EDOUARD
MANET I
(1832 - 1883)
Edouard Manet has been
called the inventor of modern art. He was not an Impressionist,
but many younger artists adopted his style. Many considered him shocking
and his
paintings sometimes created scandal. He was born in Paris on January
23, 1832
to the Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Justice and his wife, Eugenie-Desiree
Tournier,
god-daughter of the Crown Prince of Sweden. Manet was well educated,
but he
didn't excel at academics. Leaving the Merchant Marine in 1850, he entered
the
studio of Thomas Couture to study until 1856. Baudelaire was the main
influence
on Manet's decision to depict a contemporary realism. Some of Manet's
paintings
portray a darker side of Parisian life which was much removed from his social
circle.
Using frontal lighting and no mid tones ran totally contrary to accepted method
of the
time and elicited much criticism of Manet. The Franco- Prussian War
affected
Manet's work and rather graphically portrayed his politics. Around 1874,
Manet
gathered with Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Degas and Pisaro at the Cafe Guerbois.
Manet
vowed to produce "not great art, but sincere art". He passed away on
April 30, 1883 in Paris.
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