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Manet's Déjeuner sur l'herbe in the Salon des Refusés: A

Re-appraisal
a
Alan Krell
a
Art Gallery of New South Wales Sydney, NSW, Australia 2000
Published online: 14 Aug 2014.

To cite this article: Alan Krell (1983) Manet's Déjeuner sur l'herbe in the Salon des Refusés: A Re-appraisal, The Art Bulletin, 65:2,
316-320, DOI: 10.1080/00043079.1983.10788075

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 316 THE ART BULLETIN JUNE 1983 VOLUME LXV NUMBER 2

Independence.s? Nicolson, B., COllrbet: The Studio of the Painter, New York, 1973.
Numerous representations of Liberty and her cat were
Nochlin, L., 1963, "The Development and Nature of Realism in the
available, as Gautier and Champfleury demonstrate. In addition, Work of Gustave Courbet," Ph.D. diss., New York University.
the cat will not tolerate constraint, a quality that Courbet
demonstrates by holding an independent retrospective for him- _ _, 1966, ed., Realism and Tradition in Art, 1848-1900, Englewood
Cliffs, NJ.
self which paralleled those given for Ingres and Delacroix at the
Universal Exposition at the offical1855 Salon.
In his letter to Mme. Sand, Champfleury confirms that
through the Courbet exhibit where The Atelier was the principal Manet's Dejeuner sur l'herbe in the Salon des
piece, a new blow for Liberty was struck. Courbet is presented Refuses: ARe-appraisal
as: "A painter whose name has made an explosion since the
February Revolution... , It is an incredibly audacious act; it is the
subversion of all institutions associated with the jury; it is a
Alan Krell
direct appeal to the public, it is liberty say some... ."50
It is impossible to think that Courbet was unfamiliar with Manet's Dejeuner sur l'herbe is invariably singled out as a sym-
Republican symbols. He loved his grandfather, a veteran of bol of early modernism. Attention is drawn to the "succes de
1793. The seven-year phase that The Atelier covers, according to scandale" it gained at the Salon des Refuses of 1863 1 - even the
its subtitle, began in 1848, the year of the February Revolution Emperor Napoleon was supposed to have censured it in publics
and birth of the Second Republic as well as Courbet's creation of - and one writer has compared its iconoclastic nature to
his first Salon success, After Dinner at Omans. Courbet's Duchamp's gesture of placing a moustache on the Mona Lisa. 3
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socialist and Republican sympathies were well established in Examples of criticism leveled at the Deieuner in 1863 were
1848, when he helped to found the Republican newspaper, Le quoted by Adolphe Tabarant in his two studies of Manet
salut public. published in 1931 and 1947. 4 George Hamilton presented similar
Courbet's introduction to the 1855 Pavilion of Realism, his material.! Neither of these scholars found that the critical es-
written manifesto, was accompanied by a visual manifesto as timates called into question the so-called" succes de scandale" at-
well, The Atelier of the Painter: A Real Allegory Summarizing a tributed to the Dejeuner.6 To Tabarant's credit, he did question
Period of Seven Years in My Life as an Artist. The painting Proust's account of Napoleon's rebuttal of the painting. Quite
parallels Courbet's introduction to the catalogue showing his correctly, he noted the absence of any reference in the press to
clear understanding and use of tradition and visually states: the Emperor's visit to the Refuses, let alone to a denunciation of
Maners picture."
I have studied, outside of any system and without prejudice, Anne Hanson rightly observes that, even though Hamilton
the art of the ancients and the art of the moderns. I no more "interprets the criticism as extremely negative and depressing to
wanted to imitate the one than to copy the other. No! I simply the artist" (and this is in reference to Maner's career as a whole
wanted to draw forth from a complete acquaintance with and not simply the Dejeuner), "Hamilton's excerpts show that
tradition the reasoned and independent consciousness of my Manet was defended, albeit grudgingly, and that his works were
own individuality. noted and commented upon."! Hanson also makes the important
To know in order to create, that was my idea. To be in a
J See, e.g., T. Duret, Histoire d'Edouard Manet et de son oeuvre, Paris,
position to translate the customs, the ideas, the appearance of
1902., 26, J. Richardson, Edouard Manet: Paintings and DraWings, Lon-
my epoch, according to my own estimation; to be not only a
don/New York, 1958, 2.2, B. Farwell, "A Manet Masterpiece Recon-
painter, but a man as well; in short to create living art - this is sidered," Apollo, LXXVlll, 1963, 45, l. Dunlop, The Shock of the New.
my goal.» London, 1972., 45.
The Columbus College of Art and Design
%This story originated with Manet's biographer, Antonin Proust. See
Columbus, OH 43215 Proust's recollections iEdouard Manet: Souvenirs) first published
serially in La revue blanche in February, March, and April, 1897; see
LXXXIX, Feb. 15, 1897, In. Further credence is given to this story by
Bibliography Denis Rouart and Daniel Wildenstein in Edouard Manet: Catalogue
raisonne, 2 vols., Paris/Lausanne, 1975, I, 12..
J L. Nochlin, The ltIVention of the Avant-Garde: France, 1830-80, in
Hofmann, W., Art in the Nineteenth Century, trans. B. Ballershaw, Lon-
don, 196. Avant-Garde Art, ed. T. B. Hess and J. Ashbery, London, 1967/68, 2.1.
• A. Tabarant, Manet: Histoire catalographique, Paris, 1931, 95-97, and
Lindsay, J., Glistave COllrbet: His Life and Art, New York, 1973.
idem, Manet et ses oeuvres, Paris, 1947, 68-70.
Mack, G., Glistave COllrbet, Greenwich, Conn.. 1952.. • G. H. Hamilton, Manet and His Critics (1st ed, 1954), New York, 1969,
41-51.
49Jbid., 495: "and the cat, independence - because this animal is never • See A. Krell, "Wit, Irony and the Search for Acclaim: Manet and the
perfectly tamed and supports constraint impatiently." Nude in the 1860's," Ph.D. diss., Bristol University, 1977,50-72..
>0 Repr. in Nochlin, 1966, 37-38. It is interesting that in 1850 Courbet 7 Tabarant. 1947 (as in n. 4), 72.. Proust may have based part of this story

