Manet, Édouard (1832-1883)
Antonin Proust
1880
Oil on canvas, 129.5 x 95.9 cm
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo
This portrait was painted in a single sitting using unprepared canvas. Exhibited at the 1880 Paris Salon, it was praised by some for it decisive brushstrokes and bold execution, and criticized by others for its lack of refinement. The intimate feeling of the painting is thanks for Manet and Proust‘s relationship, the two were friends in their childhood and studied art together. While Manet continued to pursue art, becoming one of the most impactful painters of his day, Proust turned to a career in journalism and politics. The two remained friends through it all.
Antonin Proust (1832–1905) and Edouard Manet had been childhood companions and fellow art students. Proust pursued a career as a politician and journalist, while Manet became a groundbreaking Realist painter whose style was much admired by a group of younger artists eventually known as the Impressionists. Proust later wrote the biography of Manet, who had immortalized Proust with respect and affection in this spirited portrait. As Proust later recounted, Manet fixed on a plan “to paint my portrait on unprepared white canvas, in a single sitting.” Posed in an attitude of carefully studied relaxation, the elegantly urbane and impeccably dressed Proust embodies something of the essential traits of the modern Parisian dandy. Exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1880, the painting was criticized by some for its casualness and lack of finish. Others praised its bold and decisive handling of paint. The appearance of improvisatory freedom and immediacy that Manet achieved, however, was hard won. Look for areas of extensive surface crackle—a sign of considerable reworking. (TMA)
See also:
• Proust, Antonin (1832-1905)