the exhibiting artists who were allowed to provide descriptions or dictate and who had the right to request corrections to the text. Then he drew up a fair copy and had three copies copied. After the revolution, the catalog was not edited by an academician, but by an official of the Ministry of Public Education (French: Ministère de l'Instruction Publique) or the Interior. Before the catalog could be printed, it had to be presented to the Directeur de Bâtiments, who often made changes. The salon catalog was obtained from private publishers until 1787, then from the "Imprimerie des Bâtiments du Roi", ie in its own publishing house.
Most of the “livrets” had three or four editions of varying sizes: the 1755 catalog was printed 8,000 times, the 1787 catalog 20,000 times. A copy cost 12 Sol, of which 2 Sous were officially due to the cashier and 2 Sous each to the models working for the academy - the rest should go to the academy till. However, not the entire edition was sold, around 300 copies were given away in various ways: 250 somewhat more elaborately paperback copies with gilt edging were given to the members, so that each received four or five; one hard-bound and specially decorated copy was presented to the king, thirteen were for the royal family and about fifteen for the highest court personalities.
Exhibition catalogs 1791 to 1880
The catalogs of the state exhibitions name all exhibitors, their job title, place of birth, honors, name of the teacher and a detailed description of the exhibits. From 1848 the catalog names both the elected jurors and those appointed by the state. Beginning in 1850, this is supplemented by a detailed list of those awarded during the previous salon.
Salon review
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| Freedom leads the people |
|---|
| Eugène Delacroix , 1830 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 260 × 325 cm |
| Exhibited at the Salon de Paris in 1831 |
With the establishment of regular public art exhibitions in the form of salons, public, modern art criticism developed from 1737 : the most famous and stylistically admired art critic of the 18th century was Denis Diderot , who wrote a total of eight salon reviews. In the 19th century Charles Baudelaire wrote several salon reviews of the exhibitions of 1845, 1846, 1855 and 1859. Heinrich Heine published a salon review in Germany of the exhibition of 1831, which he had written under the influence of the July Revolution of 1830 (he devoted himself to the exhibited picture by Eugène Delacroix : Freedom leads the people ).
Alternative and counter exhibitions
It was considered an honor to exhibit at the Salon and - although Paris provided the most opportunities for public display of works of art of any major city in the 17th and 18th centuries - there weren't many alternatives until the second half of the 19th century: from 1751 to 1774 the Académie de Saint-Luc organized several exhibitions that were to compete with the Salon of the Academy; Finally, a private entrepreneur tried to set up an art exhibition in the Paris Colisée, which opened in 1771 , a kind of amusement park with similar entertainment options as Vauxhall Gardens in London - but this was banned at the instigation of the Academy. Through reports in the Mercure de France , an exhibition traditionally held on Corpus Christi day under the name Exposition de la Jeunesse on the Place Dauphine towards the end of the 18th century is known, in which, however, “lower”, artisanal painters such as sign painters etc. also took part .
The first significant counter-exhibition is on an initiative of the French Emperor Napoleon III. traced back. After the rigid selection of the jury in 1863 caused a sensation, he had the Salon des Refusés ("Salon of the Rejected") hosted parallel to the Paris Salon . Two paintings rejected by the jury at the Paris Salon attracted particular attention at the time: James McNeill Whistler's “Girl in White” and Édouard Manet's “ Breakfast in the Green ”.
A Salon of the Rejected was not held a second time, but in the following years there were a number of parallel exhibitions, such as the Salon des Indépendants founded by the Société des Artistes Indépendants in 1884 .
The salon archives as a source of art and social history
The Archives du Louvre contains information on salon events, finances, jury, awards, government purchases, annual reports, statistics of salon visitors and correspondence with salon applicants. Protocols from the salon jury have also been preserved. The documents are almost complete for the years 1794 to 1853, while the years 1853 to 1867 are partially documented. In addition, a register is kept in this archive for the years 1804 to 1853, which alphabetically lists all salon applicants with first and last name, place of birth, name of the teacher, address of the artist and a precise description of the submitted works.
In the Archives Nationale there is a comparable collection of sources for the years 1791 to 1796 and 1848 to 1880. In this archive there is also a photo collection listing all the paintings and sculptures bought by the state in the salon from the years 1864 to 1877.
literature
- Patricia Mainardi: The End of the Salon. Art and State in the Early Third Republic . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1993, ISBN 0-5214-3251-0 .
- Gérard Monnier: Des beaux-arts aux arts plastiques , Editions La Manufacture, 1991, ISBN 2-737-70286-0
- John Rewald : The History of Impressionism. The fate and work of the painters of a great epoch of art . Dumont, Cologne 2006, ISBN 3-8321-7689-6 (revised new edition of Cologne edition 1965).
- Jean Seznec , Jean Adhémar (eds.): Diderot . Salons . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1957/67, (4 vols., Therein vol. 1., introduction).
- Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791-1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, ISBN 3-593-33981-1 .
Web links
- Paris Salon Exhibitions: 1667-1880. Retrieved March 2, 2020 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 13
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 13
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 27
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 30.
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 28.
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 14.
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 14.
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 19.
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 31.
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 32.
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 33.
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 34.
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 38.
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 47.
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 29.
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 64.
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 67.
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 71.
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 64.
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 27.
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 49.
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 50.
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 52.
- ↑ quoted from Stanley Olson: John Singer Sargent - His Portrait . MacMillan, London 1986, ISBN 0-333-29167-0 . P. 103. In the original the excerpt from the letter reads: There was a grand tapage before it all day. In a few minutes I found him dodging behind doors to avoid friends who looked grave. By the corridors he took me to see it. I was disappointed in the color. She looks decomposed. All the women jeer. Ah voilà , la belle! , oh source horreur! etc. Then a painter exclaims superbe de style , magnifique accuracy! , quel dessin! ... All the am it was one series of bon mots, mauvaises plaisanteries and fierce discussions. John, poor boy, was navré ... In the p.am. the tide turned as I kept saying it would. It was discovered to be the knowing thing to say étrangement épatant! .
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 22.
- ↑ Académie de Saint-Luc: Livrets des expositions de l'Académie de Saint-Luc à Paris pendant les années 1751, 1752, 1753, 1756, 1762, 1764 et 1774 , 1991, Librairie des arts et métiers
- ^ Encyclopédie Larousse online
- ^ Marie-Guilhelmine Benoist: Design spaces of an artist around 1800 , 2002, Lukas Verlag, p. 309ff
- ^ Andrée Sfeir-Semler: The painters at the Paris Salon 1791 - 1880 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 21