Renoir
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By 18 January 1916, Jean had begun aviation school in Ambérieu-en-Bugey in central-eastern France and was living at the Hôtel Terminus. On aviation school stationery, Jean explained to Guino: ‘Dear friend, I am still in Ambérieu, but in a state of uncertainty. My father probably told you that they don’t want me as a pilot due to my injury. Right now, I’m trying to stay on as a reconnaissance observer.’68 At the time, his position was that of ‘Observer’.69 By the spring of 1916, more pilots were needed, regulations were changed and Jean again applied to become a pilot. His application stated: ‘Second Lieutenant Renoir…Observer…Request to be a pilot. Would be happy to fly a fighter plane. (Wounded in the leg, would grow much less tired if flying a light aircraft.) Would like to start his training in Buc or Juvisy (or close to Paris) due to the current poor health of his father, who would like to see him from time to time. Date of the piloting application: 1 May 1916…. For a Caudron plane.’70 Jean succeeded and later explained that he had joined an aerial photography squadron involved in taking pictures behind enemy lines.71
Renoir and Jean Renoir, c. 1915. Photo attributed to Pierre Bonnard. Albumen print, 10.2 × 7.6 cm (4 × 3¾ in.). Univ. of California Los Angeles, Art Library Collection, Jean Renoir Collection
Jean’s piloting application was accepted, and he became one of the first thousand pilots in the world.72 On 4 September 1916, his military papers record that he ‘arrived temporarily at the Aviation School of Châteauroux’, 248 kilometres (155 miles) south of Paris.73 He flew a twin-engine, open-cockpit Caudron made entirely of wood.74 The day after Jean arrived at pilot’s school, Renoir wrote: ‘Jean is very happy to have his Caudron plane.’75 Because of Jean’s experience as an Observer, it took him only three months to become a pilot, but flying was extremely dangerous. On 19 December 1916, André wrote to Jean’s godfather, Georges Durand-Ruel: ‘Jean’s plane crashed a few days ago, but he came out of it unharmed. Only his aircraft was demolished.... [Jean] got eight days to rest which he is spending near his father.’76 The Observer accompanying Jean also escaped unharmed, but their photographic equipment was ruined.77
In fact, Jean at twenty-two, whose mother had recently died, missed his father and spent every leave he could with him. As noted earlier, Jean also had fallen in love with his father’s model, Dédée, so took every opportunity to go home. For example, in July 1917, he wrote to his godfather: ‘Maybe we’ll go somewhere close enough to Essoyes that I’ll be able to get permission to visit my father from time to time.’78 After Guino gave him a medallion portrait that he had made of Renoir, Jean thanked him: ‘I hung the clay image of Papa on the wall. I like glancing at it from time to time, while reading or resting on my bed smoking cigarettes.’79 On one of Jean’s leaves before 1916, the artist Pierre Bonnard came to visit and may have taken photographs of Renoir with Jean, dressed in his military uniform (see page 331).80 Later, Bonnard used one of his photographs as the basis for an etched portrait of the artist.81 As much as Jean missed Renoir, the artist longed for his son’s company even more, as André wrote to Georges Durand-Ruel in December 1916: ‘Jean’s departure upset him so much that it was quite a pity.’82 Renoir expressed it himself another time, writing: ‘Jean has seven days leave here but it is going to end and it makes me even sadder.’83 In a later letter to their shared dealer, André wrote: ‘Renoir is not well. He is very worried about Jean’s future and has dreams about it at night.’84 Amid this nightmare, with one son undergoing arm surgery and another flying dangerous missions, Renoir’s only joy was to paint and to have the companionship of Coco and Dédée.
