Late Renoir
Through Sept. 6, $14-$24, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2600 Ben Franklin Parkway, 215-763-8100, philamuseum.org.
Philadelphia Museum of Art
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visual art
Pierre-Auguste Renoir spent most of his life making a name for himself as an Impressionist in Paris — and making little to no money doing so. But at the pinnacle of his career, he moved toward the coast and away from the movement — which is where the Art Museum's spring exhibit "Late Renoir" takes off. The exhibit spans the last three decades of the artist's life, during which the blissful delirium of old age (and arthritis) began to take its toll. As a result, the 80-plus works on display are opulent and cosmetic yet wholly classical. But just because they're pretty doesn't mean they're without effect: The influence of Renoir's late style becomes discernible when juxtaposed with works by later artists; landscapes by Bonnard, portraits by Picasso and nudes by Matisse all seem more lucid when seen in the light of Renoir. (More about the show on Critical Mass.)
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The Philadelphia Museum of Art on their website would have the admission paying public believe that the “Late Renoir follows the renowned painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir through the final—and most fertile and innovative—decades of his career. [with] Approximately eighty paintings, drawings, and sculptures by Renoir”
The only problem is there are -no- “sculptures by Renoir” in The Late Renoir exhibition.
The art dealer Vollard and the artist Renoir decided to cash in by misrepresenting bronze forgeries, cast from plasters reproduced from clay models forged by Richard Guino and others, as authentic Renoir sculptures.
Vollard, and too many others to mention, have perpetuated the myth that Renoir actually directed the creation of these so-called sculptures when in fact Renoir himself admits they were -forged- in his absence.
Then to add insult to injury, the so-called “Late Renoir” exhibition contains work, attributed to Renoir, that was so late, he was actually -dead- when it was forged.
The dead don’t sculpt.
Gary Arseneau
artist, creator of original lithographs & scholar
Fernandina Beach, Florida
SOURCES:
http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/359.html
page 75 of the “Renoir in the 20th Century” catalogue
http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/52099.html?mulR=31958