Edouard Manets Bar at the Folies Bergere
Edouard Manet’s Bar at the Folies Bergere was completed in 1882. This was to be the last major work Manet would complete before his death. The painting was intended for the Salon, and because of his recently awarded Legion of Honor, Manet could be sure this piece would be accepted. This painting would be considered from the impressionistic style.
That Manet’s Bar is a masterpiece can hardly be argued, but the intent of the piece however is the source of much debate. The following evidence will show that this is a null point; it will show that the artist in fact did not intend to provoke any emotion or thought besides aesthetic emotion. Manet has taken something he found to be worthy of portraying, and slightly romanticized it into merely a involved painting which is pleasing to the eye (Roskill 231). After this was exhibited at the Salon, and Manet was disappointed with the public, who saw the subject rather than his masterly rendition (Rewald 366). To be disappointed that people were seeing the subject of his painting and projecting meaning upon it, not only focusing how well the painting was fashioned, seems to show in itself that the painting did not have the meaning some try to ascribe to it. Manet’s Bar at the Folies Bergere is just a pretty picture that is not dealing with issues of sexuality, but tries to appeal to the public by imitating the style of advertisements and posters, and was an attempt to make a piece of art merely to be sold.
The barmaid, generally considered the focal point of the piece, is often thought to be a prostitute. Some believe Manet could have been using her slightly detached gaze to show a specific feeling towards these actions or any of countless theories on the subject. Suzon, the barmaid, was in fact not a prostitute in any way. This woman actually did serve drinks at the Folies Bergere, and this serving of drinks was her livelihood. Manet asked her to sit in his studio to model for the painting, and when she consented it was only on the condition that her boyfriend be allowed accompany her (Iskin 25). To model for a painting is not something a prostitute would have had any problem with, especially in that day. For Suzon to insist on her boyfriend accompanying her shows how absurd the assumption is that she was a prostitute. This should show her good intent...
... middle of paper ...
...ic a great work, and something that would be for the masses. This was not some commentary on prostitution or sexuality. Through the X-ray evidence it can be clearly seen that Manet did not have a specific intent. It is evident that this painting was merely meant to show Manet’s mastery of the medium and produce something that would appeal to the masses. The painting overall was produced to be sold, because this is what was the most necessary to Manet at the time.
Bibliography:
de Duve, Thierry. “How Manet’s A Bar At The Folies-Bergere Is Constructed” Critical Inquiry. Autumn 1998. p136+.
Duchting, Hujo. “Edouark Manet, Images of Parisian Life.” Munich: Prestel,
Hagen, Rose-Marie and Ranier. “What Great Paintings Say.” NY: Taschen, 2000.
Iskin, Ruth E. “Selling, seduction, and soliciting the eye: Manet’s ‘Bar at the Folies-Bergere’.” The Art Bulletin. March 1995 v77 p25-44.
Mathey, Francois. The Impressionists. New York: Fredrick A. Praeger, 1967.
Roskill, Mark. Van Gough, Gauguin and the Impressionist Circle. Grenwich CT: New York Geographic Society, 1970.
Rewald, John. The History of Impressionism. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1946.
Carol Armstrong begins her essay by pointing out the two main points that come about when discussing A Bar at the Folies-Bergere. These two points are the social context of the painting and its representation of 19th century Paris, and the internal structure of the painting itself with the use of space. She then goes on and addresses what she will be analyzing throughout her essay. She focuses on three main points, the still life of the counter and its commodities, the mirror and its “paintedness”, and the barmaid and her “infra-thin hinge” between the countertop and the mirror.
The painting “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère” is detail oriented and depicts unpopular topics. Examples of the details are green shoes dangling, a lady using binoculars in the reflection of the mirror, and the colors on the lady’s cheeks. Manet’s uses oranges to represent prostitution, and to others this is an unpleasant topic. The painting is relevant today in that people want details on where all of their hard earn money has gone. Why are people losing their homes, and if the market is lousy, why is it only lousy for the lower and middle class?
