Modern Beauty
Manet at the Getty
Elegantly agreeable and pleasing to the eye, Paris-born Édouard Manet’s last works have often been overlooked in lieu for the artists’ early paintings. Still life and portraits are cast in soft, quiet light, and Manet’s brushstrokes interpreted modern Parisian life in the late 1880s. Yet, any dismissal of the artists’ late works should be reconsidered, as an unsettling beauty abounds rampantly upon closer observation.
Manet and Modern Beauty is at the Getty Center until January 12, 2020. The exhibit is a collection of his final works, before an early death at age 51. It includes oils as well as handwritten letters embellished with watercolor flourishes.
Manet’s earliest works were risqué and criticized by the French Salon. The paintings include “Olympia” and “The Luncheon on the Grass” and feature nude women considered harsh and unconventional for the era. Manet found himself battling artistic technique with gaining acceptance by the French Bourgeoisie, a goal of his young life.
Risqué and venturesome for the time, Manet’s earlier works initially received backlash and adverse responses from the French Salon. Vases filled with flowers, rowboats, and majestic women graced his canvases. And yet, even in his final works, there are small semblances of artistic restlessness upon closer inspection.
“Plum Brandy” and “The Café-Concert” are two pieces with women posed unconventionally, a shadow of Manet’s earlier ideals. In the former, a young woman slouches slightly, one hand resting against her cheek, the other holding an unlit cigarette. In the latter, a bar scene depicts women drinking beer alongside men. There’s also a woman holding a beer mug to her lips while her other hand is planted confidently on her hip.
There is anxiety within the pleasantries of Manet’s portraits and sun-bathed colors. During the period the artist was grappling with crippling pain, the subjects and objects of his work were uncomplicated. In his last days, the artist turned to feminine and fashionable themes and finally found acceptance among his peers. Intertwined in the modern beauties of Manet’s later works are tell-tale signs of pain and affliction; the perfection of his gentle brushstrokes work to disguise the artistic and human struggle.
