March 17, 2009

First Impressions # 1 - Answer




It's Pierre-Auguste Renoir! 1841-1919.
Art Bloggers and Subtorp answered correctly. As did Mia, Brenda, and Blooming Pink.

Poor Renoir had arthritis so badly that towards the end of his days he had his paint brush tied to his wrist and hand. He is credited with saying, "The pain passes but the beauty remains." It's a wonder he can smile at all in the top picture.

At my local central reference library I found a Paris City Directory for the year 1912. It has addresses, and in some cases, phone numbers, for Picasso, Colette, Pissarro and Renoir who then lived at 43 rue Caulaincourt. What a find! He is listed as Peintre, Artiste et Chevalier. Renoir became a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1900.

The great photo above comes from one of my own books and was taken by the tireless chronicler, Jean-Loup Charmet.
The portrait of Renoir was painted by Frédéric Bazille in 1867.

6 comments:

Kat Mortensen said...

Yes, I realized all too late that Gauguin was POST-Impressionist. Of course! Renoir!
That was fun. I hope it will be a regular feature.

Kat

K. said...

What a marvelous photograph. I can almost detect deep blues in part of it.

Tess Kincaid said...

Of course! I see it now! There was something so familiar about his eyes, but I just couldn't place him. Fun!

Penney said...

I think that this top picture is so telling. I think he has kind eyes.
Thanks for posting this...
xo,
Penney
Just Penneys

Penney said...

His eyes are kind..I like him..
Just Penney

Unknown said...

Yes...it was fun.

Ditto on the request for regular feature. :)

Thanks