Beecroft, Rachel H. "Armenian Genocide." World Without Genocide. William Mitchell College of Law, 6 Aug. 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. .
In the short story “An Adventure in Paris” by Guy De Maupassant an unnamed woman seeks for adventure, love, and excitement. An unnamed narrator starts to explain the inner nature and curiosity of a woman. The story transitions to the point of view of an unnamed lawyer’s wife which allows us to see her deepest desire to travel to Paris and be part of the lavishing life she has seen in the magazines. To escape her regular routine she makes a plan to go to Paris; however, her family members are only middle class and cannot help her fulfill her desire to live the life of a celebrity, fame, and fashion. Just when her trip seems to be monotonous she comes across the chance to live the life of an extravagant person. This chance happens when she meets Jean Varin, a wealthy author, in a store wanting to purchase a Japanese figurine. When Varin decides that the figurine is too expensive the lawyer’s wife steps up to buy the figurine which causes Varin to notice her. She flirtatiously invites herself into Varin’s daily activities which intrigue Varin. As the day closes she invites herself to Varin’s house and has an affair with Varin; however, she doesn’t feel she is satisfied because of his many needs. She anxiously waits till morning to come so that she can leave which only confuses Varin. When Varin asks her why she is leaving after all they have been through she states that she wanted to know what depravity felt like; however, it was not what she expected. The central idea of the story is about a woman’s psychological desire for romance, adventure, and an opulent lifestyle that leads to curiosity and the immoral act of adultery.
Art is trapped in the cage of society, constantly being judged and interpreted regardless of the artist’s intent. There is no escaping it, however, there are ways to manage and manipulate the cage. Two such examples are Kandinsky 's Little Pleasures, and Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain. Both pieces were very controversial and judged for being so different in their time, but they also had very specific ways of handling the criticism and even used it to their advantage. We will be looking at the motivations for each artwork, what made the art so outrageous, and the public’s reaction to the pieces.
We walked and walked looking at each art piece, which were all well displayed. Then as I looked at the back wall, a large oil canvas painting looked right back at me. I could feel its pain and so then, I decided to do my paper on this piece. The painting was The Ragpicker by Manet. (The Ragpicker. Edouard Manet.1865.Oil on canvas.) The painting was so enormous that it was hard to miss. Such a huge painting for one man, it almost looked life-like. The dimensions of this work is 76.75” x 51.25”. This scene seems to take place of a lower-class man late in his age, probably near his seventies, appears to be looking out of the corner of his eye. The ...
Past the political satire and laughable motifs in the book Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, the purpose of this story is to show everything ignoble and tactless of the human species in general and that humans are truly disgusting. Also exploring the idea of a utopia. Swift uses the literary device of political satire to show how childish and ignorant human acts were. This is because during Swift's time in the eighteenth century, Britain was modernizing at this time. The reader follows the four narrative travels of the main character, Lemuel Gulliver. Each of the four voyages Gulliver has traveled to, is a different society that portrays one of the main ideals of the eighteenth century in Britain. The four places Gulliver has traveled to were Lilliput; being Gulliver's first voyage, Brobdingnag; his second voyage, Laputa; the third voyage, and lastly to the land of the Houyhnhms; being his last voyage and afterwards traveling back home to England. The experience from being exposed to these four societies has had a huge impact on how Gulliver now sees humans.
The contrasts between depth and surface, figure and landscape, promiscuity and modesty, beauty and vulgarity all present themselves in de Kooning’s Woman and Bicycle. Although the figure is a seemingly normal woman out for an afternoon with her bike, she becomes so much more through the artist’s use of color, contrast, and composition. The exotic nature of woman presents itself in her direct stare and slick buxom breasts in spite of a nearly indiscernible figure. It is understood that, on the whole, de Kooning did not paint with a purpose in mind, but rather as an opportunity to create an experience, however, that does not go to say that there isn’t some meaning that can come of this work. Even Willem de Kooning once said that art is not everything that is in it, but what you can take out of it (Hess p.144).
