Manet Edouard's Flautist
Manet Edouard 1832–1883
French painter. Active in Paris, he was one of the foremost French artists
of the 19th century. Rebelling against the academic tradition, he developed
a clear and unaffected realist style. His subjects were mainly
contemporary, such as A Bar at the Folies-Bergиre 1882 (Courtauld Art
Gallery, London).
Born in Paris, he trained under a history painter and was inspired by Goya
and Velбzquez and also by Courbet. His Dйjeuner sur l’herbe/Picnic on the
Grass 1863 and Olympia 1865 (both Musйe d’Orsay, Paris) offended
conservative tastes in their matter-of-fact treatment of the nude body. He
never exhibited with the Impressionists, although he was associated with
them from the 1870s.
FLAUTIST
The most significant work of 1866 is "Flautist". The picture speaks about
surprising successes of the artist. It is written in three layers, with
such reliance and skill, that never and nobody could them surpass. Manet
has acquired in workshop of Cutur all colors, and he used brown tone, so-
called "juice". He wrote at once on a thin one-ton ground. Modeling of
light and shadow were avaricious, the transition from the covered places to
shadows is very realistic. Face and naked parts of a body are given in
unusual vitality, which originally was written by soft equal tone, then he
planned shadows and only then, at the third stage, he imposed patches of
light. He did not aspire to hide the amendments and changes, he simply
wrote down by wide stroke of paint, there is a bottom layer of painting is
transparent through it, and it creates surprising effects. Manet seldom has
mixed paints. The trousers of a flautist are of moraine color (green-dark
blue) and they will seem as a Chinese varnish. But some shadows, hardly
distinctive from close distance. From far distance the picture is more
understandable. This picture is situated in Luxembourg museum.