had an exhibition in Dijon, where the Prud'hon Allegory of the Constitu- on Edmond Bazire's book in which he mentions the scandal created by
tion was hanging. The work was later reproduced in part (Liberty and her Napoleon's visit to the "centre de revolutionnaires": see Bazire, Manet,
cat) in Champfleury's Les chats. Although the work may have been Paris, 1884, 2.3. Bazire is less than accurate on the Refuses, identifying Le
available, I do not insist that Courbet did see it in Dijon. Bain and the Deieuner as two different pictures. Manet exhibited his
>I G. Courbet, Exhibition et vmte de 40 tableaux et 4 desslns de l'oeuvre
painting as Le Bain; see Catalogue des oeuvres refuses par Ie jury de
de M. Glistave Courbet, Avel1l~e Montaigne, Paris, 1855, n.p., repro in 1863, Paris, 1863, No. 363.
Nochlin, 1966, 33-34; facsimile with complete listings in Leger (as in n. • A. C. Hanson, Manet and the Modern Tradition, New Haven and Lon-
10),60-62.. don, 1977, 46, n. 2.60.
 NOTES 317

point that the criticism should be examined in the broader con- certaine franchise dans Ie touche, qui n'ont rien de vulgaire." He
text of the critical debate; in other words, critics hostile to Manet did not single out a particular work, but he faulted Maners tech-
were similarly disposed to other artists, including popularly ac- nique: "Ie vois des vetements sans sentir la charpente ana to-
cepted ones." mique. '" [e vois des doigts sans os et des tetes sans cranes....
A comparative study such as Hanson suggests would indeed Que vois-je encore? I'absence de conviction et de sincerite chez
prove pr~fitab.le. My concern ~~ this ~aper, how~ver, is li.mi~ed ~o I'artiste."22
the critiCIsm directed at the Deieuner In 1863. Did the painting In The other principal publications in which Maners paintings
fact create "une immense raillerie." as Duret claimed.w and end- were discussed were Le constitutionnel, Le Figaro, Le siecle,
less other writers have since? And is it true to say, as does L'independance belge, La patrie, and La France.
Hamilton, that Maners state of mind after the Refuses was one Ernest Chesneau's opening remarks in Le constitutionnel
of bitter resentment?u Indeed, if the answers to these questions summed up his position: "M. Manet aura du talent Ie jour ou il
are in the affirmative, then Maners decision to submit Olympia saura Ie dessin et la perspective; il aura du gout Ie jour ou il
to the 1865 Salon is surprising, as Hamilton, for one, has noted: renoncera aces sujets choisis en vue du scandale."23 This critic
"But what continues to astonish after so many years is that found the Dejeuner morally objectionable: " ... mais nous ne
Manet. bitterly resenting the notoriety which the 'Dejeuner sur pouvons trouver que se soit une oeuvre parfaitement chaste que
['herbe' had brought him ... should have again offered the public de faire asseoir sous bois, entouree d'etudiants en paletot, une
the same affront: this was the same model, still nude."12 fille vetue seulement de I'ombre des Feuilles."
There can be little doubt that the Salon des Refuses attracted Further on, and without reference to a specific work,
great public interest. "C'etait vendredi 15 la fete des refuses, Ie Chesneau observed: "Les figures de M. Manet font involontaire-
jour d'ouverture de leur exposition speciale," wrote a critic in La ment songer aux marionettes des Champs-Elysees: une tete
