Born on January 23, 1832, Édouard Manet was a French painter and a key figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.

Manet’s father wanted him to attend law school however Manet wanted to study art. His father’s rejection of this idea led Manet to apply for the naval college but he failed the entrance exam. In  1848, Manet worked as an apprentice pilot on a transport vessel and upon his return to France in June 1849, he failed the naval examination a second time. At this time, his parents gave him permission to study painting.

Manet studied with the classical painter Thomas Couture from 1850 – 1856. He then set up and shared  a studio with Albert de Balleroy, a painter of military subjects.

Manet was accepted at the Salon in 1861 with his painting “Spanish Singer” and from 1862-1865, he participated in exhibitions at the Martinet Gallery.

In 1863 Manet married his long-time companion Suzanne Leenhoff -  a Dutch piano teacher and mother of their eleven year old son Leon Koella Leenhoff.

Manet’s painting “Déjeuner sur l’herbe” was rejected in 1863 so instead he exhibited it a the Salon des Refusés. At the Salon of 1865, his painting “Olympia”, also created in 1863, caused a scandal. “The painting’s reclining female nude gazes brazenly at the viewer and is depicted in a harsh, brilliant light that obliterates interior modeling and turns her into an almost two-dimensional figure.”

A large number of his works were rejected once again for the Universal Exposition of 1867. In imitation of Realist painter Gustave Courbet, Manet had a stall erected at the corner of the Place de l’Alma and the Avenue Montaigne to exhibit his paintings.

In 1869 Manet painted a portrait of the artist Berthe Morisot, whom he had met at the Louvre. Morisot, who would become one of the leading female French Impressionists, visited Manet’s studio often after that and he continued to paint portraits of her until her marriage to his brother Eugène Manet in 1874.

From 1870-1871, during the Franco-German War, Manet served as a staff lieutenant in the National Guard and witnessed the siege of Paris. In February 1871 he returned to Paris shortly before the Commune. Half of his studio was destroyed, but he had stored his canvases in a safe place and found them undamaged. The art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel purchased almost all of Manet’s work for 50,000 francs.

In 1874  Manet developed a friendship with the Impressionist painter Claude Monet, with whom he painted on the banks of the Seine. Although he maintained friendships with Monet and the other Impressionists, Manet did not participate in the Impressionist exhibitions and continued to submit his paintings to the official Salon.

In 1880 Manet had a solo exhibition at the offices of the periodical “La Vie moderne” (Modern Life), but by this time he had begun to be affected by syphilis. In  April 1883, Manet became bed-ridden. Gangrene developed in his left leg which  had to be  amputated. He died on April 30, 1883 in Paris and was buried in the Cimetière de Passy.

“Manet’s debut as a painter met with a critical resistance that did not abate until near the end of his career. Although the success of his memorial exhibition and the eventual critical acceptance of the Impressionists raised his profile by the end of the 19th century, it was not until the 20th century that his reputation was secured by art historians and critics. Manet’s disregard for traditional modeling and perspective made a critical break with academic painting’s historical emphasis on illusionism. This flaunting of tradition and the official art establishment paved the way for the revolutionary work of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. Manet also influenced the path of much 19th and 20th century art through his choice of subject matter. His focus on modern, urban subjects—which he presented in a straightforward, almost detached manner—distinguished him still more from the standards of the Salon, which generally favoured narrative and avoided the gritty realities of everyday life. Manet’s daring, unflinching approach to his painting and to the art world assured both him and his work a pivotal place in the history of modern art.”

Sources: Biography.com, Wikipedia

Related posts:

1. Berthe Morisot: 1841-1895
2. Pavel Filonov: 1883-1941
3. Edgar Degas: 1834-1917

Happy Mother’s Day all you moms out there!  In honour of this special day, I give you a selection of well known portraits of artist’s mothers. Throughout history, many artists have painted their mothers for a variety reasons; “as a loving tribute, to capture a memorable face, to work through conflicting emotions, as a family legacy, or the simple availability of a model.”

The development of photography in the 19th century however,  had a significant impact on portrait painting.  Many turned to photography studios to have their portraits made as a cheaper alternative.  Some artists found photography to be a useful aid to composition and from the Impressionists onward , artists have found numerous ways to expand their techniques and reinterpret the portrait to compete effectively with photography:

“Henri Matisse produced powerful portraits using non-naturalistic, even garish, colors for skin tones. Cézanne relied on highly simplified forms in his portraits, avoiding detail while emphasizing color juxtapositions. Gustav Klimt’s unique style applied Byzantine motifs and gold paint to his memorable portraits. Picasso painted many portraits, including several cubist renderings of his mistresses, in which the likeness of the subject is grossly distorted to achieve an emotional statement well beyond the bounds of normal caricature.”

As a result of an increased interest in abstract and non-figurative art, portrait painting in Europe and the Americas declined in the 1940s and 50s. In the 1960s an 70s, however,  a revival of portraiture began. Artists such as Lucian Freud,  Francis Bacon,  Andy Warhol, and other contemporary artists have made the human face a focal point of their work. As well, photographic portraiture has become fully accepted in the art world and photo portraits are exhibited alongside painters in galleries and museum.

Whether a portrait of one’s mother or family member, friend or a stranger on the street; in our era of mass-media and the web, where images can be exchanged seconds, our desire to create and commission unique images of ourselves lives on.

Related Books:
The Artist’s Mother: A Tribute by History’s Greatest Artists to the Women Who Created Them
Mother: Portraits by 40 Great Artists
How Artists See: Families: Mother Father Sister Brother

Sources: Wikipedia, National Portrait Gallery

Related posts:

1. Mother’s Day: Portraits of Artist’s Mothers
2. Father’s Day: Portrait of the Artist’s Father
3. Whistler’s Mother