By the next autumn, Jean was attending another boarding school in Paris, École Sainte-Marie de Monceau, in the rue de Monceau, close to the family’s Paris apartment in rue Caulaincourt. Since Renoir and Aline were often in the south of France, several of their friends took Jean on weekend outings as they had done for Pierre. Renoir was grateful for their efforts, writing to Jeanne Baudot at the end of 1903: ‘I am almost ashamed of having taken up all your time for your godson, but you did it so kindly that I do not want to offend you by thanking you. You have made me extremely happy, that’s all.’ In the margin of the letter, he wrote: ‘Gabrielle told me to give you her best’, underlining the next words: ‘That is her Jean’, and ending: ‘She asked me to tell you how happy she is [that Jeanne had been good to Jean]. R.’183 After all, Gabrielle had been Jean’s nursemaid for his first nine years and she continued to be close to him. Not only Jeanne Baudot but also André’s wife Maleck helped Jean. A few days after Renoir wrote to Jeanne Baudot, he wrote to André: ‘I would really appreciate it if you would thank Mlle Cornillac for Jean. I will do it myself soon.’184
Despite his dislike of boarding, Jean did well in school. In January 1905, when he was eleven and still a boarder, the head of Sainte-Marie, Alain Meunier, wrote to Renoir: ‘Sir… His health is still well; I think that you will find him taller and stronger…. Last week he was the first in grammar analysis. This week he is second in maths. I am very satisfied with his work. The only thing that we can reproach him for is his chatting, but don’t worry, it’s nothing serious. He is preparing himself earnestly for his first communion and knows his catechism very well. The ceremony will take place around 15 May and I hope that Jean will earn the right to read the Renewal of Baptismal Promises because of his good grades. You can see that everything is going well and that your little Jean is still a nice child whom we all like, and over whom I watch closely…. For Mardi Gras vacation, if you think it is too much to leave Jean with M. Pierre for 3 days in Paris, I can watch him for you for one or two days here or there. The [family of Maurice Denis] have invited him to spend a day with their little children because he amuses them with his stories and his cheerfulness. I will do what you decide in terms of this subject.’185
The Denis family were not Renoir’s only friends to enjoy Jean’s company. Three years later, Rivière gave Renoir his assessment of Jean, then aged 14: ‘My daughters [Renée, then 23, and Hélène, then 26] received a letter from Jean, which was pretty amusing with oddly constructed words. He has a good ironic tone tempered by kindness. This could be very nice once he has acquired more skill…. Jean’s personality is a little wild but this may transform into an exceptional quality with age and contemplation. He will be able to master and control his behaviour…. When it becomes necessary, Jean will know how to tame himself.’186
Jean’s wildness might have been due to his persistent unhappiness with the strict discipline of his boarding schools. His parents allowed him to try other boarding schools, but he never found one he liked. Eventually, Renoir and Aline allowed Jean to stay at home – which meant moving from Paris to Essoyes to the Cagnes vicinity – and, like Coco, to be tutored at home. In a radio interview in 1958, Jean explained that one of the reasons why he disliked boarding school was that the atmosphere was icy compared to the warmth of his home.187 Although the Renoirs led a chaotic existence, travelling among residences in Paris, Essoyes and Cagnes, Jean felt homesick for the company of his family – especially for his father. While Jean physically resembled Aline, with his red hair, blue eyes and round figure, he was temperamentally more similar to his father. Both were gregarious, optimistic, joyful, witty and well liked by people of all ages. Jean’s closeness to Renoir is demonstrated by his biography, Renoir, My Father, which expresses his deep love; the book contains not one even mild criticism of his father.188
Renoir for his part returned Jean’s affection; indeed, Jean was his favourite son. In the same 1958 interview, Jean described an instance of Renoir’s indulgence towards him. He recalled that he had left his school without permission at a time when he knew that his family was in Paris. When he entered Renoir’s studio, he told his father that school was out for vacation. He recalled that his father was not fooled but did not object to Jean staying at home for a week.189 It was the same indulgence that allowed Jean to change schools frequently and finally be tutored at home. Renoir had endearing nicknames for all his boys when they were children (Pierre was ‘Pierrot’ and Claude was Coco, ‘Cloclo’ or ‘Clo’190), but only with Jean did he continue to use a nickname, ‘Jeannot’, into adulthood.
