Pierre-Auguste
Renoir was born in 1841 in Limogues and moved to Paris
in 1844 with his parents. Recognizing his extraordinary
and precocious talents, they apprenticed him at age thirteen
to work in a porcelain factory where he decorated plates
with bouquets of flowers. The advent of cheap reproduction
however, reduced the demand for original artwork on porcelain
and allowed Renoir to enroll at L’ Ecole des Beaux-Arts
in early April of 1862.
A
few months after Renoir’s entry to L'Ecole, he became
good friends with three fellow students: Claude Monet,
Alfred Sisley, and Frédéric Bazille. This
group of four shared a longing for an art form free from
past traditions and attuned to the painters immediate
experience. Two young artists at L’Académie
Suisse, Paul Cézanne and Camille Pissaro, often
met with the group of four with Bazille as the intermediary.
The daring decision by another painter, Edouard Manet,
to portray reality as experienced rather than to adhere
to the idealistic views then demanded at Le Salon,
as expressed in his painting Déjuner sur l’herbe
(see impressionism information page) was the key inspiration
to their new artform. In the spring of 1864, Renoir, Bazille,
Monet and Sisley moved to the forest of Fontainebleau,
where they painted directly from nature. Consistent with
their concentration on colour, natural light and space,
they expressed a preference for painting rapidly en
plein air. This approach culminated to the art form
ultimately known as Impressionism. The first Impressionist
exhibition occurred in 1874 and within ten years, Impressionism
had acquired its now classic form. For Renoir, as for
some other impressionists, the Impressionist approach
was assisted by his myopia. He preferred to paint the
world through blurred vision and would step back from
his work to achieve this.
Despite their great efforts, the Impressionists' works
were rejected at Le Salon and thus, were very difficult
to sell. However, Renoir’s skill in the portrayal
of the human form granted him orders for portraits of
women and young children among the middle and upper class
society.
Inspired
by his travels to Algeria, Italy and Provence, Renoir
believed that he could express human features whilst utilizing
the Impressionist techniques. His new beliefs regarding
texture and colour allowed him to break free from the
confines of Impressionism. Between the period of 1883
and 1884, Renoir emphasized volume, figure, contours,
and outlines as opposed to colour and brushstroke. This
departure from Impressionism continued for the next six
to seven years. It was for him a liberating experience.
He rediscovered nature and vibrant colour and returned
clean, distinct lines to his art.
In 1890 after his financial situation improved, he was
married to Aline Charigot. Thereafter, his future seemed
an optimistic and confident one. In 1894 however, Renoir
suffered his first attack of Rheumatoid Arthritis. His
hands that once moved with smoothness and dexterity, became
swelled and painful to move. More dependent on arm rather
than finger movements, his brushstrokes broadened. Despite
the increasingly severe malformation of his hands, he
continued to paint by binding his brushes to his hand.
He painted this way for 25 years until his death at the
age of 78 in 1919.
