(b. Feb. 25, 1841, Limoges,
France--d. Dec. 3, 1919, Cagnes)
French painter originally associated with the Impressionist
movement. His early works were typically Impressionist snapshots of
real life, full of sparkling colour and light. By the mid-1880s,
however, he had broken with the movement to apply a more disciplined,
formal technique to portraits and figure paintings, particularly of
women (e.g. , Bathers, 1884-87).
In 1854 he began
work as a painter in a porcelain factory in Paris, gaining experience
with the light, fresh colors that were to distinguish his
Impressionist work and also learning the importance of good
craftsmanship. His predilection towards light-hearted themes was also
influenced by the great Rococco masters, whose works he studied in
the Louvre. In 1862 he entered the studio of Gleyre and there formed
a lasting friendship with Monet, Sisley,
and Bazille.
He painted with them in the Barbizon district and became a leading
member of the group of Impressionists who met at the Café
Guerbois. His relationship with Monet was particularly close at this
time, and their paintings of the beauty spot called La
Grenouillère
done in 1869 (an example by Renoir is in the Nationalmuseum,
Stockholm) are regarded as the classic early statements of the
Impressionist style. Like Monet, Renoir endured much hardship early
in his career, but he began to achieve success as a portraitist in
the late 1870s and was freed from financial worries after the dealer
Paul Durand-Ruel began buying his work regularly in 1881. By this
time Renoir had 'travelled as far as Impressionism could take me',
and a visit to Italy in 1881-82 inspired him to seek a greater sense
of solidarity in his work. The change in attitude is seen in The
Umbrellas (NG, London), which was evidently begun before
the visit to Italy and finished afterwards; the two little girls on
the right are painted with the feathery brush-strokes characteristic
of his Impressionist manner, but the figures on the left are done in
a crisper and drier style, with duller coloring. After a period of
experimentation with what he called his `manière aigre' (harsh
or sour manner) in the mid 1880s, he developed a softer and more
supple kind of handling. At the same time he turned from contemporary
themes to more timeless subjects, particularly nudes, but also
pictures of young girls in unspecific settings. As his style became
grander and simpler he also took up mythological subjects (The
Judgement of Paris; Hiroshima Museum of Art; 1913-14), and the
female type he preferred became more mature and ample. In the 1890s
Renoir began to suffer from rheumatism, and from 1903 (by which time
he was world-famous) he lived in the warmth of the south of France.
The rheumatism eventually crippled him (by 1912 he was confined to a
wheelchair), but he continued to paint until the end of his life, and
in his last years he also took up sculpture, directing assistants
(usually Richard Guino, a pupil of Maillol) to act as his hands
(Venus Victorious; Tate, London; 1914).
Renois is perhaps the best-loved of all the Impressionists, for his subjects---pretty children, flowers, beautiful scenes, above all lovely women---have instant appeal, and he communicated the joy he took in them with great directness. `Why shouldn't art be pretty?', he said, `There are enough unpleasant things in the world.' He was one of the great worshippers of the female form, and he said `I never think I have finished a nude until I think I could pinch it.' One of his sons was the celebrated film director Jean Renoir (1894-1979), who wrote a lively and touching biography (Renoir, My Father) in 1962.