This special affection for Jean also manifested itself in the way father and son addressed one another in letters. When Jean was nine, Renoir wrote to Jeanne Baudot: ‘When I think about how Jean is in the fifth grade and how he still writes, “Dear Papa”, I am delighted.’191 Jean continued this practice throughout the next sixteen years until his father’s death when Jean was twenty-five, concluding with, ‘My love to all, Jean.’192 Similarly, Renoir wrote affectionately to Jean: ‘Dear Jeannot’ and signed off as ‘Papa Renoir’.193 In striking contrast, Renoir wrote more formally to his eldest son, beginning letters with ‘My dear Pierre’ and ending with ‘Best wishes, Your father, Renoir.’194
Fatherly care was also expressed in continual worrying about Jean. Renoir knew how much the family meant to his middle son so, when he realized that he would be too ill to be present at Jean’s first communion in spring 1905, Renoir pleaded with Jeanne Baudot: ‘You are my only hope in making sure poor Jean does not end up alone at his first communion. My wife does not want me to return because of the cold, and she is watching me closely. I am counting on you to attend this ceremony, which will take place 18 May at Le Vésinet [a suburb of Paris].’195 In addition to taking care of Jean’s emotional wellbeing, Renoir also worried about his son’s physical safety, as shown by a letter to Aline when Jean was fourteen: ‘Give Jean my love and tell him to only go swimming in the sea with reliable people.’196 Not only present worries about Jean plagued Renoir but also potential dangers. In 1908, six years before the outbreak of the First World War, the artist was concerned about the political antagonism that was already evident. Renoir mused: ‘At least the war is being avoided. I was very frightened, like all fathers. I was thinking about Jean; you understand.’197 Jean was at this point fourteen and therefore only a few years away from being called up for military service, whereas Pierre aged twenty-three would immediately have been drafted. However, Renoir expressed no worry about Pierre in that letter.
While Renoir and his middle son had a nearly ideal rapport, tensions appeared in the artist’s relationship with his eldest son. Some of these stemmed from Pierre’s decision to pursue a career on the stage, to which Renoir objected because he did not think acting left anything permanent, whereas painting did. Although Renoir clearly loved Pierre, he never understood why his son wanted to be an actor. Almost thirty years after Renoir’s death, Pierre said in an interview: ‘However, to speak truthfully, I must admit that he did not take theatre or cinema seriously. He was very independent in character. One day, while in my dressing room, he said to me with a certain disdain: “So, do you really like a job like that? All they have to do is call you and you come right away.”’198 In an earlier interview, Pierre had identified this point of contention: ‘My youth took place in an atmosphere of art. [Yet] when I spoke of doing theatre, my father, Auguste Renoir, narrow-mindedly said “How can you have a job where you have to arrive whenever anyone calls you?”’199 Clearly, Renoir never associated acting with artistic creativity, since he thought of an actor as someone who was merely carrying out a director’s will.
Pierre’s love of acting began while he was a student at Sainte-Croix. Not only did he excel in drama, but he also loved to see professional performances. Pierre often asked his father to get him free tickets to the Théâtre des Variétés, owned by Renoir’s patron, Gallimard. At first, Renoir was happy to contact Gallimard, as in December 1902: ‘I would like to
ask you for two tickets for Pierre and a friend for any evening.’200 Over time, however, Renoir became exasperated with Pierre’s frequent requests and wrote to Gallimard: ‘I told that idiot Pierre to bother you directly to have three theatre tickets for himself, Albert André and Mlle Cornillac.’201 On another occasion he also expressed his annoyance to André: ‘My dear friend; I am sending you Pierre’s letter. I’m sorry to bother you but I can’t always take care of him. To hell with him. Renoir.’202 One wonders why Renoir was so provoked by Pierre and one doubts whether the artist would have been so short-tempered with Jean.
