Tuesday, January 29, 2008

A Promise of Spring


A Bunch of Asparagus 1880, Edouard Manet

This luscious bunch of veg looks so appealing and fresh! I love all the different shades of green and the violet tips, it makes me long for an outdoor market. (Beaverton Farmer's Market in Portland, OR... what a feast for the eyes)

Manet (1832 - 1883) is probably most famous for his painting, Olympia (1865) and Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe (1863). Both of these paintings shocked the Paris Salon with such blatant nudity of a woman as she unabashedly gazes at the viewer, instead of purely being gazed at. What was also new about these paintings was she was depicted in scenes that are every day life settings while nude (as opposed to posing in a studio or playing a role/allegory etc.) His brother, Eugene, was married to the formidable Impressionist painter, Berthe Morisot.

'He was a French painter, active in Paris, one of the foremost French artists of the 19Th century. He was born in Paris, trained under a history painter and was inspired by Goya and Velazquez and Courbet. He never exhibited with the Impressionists, although he was associated with them from the 1870's.' (Brockhampton)