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pattie. "Grande etait l'emotion parmi les artistes, grande la solide et un veternent Flasque." In conclusion, Chesneau stressed
curiosite du public, qui voulait voir et juger."1J And in La France, the deficiencies of Maners "methode," saying, "S'il erige sa
de Viel-Castel referred to "Le grand jour, Ie jour de la supreme maladresse en systerne, c'est un talent perdu pour l'art ... Jus-
justice.... Ie 15 de ce mois, Ie public a ete adrnis a juger les qu'ici on ne peut se prononcer sur l'avenir de l'artiste. Tout
juges."14 depend de lui."
The response of the press to the Salon des Vaincus, as the Unlike Chesneau, Arthur Stevens did not take umbrage at
Refuses was called by Ernest Chesneau.> can be divided into Maners choice of subjects. However, like Chesneau, he felt that
three categories: newspapers such as L'Llnion and the official the paintings lacked form: "Regie generale: un peintre a toujours
organ of the government, Le Moniteur Universel, did not men- Ie dessin de sa couleur. Chez M. Manet, la science manque....
tion it at all; Le temps, L'opinion nationale, the Revue des deux Ces toiles res tent d' ado rabies taches de couleur, mais elles sont
mondes, and the Revue artistique et litteraire discussed the ex- depourvues de solidite...."24 Regarding the Dejeuner, Stevens
hibition in general without singling out artists by name; 16 other was puzzled by the activity depicted, although his chief criticism
newspapers and journals carried reviews of specific contribu- was a technical one: "Dans cette toile, il y a de l'air, des noirs
tions. Of those artists discussed, Manet and Whistler were men- vigoureux: I'aspect en est distingue: mais Ie relief y fait absolu-
tioned most frequently. At times Whistler was singled out and ment defaut." Finally, Stevens remarked: "Ie suis persuade que
not Manet and vice versa, while in the Revue [rancaise Louis Ie prochain Salon de M. Manet marquera d'enorrnes progres."
Enault acknowledged neither artist.V For Adrien Paul of Le steele Manet was "un franc realiste qui
In La presse, Whistler's Femme vetue de blanc (as it was called n'y va pas par quatre chemins ... d'autres cherchent Ie beau
by the writer) was identified as "Le succes de l'Exposition."I& ideal, M. Manet cherche et atteint l'ideal du laid."25 About the
One other artist was cited, M. Junker, but no mention was made Dejeuner, Paul commented: "Ses deux etudiants causant avec Ie
of Manet. Albert Wolff wrote in the Gazette des beaux-arts that plus vulgaire des femmes nues ont fait l'etonnernent de bien des
Whistler's painting was "le morceau capital du Salon des personnes ... Ie paysage est profond, la verdure est pleine de
heretiques." but failed to say anything about Manet.!? Fraicheur. I'air se joue sous les grands arbes. Ah! si cette naiade
Castagnary, on the other hand, discussed Manet but overlooked effrontee n'y etait pas." Paul's concluding comments concen-
Whistler. His review of the Refuses, which appeared in L'artiste trated on Maners method of painting: "M. Manet ne manque
in two installments, covered thirty-six artists alphabetically.w pas denergie dans sa facture, mais il n'a qu'un precede: il traite
Concerning Maner, he conceded that his three paintings>' were de la merne facon les etres et les choses. Sa palette a peut-etre les
"bonnes ebauches." displaying "une certaine vie dans Ie ton, une sept couleurs: mais illui manque les nuances."