When Pierre graduated from Sainte-Croix with a bac classique (baccalaureate) in July 1903, he immediately began two years of preparatory studies to enter the Paris Conservatory, the state-run academy founded in 1795 for performing arts that included drama, music and dance.203 He moved into the Renoirs’ Paris residence and assumed familial responsibilities. Pierre took his father’s art to dealers, as when Renoir wrote to Bernheim in 1906 of a painting he wished to donate to an auction to benefit the family of the painter Eugène Carrière, who died that year: ‘Simply send a note to my son, Pierre, who will bring it to your shop whenever you want.’204 Since Durand-Ruel handled some of Renoir’s financial affairs (such as his rent), Pierre acted as the courier and helped his father, as when Renoir wrote to Durand-Ruel: ‘I will ask Pierre to bring the sum for my rent in order not to bother you.’205 When neither Renoir nor Aline was in Paris, Pierre acted as the liaison between Jean’s boarding school and his parents, as indicated by a letter of 1904 from Renoir to Aline: ‘If Jean isn’t doing well, Pierre will write you about it.’206
Five months after Pierre left Sainte-Croix, Renoir enlisted André’s help to deter him from an acting career: ‘I would love it if you would nag Pierre from time to time to open his eyes about a career. It’s difficult, but I’d be so happy to see him get excited about something other than being a ham actor.’207 Yet nothing deterred Pierre. While Renoir never showed much enthusiasm for the profession chosen by his eldest son, he always gave him the money necessary to pursue his professional goal. When Pierre was accepted into the Conservatory in 1905, Renoir signed a document dated 21 October that gave his approval and guaranteed financial support for ‘his twenty-year-old son in his theatrical career’.208 Renoir gave Pierre permission to ask Durand-Ruel and Vollard for money as needed. Several letters from Pierre to these dealers request ‘five hundred francs’209 or ‘a thousand francs’.210
Pierre began studying at the Conservatory in September 1905, but in May 1906, aged twenty-one, he took a break to start his three-year military service.211 After one year of service, he was able to return to the Conservatory for his second year, in September 1907, while continuing his military training part-time. At the beginning of his military service, Pierre was given an official booklet, entitled ‘Class of 1906’, that states that he lived at the family’s Paris home, 43 rue Caulaincourt in the eighteenth arrondissement, which they rented until 1911. The booklet included Pierre’s physical description: ‘Brown hair and eyebrows; brown eyes; average size forehead; average size nose and mouth; round chin; oval face; height 1 metre 76 centimetres [5ft 9¼].’212 Even though photography had been invented in 1839, in Pierre’s service booklet, as in Renoir’s from 1870 (on which see Chapter 1), no photograph was included. A comparison of the descriptions in their two booklets shows some physical resemblance between father and son but a difference in height. Pierre was seven centimetres taller than his father, who was 169 centimetres (5 ft 6½). Both had oval faces, brown eyes and average-size foreheads. However, Renoir’s nose was long and his mouth large, while Pierre’s were ‘average size’ and his hair and eyebrows were brown, while Renoir’s were blond.213 In July 1906, two months after Pierre began his military service, Renoir wrote to a friend: ‘I saw Pierre in military uniform. It suits him very well.’214 Pierre remained in the reserves until 21 May 1909.
Before graduating from the Conservatory in 1908, Pierre entered an acting competition. Aline, in Cagnes at the time, had wanted to see it, but Renoir forgot to tell her the date. When he wrote to her to apologize, he described their son’s performance with more pride than could have been expected from someone who had initially mocked Pierre’s ambitions: ‘My dear friend; I’m furious at myself for not having sent you a telegram about the competition. I was convinced that Saturday was Sunday and that you wouldn’t receive it before the letter. Pierre performed excellently and took first prize. Besides, the whole audience asked for an encore. This caused quite a scene.’215
As part of the customary agreement with the Conservatory for acting students, Pierre had contracted to spend the two years after graduation as an actor in one of the state theatres, the Comédie-Française or the Odéon, where he would be paid 2,400 francs the first year and 3,000 francs the second. Thus, in the autumn of 1908, Pierre began working at the Odéon where, over the next fourteen months, he performed in thirteen different plays.216 At the same time, he continued to take acting classes at the Conservatory under the direction of André Antoine (1858–1943) and Eugène Silvain (1851–1930). At this time, a reviewer in the literary journal Comoedia wrote about Pierre: ‘Monsieur Renoir has a strange beauty…. He is tall, slender and has dark brown hair…. His voice is beautiful and deep, not monotonous; it often betrays his intentions that always reveal an artist, a conscious artist, educated and sincere. Monsieur Renoir is twenty-four years and three months old…. This young man who holds a big name in art (he is, I believe, the son of the great painter Renoir) is very gifted.’217 Thus, Pierre was launched as a successful actor. However, after the first year, he became unhappy at the Odéon and wanted to join a prestigious troupe who performed at both the Théâtre de l’Ambigu and the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin and were directed by Jean Coquelin (1865–1944) and André Hertz (1875–1966). In order to sever his contract with the Conservatory, Pierre would have to pay a large fine of 10,000 francs.218 Deciding that it was worth the hefty penalty, he applied and was accepted by Hertz. Renoir happily paid this money and wrote to his son on 10 January 1909: ‘I am delighted to know that Hertz asked you. It will keep you busy and end your boredom.’219 So far from his initial antipathy towards acting, Renoir here seems more concerned with his son’s happiness than anything else. Pierre was indeed content in that group and stayed for more than a decade as a key actor with them.
