The Impressionists and their animals
The Impressionists set out to depict the every day scenes of French Life in a way that would revolutionise the art world pet portraits however, were not considered by Impressionist painter, probably thought of as not particularly note worthy.
Despite the Impressionists reluctance to spend time on pet art, there is one artist that did venture into this arena.
Manet, the grand statesman of French Impressionists and creator of such ground breaking paintings such as “Olympia” and “Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe”, made many sketches and water colours of his family cat Zizi. There was a portrait he did of his wife, Suzanne Leenhoff, whom he married in 1863, that also featured Zizi. This portrait, called “Woman with Cat”, was probably painted after Manets’ return from Rueil near Paris between 1880 and 1802, from where he had spent the summer with his wife. Even so, many think it work-in-progress and that he would have been working on it at the time of his death in 1883. In any case, it shows the artists’ use of dynamic strokes, typical of his sketch technique.
Another notable around this time that made studies of animals was Degas, although he never considered himself part of the impressionism movement, preferring to call himself “the classical painter of modern life”. Degas made many studies and paintings of the horse racing scene, relishing the portrayal of movement amongst the thoroughbreds preparing to race. Degas was able to capture the visually satisfying moment within the flow of movement, whether they were the steps and leaps of the ballet dancers or that of the horses on the turf.
This ability to be capable of correctly visualising the fleeting moment in a perpetually changing scene, gave his paintings a reality that contemporaries couldn’t. Consider Gericaults’ engraving of an English racehorse which has all four legs out backwards and forwards, a manner believed to be true until Degas showed us differently!
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