9 lbid., 45. those already identified in the literature on Manet as well as hitherto un-
10 Duret (as in n. 1), 26. examined ones.

II Hamilton (as in n, 5), 67. See also F. and L. B. Hyslop, "Baudelaire and
17 L. Enault in the Revue [rancaise, August 1, 1863, 474-75.
Manet: A Re-Appraisal," in Baudelaire as a Love Poet and Other Essays, 1& Section entitled "Beaux-Arts" in La presse, May 17, 1863.
ed. L. B. Hyslop, University Park and London, 1969, 103-04: "Mocked 19 A. Wolff in the Gazette des beaux-arts, July 1, 1863, 6l.
and ridiculed both by a hostile press and public, Manet was deeply hurt
20 J. A. Castagnary in L'artiste, August 1 and 15, 1863.
and discouraged."
21Together with the Dejeuller, Manet exhibited [eune Homme en
12 Hamilton (as in n. 5). 67.
costume de Majo, Mademoiselle V. en costume d'Espada, and three
1J Didier de Monchaux in La patrie, May 21, 1863. engravings.
I, H. de Viel-Castel in La France, May 21, 1863. 22 Castagnary in L'artiste, August 15, 76.
is E. Chesneau in Le constitI4tionne/, May 19, 1863. 2J Chesneau in Le constitutiolllle/ (as in n. 15).
I.Le temps, July 19, 1863; L'opillion natiolla/e, July 25; Revue des deux 24 J. Graham (Arthur Stevens) in Le Figaro, July 19, 1863.
"'olldes, June 15, 917-18; Revue artistique et litteraire, IV, passim. The
2S A. Paul in Le siecle. July 19, 1863.
Salon reviews I have consulted in connection with the Refuses include
 318 THE ART BULLETIN JUNE 1983 VOLUME LXV NUMBER 2

