Humble and Human: an Exhibition in Honor of Ralph C
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Humble and Human: An Exhibition in Honor of Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. February 2–May 26, 2019 Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing. — Camille Pissarro The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, in partnership with the Detroit Institute of Arts, is proud to present Humble and Human, an exhibition in celebration of Ralph C. Wilson, Jr., a philanthropist, business leader, and advocate for the citizens of Western New York and Southeast Michigan—regions he called home. A long-term resident of Detroit and founding owner of the Buffalo Bills, Mr. Wilson profoundly shaped the industry and commerce of these two cities during his lifetime, and today this spirit is carried on in the work of the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation. His dedication to innovation and perseverance are also reflected in the collections of both museums, which have long served as cornerstones of the Great Lakes region. A testament to the power of collaboration among artists, museums, and cities, this exhibition features paintings and sculptures from the collections of these two institutions by leading Impressionist and post-Impressionist artists, including Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, and Berthe Morisot. During his lifetime, Mr. Wilson amassed a small but notable collection of paintings by Impressionist artists. He saw in the works of these late nineteenth-century avant-gardists—especially those of Monet—evocations of the values and ideas that were close to his own heart: the ennobling of simple pleasures and ordinary people. Pierre Bonnard French, 1867–1947 Jeune fille à sa toilette (Girl Bathing), 1900 or 1905 Bronze Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Sherman S. Jewett Fund, 1954 Pierre Bonnard and his friend Édouard Vuillard, whose work is also on view in this exhibition, were members of a group of post-Impressionist painters called the Nabis, which means “prophets” in Arabic and Hebrew, as a nod to their preference for mystical subject matter. Bonnard, however, delighted in intimate scenes of everyday life, capturing the spirit of a person or a place often from memory. Around the turn of the twentieth century, he began painting the female nude in unassuming, natural poses. In this intimately sized sculpture, the artist interprets the traditional motif of a standing nude bather. With a seeming lack of self- consciousness, the figure raises her arms behind her back, forever paused in the privacy of her toilette. Eugène Boudin French, 1824–1898 Casimir Delavigne Basin at Le Havre, 1874 Oil on panel Collection Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mrs. John N. Lord in memory of her husband, 62.146 The bustling scene depicted in Casimir Delavigne Basin at Le Havre is one that Eugène Boudin witnessed often as a child. He and his father made many trips up the River Seine between Honfleur and Le Havre transporting casks of cider. After one day falling overboard and requiring rescue by a seaman, Boudin was sent to school by his mother. There, a teacher encouraged his artistic talent. As an adult, Boudin was able to return to the waterways of his youth as a subject for his compositions. Although he is lesser known than many of the French Impressionists who followed in his wake, his influence permeates their work. After encountering Boudin painting on the coast of the English Channel, a much younger Claude Monet contemplated working outdoors, a technique he had never considered before. The two painted side by side, in the open air. It did not take long for the future Father of Impressionism to see the light. Eugène Boudin French, 1824–1898 La Seine à Rouen (The Seine at Rouen), 1895 Oil on canvas Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred G. Lewis in memory of Mr. and Mrs. George Howard Lewis, 1943 Painted a few years before his death, The Seine at Rouen is exemplary of Eugène Boudin’s later style, in which sketchy and fluid brushwork combine in an overall muted palette. Artist Léon Leclerc (French, 1866–1930), who witnessed Boudin painting on the Quai d’Anjou (a landing overlooking the River Seine in Paris) in 1897, described his process. “After the rough sketch came a second phase, quite distinct from the other. Boudin would take a medium-sized brush, make a point, and look about him, calm and self-possessed, seeming to meditate. Then, all of a sudden, his brush, charged with paint, would swoop down on the canvas. Soon from all these spots of color, groups of people began to emerge, then boats, houses.” Charles Edouard Boutibonne French, born Hungary, 1816–1897 Croquet Players, 1871 Oil on wood panel Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Gift of Dudley M. Irwin, 1909 Toward the end of the nineteenth century, jurors for the Salon—a major art exhibition organized annually by the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris—were unreceptive