Although Mr. Bouguereau's paintings were reviled by the Impressionists (whom Mr. Bouguereau kept out of the Salon), Matisse (whom he kicked out of his atelier) and Van Gogh, he was revered by the court and the public as the pre-eminent French painter of his era. Imbuing classical subjects with erotic Victorian flair, Mr. Bouguereau updated antiquity; and he flattered his female sitters, whatever their true nature, idealizing them with grace, charm and beauty. ...
Mr. Bouguereau worked in an overarching, nearly hyperrealistic manner after Raphael, and his illustrative paintings of coy, angelic, soft-focus nudes, women and children, posed melodramatically in ethereal settings, entice with manicured detail. But lacking form and rhythm, and convincing only in passages, they amount to a cloying coquettishness. The ...catalogue raisonné ...[attempts] to debunk the derision and re-establish Mr. Bouguereau alongside Raphael, Rembrandt and Titian. But his reappearance reveals more about contemporary taste and social psychology than artistic talent.
In all fairness, we should listen to Bouguereau's fans. Today interest in Bouguereau has revived, and some of his paintings have fetched in excess of a million dollars at auction. Here are the words of Damien Bartoli (1947-2009)*:
"William Bouguereau is unquestionably one of history's greatest artistic geniuses. Yet in the past century, his reputation and unparalleled accomplishments have undergone a libelous, dishonest, relentless and systematic assault of immense proportions. His name was stricken from most history texts and when included it was only to blindly, degrade and disparage him and his work. Yet, as we shall see, it was he who single handedly opened the French academies to women, and it was he who was arguably the greatest painter of the human figure in all of art history. His figures come to life like no previous artist has ever before or ever since achieved. He wasn't just the best ever at painting human anatomy, more importantly he captured the tender and subtlest nuances of personality and mood. Bouguereau caught the very souls and spirits of his subjects much like Rembrandt. Rembrandt is said to have captured the soul of age. Bouguereau captured the soul of youth.
Considering his consummate level of skill and craft, and the fact that the great preponderance of his works are life-size, it is one of the largest bodies of work ever produced by any artist. Add to that the fact that fully half of these paintings are great masterpieces, and we have the picture of an artist who belongs like Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Carravaggio, in the top ranks of only a handful of masters in the entire history of western art.
"The Story Book" (1877)
Considering his consummate level of skill and craft, and the fact that the great preponderance of his works are life-size, it is one of the largest bodies of work ever produced by any artist. Add to that the fact that fully half of these paintings are great masterpieces, and we have the picture of an artist who belongs like Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Carravaggio, in the top ranks of only a handful of masters in the entire history of western art.
"The Story Book" (1877)
"Bacchante on a Panther", has a classical theme. Panthers were associated with a certain kind of revelry in antiquity.
It is possible that Bouguereau rises above his defenders, in stature, even if just by a little. And speaking of his fans, here is wee update:
* Damien Bartoli, the Bouguereau biographer, who worked with ARC Chairman, Fred Ross M.A. and Dr. Vern Swanson to produce the first comprehensive Catalogue Raisonné on William Bouguereau passed away in mid-December [2009].
Mr. Bartoli worked tirelessly on the Bouguereau Catalogue Raisonné project from the very beginning until last July, when content for the 30-year effort was handed over to our co publisher for final layout and printing.
He continued to work with Mr. Ross on other projects... until the day before he died, apparently from a heart attack while driving from Paris to Belgium.
We have lost a great friend and colleague. Our hearts go out to his wife, Martine and their two children, Xavier and Laetitia.
Mr. Bartoli worked tirelessly on the Bouguereau Catalogue Raisonné project from the very beginning until last July, when content for the 30-year effort was handed over to our co publisher for final layout and printing.
He continued to work with Mr. Ross on other projects... until the day before he died, apparently from a heart attack while driving from Paris to Belgium.
We have lost a great friend and colleague. Our hearts go out to his wife, Martine and their two children, Xavier and Laetitia.
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