The most considered analysis of the new tendencies seen at the cussed. Louis Etienne and Fernand Desnoyers, the respective
Refuses was the review of Theophile There in L'independance authors of two handbooks on the Refuses, had sharply diVided
belge,» Turning to Manet who, he said, had attracted the most views on the Deieuner.
attention next to Whistler, There described him as a "vrai pein- In Le jury et les exposants, Etienne attacked all three of
tre" and praised his etching after Velazquez's Petit Cavalier. This Manet's paintings, particularly the Dejeuner. He found the sub-
critic was impressed with the "etoffes etonnantes" in Maner's ject totally reprehensible, adding that "Si M. Manet n'y a pas
"deux figures espagnoles," but felt that "sous ces brillantes cherche malice, il a une muse qu'il fera bien de ne pas toujours
costumes, manque un peu la personne elle-rneme." There's ecouter: c'est la farce de jeune homme, ou plaies vives indignes
views on the Dejeuner, though, were another matter. Having ac- d'etre etalees ainsi."29 Like other critics, he found the landscape
curately described the imagery, he observed: "La femme nue "bien traite," although "les figures sont trop lachees."JO
nest pas de belle forme, malheureusement, et on n'imaginerait Desnoyers' assessment of Manet was far removed from that of
rien de plus laid que le monsieur etendu pres d'elle et qui n'a pas Etienne. He said little of Manet's paintings as such except to ob-
merne eu l'idee d'oter, en plein air, son horrible chapeau en serve a Spanish influence in the Deieuner. His concluding
bourrelet. remarks, though, clearly revealed an admiration for the artist:
"C'est ce contraste d'un animal si antipathique au caractere
d'une scene champetre, avec cette baigneuse sans voiles, qui est Les trois tableaux de M. Manet ont dti jeter une perturbation
choquant, [e ne devine pas ce qui a pu faire choisir a un artiste profonde dans les idees arretees du Jury. Le public lui-rnerns
intelligent et distingue une composition si absurde, que ne laisse pas que d'etre Honne de cette peinture qui, en merne
I'elegance et le charme des personnages eussent peut-etre temps, irrite les amateurs et rend goguenards les critiques
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justifee." There admitted, however, that there were admirable d'art. On peut la trouver mauvais mais non mediocre. M.
qualities in the landscape and the nude: "Mais il y a des qualites Manet n' a certes pas un demi-parti-pris. Il continuera parce
de couleur et de lumiere dans le paysage et meme des morceaux qu'il est convaincu, finalement, quoique les amateurs
tres-reels de modele dans Ie terse de la femme." pretendent retrouver dans la maniere de M. Manet des imita-
Writing in La patrie on May 21, Didier de Monchaux summed tions de Goya et de M. Couture - legere difference - Je crois
up his impressions of the Refuses thus: " ... beaucoup d'oeuvres M. Manet est bien lui-meme: c'est Ie plus bel eloge qu'on
penibles, quelques-unes voire interessantes. Voila tout!"27 He puisse lui faire. Jl
had this to say on Manet: "L'energie poussee a l'exces est la
qualite et en rnerne temps Ie defaut de M. Manet." Singling out In Le petit journal, Capitaine Pompilius discussed Manet at
the Deieuner for comment, de Monchaux remarked: "Dans Ie length and the Deieuner in particular.» He was unable to call
tableau intitule 'Le Bain.' largement peint, les personnages, la Manet an innovator because he felt that Goya and Courbet had
demoiselle comme les messieurs etaient tailles a coup de brosse a preceded him: "je l'appellerais novateur si l'Espagnol Goya,
frotter les parquets. C'est la decoration avoir d'un kilometre de d'une part, et le Franc-Comtois Courbet, de l'autre, n'etaient
distance. Mais l'eloignement n'empechera pas la scene d'etre venus avant lui. je ne puis done vous Ie presenter que sous la
passablement scabreuse et de meriter bel et bien son sejour dans qualification d'une des plus puissantes individualites artistiques
Ie purgatoire." de notre temps." Concerning the Deieuner, which he referred to
In La France, de Viel-Castel had nothing to say about the as the Baigneuses, Pompilius wrote: "Son grand tableau des
Dejeuner, but he praised Manet's two other paintings, "deux 'baigneuses.' place sur Ie mur de fond d'une salle, fait, aux yeux
grandes toiles d'un faire naif, d'une verite un peu trop reelle ... je du spectateur, I'effet d'une trouee sur Ie campagne. Tout autour
n'aurais pas cru et je ne crois pas encore qu'elles dussent etre de lui, les pays ages les plus corses paraissent des visages que
refuses. "28 cette male et vigoureuse coloration fait palir; rnais encore une
On the basis of these reviews, then, it can be seen that the Fois, monsieur, vous n'y verriez, comme rnoi, qu'une sur-
Deieuner was not condemned outright. Castagnary discussed prenante, qu'une admirable ebauche...." It was the "un-
Manet's three paintings together, criticizing them on the grounds finished" quality of Manet's work that disappointed Pornpilius,
of technique but admiring them as good sketches. Chesneau yet he believed that Manet would one day become a master, as he
found nothing to redeem the Dejeuner, although his concluding possessed all the necessary qualifications: "M. Manet, fen ai
remarks suggest that he saw Manet as a potentially talented l'espoir, deviendra quelque jour un maitre: il possede la
painter. The general tone of Stevens' review was positive, but he franchise, la conviction, la puissance, l'universalite, c'est-a-dire
faulted Maner's handling of relief. Adrien Paul declared that the l'etoffe du grand art."
painting was vulgar, but he discerned pleasing qualities in the Edouard Lockroy in Le courrierartistique and Ernest Filloneau
landscape. Thore took exception to the unattractive nude and the in the Moniteur des arts both discussed Manet without singling
incongruity of the ugly man seated next to her, while conceding out any work for special mention. "Ses tableaux, dont le public
that there were convincing areas of modeling in the nude and ne peut apprecier les qualites, sont remplis de bonnes inten-
acknowledging, like Paul, the attractive elements in the tions:' wrote Lockrcy.P "M. Manet triomphera un jour, nous
landscape. De Monchaux evidently found the subject objec- n'en doutons pas, de tous les obstacles qu'il recontre, et nous
tionable and de Viel-Castel failed to discuss it. serons les premiers a applaudir a son succes." For Filloneau.
In a number of other publications, Manet's paintings were dis- Whistler and Manet appeared to be kindred spirits: "Ils

