First impressions are
in the eye of the beholder

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

Pierre-Auguste Renoir wouldn’t have made a good banker. Art historians say he worked and lived by the mantra, "Every day is Sunday."
Though best known and revered as the quintessential figure-painter of French Impressionism, a movement he co-founded with celebrated contemporaries including Claude Monet, Renoir was perhaps at his innovative best when escaping the office — in his case, the studio — for a leisurely field trip.
The artist’s late-19th-century depictions of Parisian gardens, the French countryside, cityscapes and the sea reinforce his own assertion that nature was the ultimate source of his inspiration.
More than 60 of those paintings have been united for the first time in a major exhibition that made its American debut on Oct. 4 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Titled simply Renoir Landscapes, the exhibition will remain open to the public through Jan. 6 in the museum’s first-floor Dorrance Galleries. The museum co-organized the exhibition with the National Gallery in London and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.
According to John Zarobell, associate curator of European painting before 1900 at the Philadelphia museum, he and colleagues Colin B. Bailey and Christopher Riopelle faced a daunting challenge of shedding new light on the work of the iconic painter.
"He’s one of those artists who’s a household word," Zarobell said during a preview tour of the exhibition. "The question was, what more could be said about him?"
The curators found plenty to say after gathering 61 Renoir works from public and private collections based across the globe, including Brazil, Canada, Japan, Russia, Spain, Great Britain and the United States.
"There are new discoveries even for Renoir scholars," Zarobell said. "It’s a fabulous opportunity to see and discover a new side of Renoir."
The assembled paintings are organized into nine sections chronicling the artist’s first forays into the "en plein air" (translated "in the open air") method and the development of his impressionist style, defined by its bright colors and short parallel brush strokes. The works cover a roughly 20-year period spanning the 1860s, ’70s and ’80s, when the Paris-based artist routinely ventured into the countryside for subjects and also traveled to Normandy, Italy and North Africa.
At the time, the curator explained, early industrialization made a great impact on the appearance of Renoir’s home city as well as the way people behaved in and around it. Paris was rebuilt with parks and gardens, while improved transportation made it possible for folks to move out of the city.
The art world underwent a metamorphosis, too, as Renoir and his contemporaries — shunned by the establishment "salons" — founded the Anonymous Society of Independent Artists, a collective that organized the first impressionist exhibition in 1874.
"The style is worked out between these two friends, Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir," Zarobell said.
While Monet is often called a great "eye" for his ability to capture nuances of light, color and shape, the curator explained, Renoir’s strength was his ability to project feeling and emotion onto the canvas.
Using an evolving arsenal of techniques, including those trademark choppy brush strokes, Renoir found ways to duplicate the swirling of wind, the swaying of grass and the rolling of waves on the sea.
"He is an artist who’s immersed in sensation," Zarobell said. "(He paints) what it would be like to be standing at that place at that time." ••
In conjunction with Renoir Landscapes, the museum has expanded its hours and will present a series of special public programs, including art history courses, lectures and concerts. Visit www.philamuseum.org or call 215-763-8100 for information.
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com