Renoir also made his friends and contacts available to his son. Around 1909, Pierre wrote asking his father if he knew anyone who could help him at the Théâtre du Gymnase in Paris. Pierre noted that the theatre had Paul Paulin’s bronze bust of Renoir on display, which Paulin had inscribed: ‘To my friend Renoir, Paul Paulin, 1902’.220 Renoir, hoping that Paulin might be able to help, wrote to Pierre: ‘I know absolutely no one at the Gymnase, but if Paulin has a bust there, he must know someone. Go find Paulin who would be happy to help. He knows everyone in Paris. And write to me what he tells you. Maybe he knows someone who I know etc…. You will find Paulin’s address at Vollard’s or anywhere in Paris. Best, Renoir.’221
In return, Pierre assisted his disabled father and kept him company when he was in Paris. On 27 June 1909, when the young artist Schnerb came to visit Renoir on rue Caulaincourt, Pierre was present and voiced an opinion that seems to parrot what Renoir would have said: ‘What annoy painters are exhibits where each artist strives to outdo his neighbour.’ Then Schnerb recorded Renoir’s response: ‘That is well said. Everyone must work for himself. At first no one notices you, but little by little, you make yourself known. Nothing gets done all at once.’222 In expounding this idea, the old Renoir (he was 68) showed his support for both the actor Pierre (aged 24) and for the artist Schnerb (aged 30).
While Renoir was able openly to support his three sons, he had to hide his affection for his eldest child, Jeanne, even when tragedy struck. Jeanne’s husband, Louis, had become seriously ill, and died aged 45 on 25 July 1908, in their home in Madré, making Jeanne a widow at 38. It seems that she must have bee
n pregnant at the time with what would have been her first child but she suffered a miscarriage, probably caused by the stress of Louis’s death. These two deaths led to severe depression to the point where she became anorexic. The evidence of her miscarriage comes from a receipt of Jeanne’s order for not one but two coffins on the day after Louis’s death: she went to the Madré carpenter, requesting ‘an oak coffin, 0.03 millimetres [⅛ in.] thick, for 60f’ and ‘a little pine coffin for 2f’.223 Two coffins – one for 60 francs and one for 2 – suggests that the latter was tiny, which I believe indicates that it was for the foetus of Jeanne’s unborn child. Jeanne’s protracted grief over her husband’s death would certainly have been intensified if she miscarried what would have been her first child. That her grief was inconsolable, as expressed in letters by Renoir, Gabrielle and Georgette, makes it seem likely that, indeed, Jeanne had miscarried the only child she would ever have.
Three months before Louis’s death, Renoir had learned that Jeanne’s husband was seriously ill, but he himself had been too sick to travel to Madré. He asked Vollard to go in his place. The trip to Madré would not have been difficult for Vollard, who was then at his vacation home in Cabourg, Normandy, 128 kilometres (some 80 miles) away. Before he left, Vollard wrote to Jeanne with questions about her finances. When she answered, Vollard responded: ‘I received your letter and thank you for the information that you gave me. So that I can report to M. Renoir on the state of your financial affairs, it would be very helpful to know the type of marriage contract you have, assuming you have one… I will be in Madré some time Thursday morning. I will be happy to visit you at your home, and will only stay a short while.’224 As noted in Chapter 3, Jeanne’s marriage certificate specifies that she did have a contract.
Vollard must have found that the Robinet finances were in a dreadful state. Louis had been so ill that he must have been unable to work for some time, and the couple had no other source of income. They had an outstanding debt to the local carpenter for some repairs on their home and bakery totalling 22 francs 70 centimes, dating to 31 March 1908, a month before Vollard’s visit. This bill went unpaid until 2 August, when Jeanne included this sum along with her payment for the two coffins. After the carpenter delivered the two coffins at a cost of 62 francs plus a bolt for 60 centimes, he sent her a total bill for 85 francs 30 centimes. After she had paid, he gave her the receipt mentioned earlier: ‘I acknowledge having received the sum of 85f 30c from Mme Robinet on 2 August, Isaïe Hébert, carpenter in Madré.’225 Presumably, Renoir, through Vollard, paid the bill. In May, Vollard had travelled to Cagnes to tell Renoir about his daughter’s plight (and to pose for his portrait with the Maillol statue; see page 243).226
Renoir Page 29