2. W. Burger (Theophile There) in L'independance beIge, June 11.1863. 30 Ibid.

27 De Monchaux in Lapatrie (as in n, 13). 31 F. Desnoyers, Salon des Refuses. La peinture en 1863, Paris, 1863, 42.
,. De Viel-Castel in La France, May 21,1863. 32Capitaine Pompilius, "Lettres sur Ie Salon," in Le petit journal, June
2. L. Etienne, Le jury et les exposants, Salon des Refuses, Paris, 1863, 30. 11,1863.2.
33 E. Lockroy in Le courrier artisiique, May 16, 1863,93.
 NOTES 319

paysage d'un caractere si jeune, si vivant, et que Giorgione sem-

ble avoir inspire." In conclusion, he drew attention to Manet's
obvious though still developing talent: "Sa grande intelligence,
beau fruit encore un peu vert et apre - fort mauvais, je l'avoue,
pour des levres trop minaudieres - demande a fonctionner libre-
ment dans une sphere nouvelle qu'll vivifiera."
The catalogue and supplement of the Salon des Refuses lists a
total of 781 items. 34 According to the Revue artistique et lit-
teraire, at least 1,500 works were exhlbited.w That Maner's
paintings were singled out for relatively lengthy discussion must
itself have pleased him. The critical attention focused thereon in-
dicates further that his work had attracted popular interest. This
much is evident from the observations of a number of critics. "II
s'est fait un grand tapage autour du nom de M. Manet," noted
Stevens,> and Castagnary spoke of the"grand bruit autour de ce
jeune homme."39 Among critics, and by implication the public,
the Dejeuner provoked the most debate. Popular interest in the
painting is also suggested by its appearance in a page of cartoons
in La vie parisienne (Fig. 1), the only magazine known to have
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published caricatures of the exhibits in the Refuses. The popular

response to the Dejeuner is difficult to identify conclusively.
Although the public reacted to the Refuses with laughter -
"[amais certes succes de fou rire ne fut mieux merite"40 - there is
no substantial evidence to prove that the Dejeuner elicited such a
reception. Admittedly, remarks like those of Louis Etienne would
appear to contradict this, but they were in a minority. Some in-
sight into popular thinking might have been afforded by the
humorist writers, but this source proves unrevealing. Pierre
Veron's satirical study of the Refuses in Le monde illustre
referred to its atmosphere "qui dHraye de gaiete les spleens de Ie
1 Gillot, "Salon de 1863, les refuses," cartoon, Lavie parisienne. capitale," but did not mention any artist by name.v Nothing on
July 11, 1863 Manet appeared in the Journal amusant and Louis Leroy's com-
ment in Le Charivari gives away little: "M. Manet gache a plaisir
des qualites reelles, II finira par etre de la force de M. Pingret."42
cherchent un peu les memes effets et emploient les memes According to Zola and Duret, the public took particular excep-
procedes."34 By way of clarification, he continued: "Qu'on ne tion to what it considered to be the Deieuner'» indecent subject.
confonde pas la bizarrerie avec l'originalite, la raideur avec Ie "Cette femme nue a scandalise Ie public.... Bon Dieu! quelle
style, la brutalite avec la franchise, l'exageratlon avec le indecence: une femme sans le moindre voile entre deux hommes
caractere." He agreed with the Jury's decision to reject "les in- habilles," wrote Zola.v And Duret: "Comme si ce n'eut ete assez
novations trop tranchees de MM. Manet et Whistler," but was de ces causes pour soulever l'indignation contre Ie tableau, il se
convinced that they had talent, although at the moment they trouvait que la pudeur s'y voyait encore, au jugement du public,
were in a state of youthful revolt: "mais tout cela est en revolte a offensee."u Insofar as the critics were not unanimous on this
l'heure qu'il est." issue, there are no positive grounds to believe that the public
In Le Salon, a daily periodical published during the course of considered the Deieuner a moral affront verging on the scan-
the Salon, Zacharie Astruc identified Manet as "un des plus dalous. On the contrary, if There is to be believed, the element of
grandes caracteres artistiques du temps .. " L'injustice commise a shock resided in Manet's use of colors: "Les trois tableaux de M.
SOn egard est si flagrante qu'elle confond."J5 Adulatory Manet ont un peu l'air d'une provocation au public qui s'of-
throughout, Astruc referred to the Dejeuner as "le plus grand fusque de la couleur trop eclatante."45

