Manet and the Impressionists-Painters of Modern Life?

The new style of painting, which emerged in Paris in the second half of the 19th century, soon to be classed as 'Impressionist', marked a transition in the realm of art. 'Modern' artists strayed from the classical and in both style and subject matter diverged from traditional practises. To what extent they were painting 'modern life' will be discussed here.

This new style of art was a major break from the accepted art forms of the day. Academic art focused on detailed figurative drawings on classical themes. Mythical, historic figures were painted often with a strong political motive behind their use. The new stance taken firstly by Manet and later by the impressionists was a definite anti-academic one, tired of the constraints placed on them by the art world they wanted to express themselves in a truly individual artistic fashion. They were showing their impression of the world around them as a 2-dimensonal pattern of colour, light and shade. The emergence of 'Realism' as a concept was intertwined with the painters' new theories of art. Their new style and form, depicting modern themes, led them down a difficult path in 19th century Paris, wh

Much modern criticism of the Impressionists work and the reality of them as ‘painters of modern life’ stem from their apparent neglect of images of working class Paris. It seems, at first glance anyway, that they are only concerned with rendering favourable images of life in Paris at the time. Their relationship with modernity does not seem to expand into the unpleasant, grotty nature of life that remained in much of the city. It is important to note that this neglect is not without exceptions in the Impressionist artists. Degas, for one, composed a series of paintings depicting women in various forms – ‘bathing, washing, drying’. This series included views of women in a laundry shop ironing, in which he shows the physical exhaustion of such work as one woman yawns and stretches. Also, it is interesting to note that in many of his paintings of dancers, he views them from a backstage, working atmosphere, not always in romantic, dramatic poses as one may expect if he were portraying them as they would normally be seen by the public. However this series may be seen as a celebration of the beauty of women rather than an example of working-class life. In general it does seem as if the Impressionists as a group were concerned for the most part with middle-class pursuits and interests. There are, however, many plausible reasons for this.

In one respect the impressionists can be seen to give a more developed social critique of the time, and that is with their use of prostitutes as a subject. They were portrayed in many paintings, such as Degas’ ‘Les Femmes devant un café, le soir’, Manet’s ‘Olympia’, and, especially, ‘Nana’, which shows a woman dressing at a mirror while a man to the side awaits. Prostitution was continually rendered as part of the social sphere of the time, almost as an institution, like the cafés, which to some extent it was. Indeed there were thousands of prostitutes working in Paris during this period and as Charles Lacour comments in 1870: “they are everywhere, …..one meets them in public establishments, railway stations,… they are on all the promenades, in front of the cafés..”. However, the truer nature of prostitution, the reality of the harsh side of life experienced by these women isn't touched upon in their work. Indeed there must definitely have been serious problems if that many women were forced into such work.

Some topics in this essay:
Manet Impressionists, Giorgione Titian, Haussman’s Paris, Claude Monet, Paris Impressionism’s, Bar Folies-Bergère’, Life' Baudelaire, Paintings Manet’s, Charles Lacour, Boating Party', parisian life, subject matter, modern life’, manet impressionists, modern paris, ‘painters modern, renoir monet, impressionist art, ‘painters modern life’, life seen, received heavy criticism, modern parisian life, spectacle parisian life, images class, manet renoir monet,