"1 The Metropolitan Museum of Art 82nd Street and Fifth Avenue „ iBnuT,,„„ New York, New York 10028 J ARCHIVES (2,2) 879.5500 3 Oopioa LANDMARK EXHIBITION OF MANET WORKS SET BY METROPOLITAN MUSEUM FOR 1983 The most important retrospective exhibition of the work of Edouard Manet, the great French artist who was the father of Im­ pressionism, is being organized by the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Louvre in Paris. The exhibit, in the centenary of Manet's death, will be shown first in Paris, opening April 22, 1983, and it will be shown at the Metropolitan Museum from Septem­ ber 10, 1983 through November 27. It will be the most extensive exhibition of the work of Manet since the memorial exhibition at the Ecole dels Beaux Arts mounted in 1884. Manet is made possible by a major grant from Warner Communi­ cations Inc., with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, D. C., a federal agency. The exhibition, which will include some 150 of the most sig­ nificant works by Edouard Manet (1832-1883) — 80 paintings, 45 draw­ ings and watercolors, and 33 prints — will be assembled not only from the extensive holdings of the Metropolitan Museum and the Louvre but with numerous important loans from collections throughout Europe, the United States and South America. Among the key works will be The Bar at the Folies Berqeres from the Courtauld Institute in London, In the Conservatory from the National Gallery, Berlin, The Fifer and The Balcony from the Louvre, and from the Metropolitan Museum, The Spanish Singer, Boating, and The Woman with a Parrot. (more) Manet" 2 In commenting on the exhibition, Philippe de Montebello, Director of the Metropolitan Museum, said, "Manet is often called the father of Impressionism and in his work lies the germ of all subsequent painting. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is delighted to be co-organizer with the Louvre of this important exhibition. The Museum is indeed grateful for the generous underwriting grant from Warner Communications which makes our participation possible. The exhibition will be a retrospective in every sense of the word, in­ cluding landmark works from the very earliest period to the latest." The exhibition will present a comprehensive survey of the work of Manet, who was a leading figure in the genesis of the mod­ ernist movement. For the first time in a century the public will be able to view the full achievement of the artist whose impact is central to an understanding of the Impressionists. Manet will begin with an examination of the artist's early years as a pupil in Thomas Couture's studio and will trace his career as the most revolutionary painter of the period of the late 1860s. Rejecting traditional academic and societal conventions, Manet became the pre-eminent painter of modern life and a focus for the young artists who would later band together to create the Im­ pressionist movement. By 1874 he, in turn, had been influenced by their work. An impressive group of works from the 1870s and the 1880s will also be included in the exhibition, and Manet will be seen as a 19th-century modernist who managed to reconcile the formal and technical elements required for official recognition — limiting the exhibition of his works to the annual Salons — with the most (more) Manet advanced tendencies in the painting of his time. Manet will be accompanied by a fully illustrated color cata­ logue and a half-hour film. Both the catalogue and the film are underwritten by Warner Communications Inc. (end) FOR FURTHER INFORMATION please contact John Ross or Joan Ingles, The Public Information Department, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Tel. (212) 879-5500 March 198 3 .