34 E. Filloneau in the Moniteur des arts, June 6, 1863. Hamilton (as in n. " P. Veron, "Les Refuses" in Le monde iIlustre, May 30, 1863, 343. The
5), 71, states incorrectly that the Moniteur des arts failed to mention official Salon was reviewed in this journal by T. Gautier fils.
Maner. .2 L. Leroy in Le Charivari, May 20,1863,3.
JS Z. Astruc in Le Salon, May 20, 1863, 5. " E. Zola, Edouard Manet: Etude biographique et critique, Paris, 1867;
This Figure is based on the catalogue and supplement of the Refuses
)<> see Zola, Mon salon, Manet, ecrits sur I'art, Paris, 1970, 107.
reprinted in the Gazette des beaux-arts, September, 1966; see D. .. Duret (as in n. 1), 26.
Wildenstein, Le Salon des Refuses de 1863, catalogue et documents,
Paris, 133-52. .. There in L'independence beige, June 11, 1863. The anonymous writer
in the Gazette de France, May 28, 1863 (thought to have been Delacroix),
3>Revue artistique et litteraire, 247. The writer notes to his surprise that echoed Thore's observations: Manet's "colons aigre entre dans les yeux
only 687 works were listed in the catalogue. Evidently he was unaware of cornrne une scie d'acier, ses personnages se decoupent a l'emporte-piece
the supplement in which a further 94 works were cited. avec une erudite qu'aucun compromis n'adoucit": cited Tabarant, 1947
" Stevens (as in n. 24). (as in n. 4). 69. Rewald believes that the public took exception chiefly to
J. Castagnary in L'artiste, August 15, 1863,76. Maner's technique: "Aux yeux du public sa 'vulgarite' residait sans
doute autant dans la facture que le sujet": see J. Rewald, Histoire de
'0 C. Brun in Le courrier artistique, May 30, 1863, 101. l'lmpressionnisme, 2 vols., New York, 1955, I, 12.
 320 THE ART BULLETIN JUNE 1963 VOLUME LXV NUMBER 2

Writing under the pseudonym Monsieur de Cupidon in Le cezanne's Sources for Les Grandes Baigneuses
Figaro, Charles Monselet described briefly the subject matter of
the Dejeutler and added, Manet "a deja conquis les repulsions
des bourgeois. C'est un grand pas."46 There may well be some Alicia Faxon
truth in this. Part of the "tapage" surrounding the Dejeutler
could have stemmed from curiosity and lively debate rather than In a search for the sources for Cezanne's Les Grandes Baigneuses
from distaste and a sense of having been insulted. (Fig. 1, Venturi 719) in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, it is dif-
That the Dejeuner brought Manet notoriety is clear, but as we ficult to know with certainty exactly what inspired the artist, in
have seen it was not wholly of the kind described by Duret - view of the loss of direct evidence, both artistic and documen_
"Ce qui lui vena it etait un renom de revolte, d'excentrique. II tary. However, a possible source not previously discussed in
passait a l'etat de reprOUVe."47 On the contrary, Jules Claretie's relation to Lee Grandee Baigneuses appears to have been incor-
remarks in L'ariiste, May, 1865 (part of his review of Olympia) porated into this last statement of Cezanne's long struggle to
can be seen to be nearer the truth: "Beaucoup crierent au scan- depict the nude figure in a realistic landscape.
dale, quelques-uns sourirent, dautres applaudirent, tous prirent Throughou t Cezanne's career, he had recourse to
note du nom de I'audacieux qui tenait un peu et qui promettait photographs, which he used as models for several works and
beaucoup." « Interestingly, even lola conceded that Manet had which, unlike a number of his contemporaries, he acknowl-
won"des defenseurs, memes admirateurs" in 1863. 49 edged as sources for his cornpositions.! Francis Jourdain (1876-
Of those voices which spoke admiringly of Manet, those of 1958), a young painter who visited Cezanne in 1904, reported
Astruc, Lockroy, Pompilius, and Desnoyers were the most Cezanne's ownership of a volume of photographic illustrations
Downloaded by [Stony Brook University] at 08:15 20 October 2014