Many people do not develop any symptoms or any health problems at the beginning, in most cases the body’s immune system gets rid of the virus in two years. Although there is no way to know who will develop health problems. Some cases will develop genital warts in both males and females, the warts can also appear in the mouth, throat, anus, fingers, nails and cervix. Other types of HPV may cause the cells in the body to turn abnormal, which might lead to cervical cancer overtime if left untreated. The types of HPV that causes genital warts are not the same as the ones that can cause cancer. Types of HPV that can cause cancer are called High Risk HPV’s.
The Cambodian Genocide has the historical context of the Vietnam War and the country’s own civil war. During the Vietnam War, leading up to the conflicts that would contribute to the genocide, Cambodia was used as a U.S. battleground for the Vietnam War. Cambodia would become a battle ground for American troops fighting in Vietnam for four years; the war would kill up to 750,00 Cambodians through U.S. efforts to destroy suspected North Vietnamese supply lines. This devastation would take its toll on the Cambodian peoples’ morale and would later help to contribute that conflicts that caused the Cambodian genocide. In the 1970’s the Khmer rouge guerilla movement would form. The leader of the Khmer rouge, Pol Pot was educated in France and believed in Maoist Communism. These communist ideas would become important foundations for the ideas of the genocide, and which groups would be persecuted. The genocide it’s self, would be based on Pol Pot’s ideas to bring Cambodia back to an agrarian society, starting at the year zero. His main goal was to achieve this, romanticized idea of old Cambodia, based on the ancient Cambodian ruins, with all citizens having agrarian farming lives, and being equal to each other. Due to him wanting society to be equal, and agrarian based, the victims would be those that were educated, intellectuals, professionals, and minority ethnic g...
9. Bouguereau, William A. Psyche et L'Amour. 1889. Private Collection. Art In the Picture. 2014. 25 Jan. 2014 .
War is a machine that extracts young men and women from reality. It twists their morals until they do not know what is right or wrong. This level of dehumanization and objectification is clearly argued in Ron Kovic’s Born on the Fourth of July: “He had never been anything but a thing to them, a thing to put a uniform on and train to kill, a young thing to run through the meat-grinder, a cheap small nothing thing to make mincemeat out of” (165). War is the “meat-grinder.” Soldiers only matter because they can kill. War tears apart the people fighting it. Coming out of the war Kovic does not know what to do. He is lost. This aimless feeling is similar to the experiences of Jake and the Gang in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. The protagonist, Jake Barnes, and his entourage wander the streets of Paris and Madrid with no purpose. After war, the real w...
Barnett, Peter. “The French Revolution in Art”. ArtId, January 7th 2009. Web. 5th May 2013.
Gulliver’s Travels, written by Jonathan Swift, is the story about Lemuel Gulliver, a man from England trained as a surgeon. Gulliver sets to the seas when his business hits the dumps. The story is told in first person point of view. Gulliver narrates the adventures that take place during his travels. The characters in this story are Lemuel Gulliver, the emperor, the farmer, the farmer’s daughter, the king and queen of Brobdingnag, Lord Munodi, the Yahoos, and the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver is the main character of this story.
Jonathan Swift's story, Gulliver's Travels, is a very clever story. It recounts the fictitious journey of a fictitious man named Lemuel Gulliver, and his travels to the fantasy lands of Lilliput, Brobdinag, Laputa, and Houyhnhmn land. When one first reads his accounts in each of these lands, one may believe that they are reading humorous accounts of fairy-tale-like lands that are intended to amuse children. When one reads this story in the light of it being a satire, the stories are still humorous, but one realizes that Swift was making a public statement about the affairs of England and of the human race as a whole.