to the endeavors of the Impressionists. They preferred artists like Charles Edouard Boutibonne, who painted in an academic style that was favored by the Salon, where he regularly exhibited. Eventually, the artist developed a modest reputation for his portraits and charming genre scenes, which often depict young bourgeois women playing billiards, hiking, ice skating, and engaging in other leisurely pastimes. Rather than painting en plein air (French for “out of doors”), Boutibonne worked on Croquet Players in his studio, paying careful attention to the details of the subjects’ faces, clothing, and surrounding objects. Critics of academic art derided canvases like Boutibonne’s as “false surfaces”—showing no real texture or depth— and unfavorably compared the smooth, slick idealization of these works to the relatively visible brushstrokes, open composition, and emphasis on the changing qualities of light characteristic of Impressionist painting. Gustave Caillebotte French, 1848–1894 Étude pour “Le Pont de l’Europe” (Study for “Le Pont de l’Europe”), 1876 Oil on canvas Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Bequest of A. Conger Goodyear, by exchange, 1974 During his time, Gustave Caillebotte was best known as an enthusiastic collector and supporter of the Impressionists. However, he was also an artist in his own right, driven by his fascination with the rapidly transforming landscape of Paris. In this work, the largest of five preparatory renderings for a final painting, Caillebotte took as his subject the recently built bridge spanning the railroad tracks leading to the Saint-Lazare station. Such a subject provided Caillebotte the opportunity to explore the impact of industrialization on the Parisian cityscape and its inhabitants. The artist was interested in not only modern subjects but also the latest means of representation, such as photography. Here, he imitated the dramatic cropping characteristic of this new medium. Additionally, he chose an exaggerated vantage point that is reinforced by the heavy, dramatic lines of the bridge itself and the way in which it marries with its cast shadow, creating an almost abstract composition. Mary Cassatt American, 1844–1926 Baby Wearing a Cap, ca. 1890 Pencil on paper Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Gift of George F. Goodyear, 1958 Mary Cassatt American, 1844–1926 In the Garden, 1903 or 1904 Oil on canvas Collection Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Dr. Ernest G. Stillman, 22.6 Mary Cassatt began her artistic training at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, but discouraged by the institution’s treatment of female students, she ultimately moved to Paris to study privately. She would remain in France for the majority of her life and career. In 1877, Edgar Degas invited her to join the Impressionists, and she became the only American to exhibit with the group. Like Berthe Morisot, whose work is also on view in this exhibition, Cassatt focused on familial themes and portraits of women. Although she never had children, the artist was fascinated by the bond between mothers and their children and often found her subjects in the villages near her home. By the end of the nineteenth century, affecting images such as In the Garden became very popular, perhaps because they filled a need to romanticize women’s roles within the home at a time when the issues of voting rights and social equality for women were gaining ground. However, idealizing the domestic roles of women was not Cassatt’s intent. In the artist's own words, “women should be someone and not something.” Paul Cézanne French, 1839–1906 Le Bassin du Jas de Bouffan (The Pool at Jas de Bouffan), ca. 1878–79 Oil on canvas Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Fellows for Life Fund, 1927 The late 1870s were a period of transition for Paul Cézanne. In 1877, following a grievous reception of his art at the third Impressionist exhibition, he retreated to the countryside and worked in isolation, laboriously striving to find a new pictorial language. Jas de Bouffan, which means “Place of High Winds,” is a country estate northwest of Aix-en-Provence that the artist’s father purchased in 1859. The property provided Cézanne with many of his subjects in the decades to follow; its reflecting pool in particular appears in many works. In this rendition, he presents the viewer with a bordered vantage point, simultaneously evoking feelings of isolation and tranquility. This work foreshadows painterly concepts Cézanne would explore extensively later in his career, including the cropped motif, dense composition, and orderly brushstrokes, as in the nearby Morning in Provence. Paul Cézanne French, 1839–1906 Five Bathers, 1879–80 Oil on canvas Collection Detroit Institute of Arts, Bequest of Robert H. Tannahill, 70.162 In the mid-1870s, Paul Cézanne became increasingly fascinated with painting bathers in the landscape. The artist’s boyhood memories of swimming with his friends in Aix-en-Provence inspired scenes such as Five Bathers.