positive. Astruc was a close friend of the artist's and Lockroy's of works of art: "II ouvrit un affreux album achete jadis a Paris
article appeared in the Courrier artisiique owned by Louis Mar- dans un kiosque des boulevards, Le Nu au Musee du Louvre, une
tinet, the dealer then exhibiting work by Manet, but this did not quinzaine de reproductions hideusement infideles. II fallait une
lessen the value of their opinions both for the artist and his imagination peu ordinaire pour retrouver la moindre trace des
public. In the light of this, we can now treat as speculation chefs-d'oeuvre aimes. dans ces horreurs grossierement
Hamilton's claim that Maner's frame of mind after the Refuses enlurninees. Cezanne s'exrasiait, gesticulait, devenait lyrique,
was one of deeply felt resentment; and his decision to send manifesternent ravi de rompre Ie silence auquel l'obligeait sa
Olympia to the 1865 Salon seems less astonishing than it would solitude."> Theodore Reff suggests that this book was Armand
have at first appeared. Silvestre's Le Nu au Louvre published in 1891. 3
Art Gallery of New South Wales Armand Silvestre's Le Nu au Louvre proclaimed that its pur-
Sydney, NSW, Australia 2000 pose was to demonstrate "Ia superiorite plastique du Nu Feminln,
sur tous les autres sujets, dans la recherche du Beau."» It contains
photographs of paintings and sculptures of nudes from
Hellenistic to modern times. For Cezanne, this book would have
been a gold mine of images of the nude female figure. Unlike live
models, the photographs "never moved or grew tired, and more
important, they never confronted him with the easily disturbing
eroticism of the flesh. Assimilated to an ideal aesthetic world of
canvas or marble, they were neutralized and approachable.">
The photographs of sculpture were of particular interest to
Cezanne. He had of course often seen them in the Louvre and
had made sketches of a number of them, such as the Venus de
Milo, the Hermaphrodite, the venus de Vienne and the venus
accroupie. The use of photographs of sculpture had one major
and obvious disadvantage: the single view. However, when
augmented by Cezanne's sketches, the photographs served both
as models of ideals of beauty and as an aide-memoire for
Cezanne in representing the nude figure in a natural setting by
the Arc River. The photographs of antique and later sculpture
brought the museum to Cezanne at Aix.
Reading from the left of Les Grandee Baigtleuses (Fig. 1), the
second figure is shown crouching in the foreground, knees
drawn up, right arm extended toward the ground. The pose of

1 J. Rewald, Cezanne, Geffroy et Gasquet suivi de souvenirs sur Cezanne

de Louis Aurenche et de lettres inedites, Paris, 1959,65, and E. Bernard,

"Souvenirs sur Paul Cezanne et lettres inedites," Mercure de France, Oct.
15,1907,609.
Z F. Jourdain, Cezantle, Paris, 1950,9-10.

'T. Reff, "Reproductions and Books in Cezanne's Studio," Gazette des

•• M. de Cupidon (Charles Monselet) in Le Figaro, May 24, 1863.
beaux-arts, LVI, 1960,304, and n. 12.
47 Duret (as in n. 1). • A. Silvestre, Le Nu au Louvre, Paris, 1891, intro.
"}. Clarette (Jules Arsene Arnaud) in L'artisie, May 15, 1865, 225-26. >T. Reff, "Studies in the Drawings of Cezanne," Ph.d. diss., Harvard
•• Zola (as in n. 43). University, 1958, 109.