Rules are Made to be Broken: Gervex, Renoir, Cezanne & Picasso

Woman Seated in an Armchair, 1923

Nowadays an artist has complete freedom to paint, carve, construct, install, or simply do whatever he wishes in order to convey his vision or effect the way we see or think about the World. This laissez faire state of things didn’t just happen by chance but was the result of the Modernist revolution, a century of artistic turmoil that broke away from conservative expectations of what art should be. The current exhibition of 63 paintings and sculptures from the Detroit Institute of Arts at the Yokohama Sogo Museum allows us to revisit this exciting period in all its diversity with such great names as Degas, Renoir, Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, and Modigliani.

To relive the excitement of this revolution and derive the maximum pleasure from the exhibition, it should be remembered that everything, from the choice of subject, composition, and color scheme, down to the tiniest brushstroke, were once governed by the precepts of the 'academic style,' an aesthetic that looked back to the masterpieces of the Renaissance and was enforced, in France, by the Salon, a government sponsored art show.

Henri Gervex's large oil painting, Cafe Scene in Paris (1877), which presents a competently painted slice of normal life, may look unremarkable to the casual viewer, but its choice of subject matter and its candid composition break the rules. A figure on the right is cut by the side of the picture while on the left empty space is left. The two figures in the foreground both sit turned to the right. This asymmetry, together with the plush interior of the cafe, creates a feeling that the picture is moving like a train carriage to the right.

The Spanish Guitarist

The Spanish Guitarist (ca. 1894–97) and Graziella (ca. 1910–12) are instantly identifiable as Renoirs, revealing the soft, feathery brushstrokes that the artist evolved from the broken brushstrokes of his earlier impressionist works. Renoir was always a reluctant revolutionary and both these works show his interest in classical composition that revived in his later years.

With the absence of Monet at the exhibition, the most revolutionary of the early Modernists on display is Paul Cezanne. Initially associated with the Impressionists, he wanted, in his own words, to create something more solid and durable, like the art of the museums. Grouping parallel, hatched brushstrokes in formations that built up a sense of mass, his work was more appropriate to landscape than the human form.

His Bathers (ca. 1880–82), a group of androgynous figures, is not nearly as satisfying as Mont Sainte–Victoire (ca. 1904–06), a painting of a local landmark near his home at Aix in the South of France. Cezanne's brushstrokes convey both a feeling of the landscape, but also make us aware of his work as an act of painting and therefore as an object in itself. It is this quality that was so influential in later years and earned Cezanne the title of "Father of Modern Painting."

Picasso, especially in his Cubist works, was deeply influenced by Cezanne, but his composition, Bottle of Anis del Mono (1915), suggest that he took Cezanne's ideas too far. Recreating this object as a totem reduces it to a caricature, diminishing its aesthetic impact. Perhaps this was why Picasso later rejected Cubism. His large Woman Seated in an Armchair (1923) reverts to classical composition, creating an effect of bulk and serenity, while keeping the artist’s spontaneity with its rough unfinished surface.

The restlessness and innovation of these artists struck a chord with the public, elevating the artist from mere craftsman to visionary and maker of icons. Ultimately the artist himself became a kind of icon: My enduring memory of this exhibition is of an old lady camped out in front of the sole Van Gogh on display, a self portrait from 1887 that stared back with burning eyes.

C.B.Liddell
International Herald Tribune Asahi Shimbun
5th May, 2001