|
Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
Pierre Auguste Renoir was born February 25, 1841,
in Limoges and grew up in Paris. He worked as a
commercial artist for several years and copied
at the Musée du Louvre before entering the
Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1862 to study for one year
with Emile Signol and Charles Gleyre. At Gleyre’s
private studio, he met Frédéric Bazille, Claude
Monet, and Alfred Sisley, who joined him in plein-
air painting. In 1864, Renoir’s first submission to
the official Salon was accepted, and he began
executing portrait commissions. The following
year, he visited the village of Marlotte near
the forest of Fontainebleu for the first of many
summers; he also met Gustave Courbet. His work
was accepted intermittently at the Salon until
the early 1870s. In 1869, Renoir met Paul Alexis,
Paul Cézanne, Edmond Duranty, the
photographer Nadar (Félix Tournachon), and
Emile Zola, and often painted with Monet. In
1871, after army service during the Franco-
Prussian War, he returned to Paris. In 1872, Renoir
met the dealer Paul Durand-Ruel and visited
Gustave Caillebotte with Monet. He
participated in the Salon des Refusés in 1873
and in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874.
He took part in the second, third, and seventh
Impressionist shows of 1876, 1877, and 1882, but
declined to show in the other four. Financial
difficulties forced Renoir and other Impressionists
to organize an auction of their work at the Hôtel
Drouot in 1875.
During the late 1870s, Renoir associated with
Cézanne, Jules Champfleury, Paul Guillaumin,
and the paint dealer Père Tanguy. From 1878
to 1883, he showed annually at the Salon. He
visited Algeria and Italy in 1881–82. In 1883,
Durand-Ruel gave him a solo exhibition. That
same year, Renoir traveled to the islands of
Jersey and Guernsey and to L’Estaque to see
Cézanne. He exhibited with the group Les Vingt
in Brussels in 1885, 1886, and 1889. He began a
lifelong association with Stéphane Mallarmé in
1887. In 1890, he participated in the Salon for
the last time and was awarded the medal of
the Légion d’Honneur. Despite failing health,
Renoir continued to work until his death on
December 3, 1919, in Cagnes, France.
|
|
|