Pilot Jean Renoir and an observer in a twin-engined plane, c. 1916–17. Univ. of California Los Angeles, Art Library Special Collection, Jean Renoir Collection. Photographer unknown
By the spring of 1917, the French troops gained some relief as the United States entered the war on 6 April 1917. The consistently optimistic Jean got a new Sopwith plane and in May wrote to Guino: ‘I am sending you the photo of me in my new plane that I love. I was given a good [aeroplane] model by chance, which seems solid and ascends quickly.’85 In late August 1917, he wrote to Renoir: ‘My dear Papa, Something quite unpleasant has happened to me. They’re removing Sopwiths from my squadron, and they’re giving everyone Caudron G6s. The Caudron G6 is an aircraft that I find dangerous. It scares me a little, and this is why I’m going to apply to a fighter aircraft section of the air force, where they still have the best types of aircrafts.86 I’m sure I will be of service to fighter aviation; for example, I will ask for a single-seat aircraft so I can take photographs. Because I’m used to two-seater missions of this kind, I will adapt very quickly to single-seat missions.... The one thing that bothers me is leaving my squadron, where I have good friends and an excellent leader. Nonetheless, I will write up a request to start flying fighter airplanes. If you are able to support me in this endeavour, I ask that of you. This all depends on the Administration of Aeronautics at General Headquarters.’87 Renoir doubtless gave Jean his blessing but seems to have hesitated to use his connections at this time. An undated letter states: ‘My dear Jean… I have always believed, perhaps wrongly, that sometimes we need to give ourselves up to luck, which often works out better than all the precautions which are most often insufficient…. I think it is best to let things take care of themselves. With love, Papa Renoir.’88
Perhaps as a result of Jean’s request for a dangerous assignment as a fighter pilot, he moved up the ranks again.89 As his godfather wrote in September 1917: ‘I learned yesterday with pleasure that Jean was promoted to Lieutenant.’90 By late December 1917, Jean was describing his situation: ‘My dear Godfather…. I’m in a period of depressing aerial inactivity. Rain, wind, storm. We can only rarely get off the ground, and even more rarely fly over the Boches [Germans]. My father writes that he is ecstatic for me about this bad weather, but I don’t share his feelings.’91 However, Jean’s leg injury began troubling him again in late January 1918, as Joseph Durand-Ruel explained to Renoir: ‘With Jean’s injuries that keep him from active duty, he will always be kept at the back; you can therefore stay calm and not worry yourself sick.’92 Nonetheless, in March 1918, Renoir was still fearful for his son: ‘My dear Jeannot… I am vainly looking for ways of being useful to you, but can’t find any…. It’s been a few days since I’ve heard from you. I know that often several letters with different dates arrive at the same time. Love from all of us, Papa Renoir.’93 Despite being taken off active duty, Jean’s leg continued to worsen, and on 11 June 1918, he began six months of treatment at the Hôpital de la Piété in Paris, while living at home.94
The war was won five months later, on 11 November 1918, before Jean could return to active duty. On 21 December, his name was removed from the army lists, disqualified because of his health.95 It was two months before Jean received a formal discharge from the Ministry of War: ‘19 February 1919, Ministry of War, The President of the Council…informs M. Renoir (Jean, Georges), Lieutenant of the reserves of the 28th regiment of Dragoons, that by ministerial decision of 14 February 1919…he is discharged.’96 Yet, only a few days later, on 23 February 1919, Jean was recalled ‘on temporary assignment to press censorship’ in Nice.97 His incredulous godfather wrote to Renoir: ‘I learned that Jean was recalled to his regiment; I thought he was permanently discharged.’98 Jean’s new position had him censoring newspapers for just over eight months until he was allowed to become a Reserve Officer on 3 November 1919.99 For his five years of military service, he was given the Croix de Guerre.100 Although he had once aspired to a military career, his experiences in the First World War convinced him that ‘this type of activity was pointless’.101
When Jean first returned home in November 1918, his plan had been to work in the newly formed family porcelain business. Vollard’s idea in 1913 of Renoir having a sculptural assistant had meshed perfectly with Renoir’s two greatest loves – to paint and to be with people. By 1916, two years into the war, with Jean’s realization that he could not have a career in the ca
valry and his disillusionment with the military, Renoir began to think of what might work both for his benefit and for that of his two younger boys. He remembered his apprenticeship as a porcelain painter and decided to create a family ceramics industry. In that year, Renoir had begun directing Coco and Dédée in the creation and decoration of ceramic tableware, such as bowls and vases. Just as he had done for Guino when he made paintings and sketches for him to translate into sculpture, now Renoir had his sons and Dédée execute his designs.102 A kiln was installed in Les Collettes in mid-April 1917. Coco explained to Guino: ‘The oven is finished. We are in the middle of painting the studio. The exterior cement isn’t finished.’103 Seven months later, Pierre wrote: ‘My dear Guino… Day by day, Jean is becoming more engrossed in ceramics’ (see page 337).104 Not only were Jean, Coco and Dédée involved in ceramics, but occasionally even Maleck André helped. Indeed, Jean had professional aspirations and began to sell his work through Durand-Ruel. In July 1919, he wrote to Paul Durand-Ruel: ‘I have some even better results with my pottery and I can probably send you some pieces soon whose colour, despite the lack of motif, will start to look interesting.’105 The Philadelphia collector, Albert Barnes, was not only enthusiastic about Renoir’s painting but also wanted to acquire Jean’s pottery. In June 1922, Barnes bought forty-two pieces of Jean’s glazed earthenware that are still in the Barnes Foundation.106
In 1917, the year before Jean returned to Les Collettes, Coco, then aged sixteen, had decided to make ceramics his career. Renoir, as we have seen, had begun at age thirteen by copying Boucher’s paintings onto plates.107 He retained his love of artisanship all through his life, not only writing his impassioned treatise on Cennino Cennini in 1911, but also returning to painting on ceramics himself. Apollinaire wrote in an article in 1914: ‘Renoir, the greatest living painter, whose least production is hungrily awaited by a whole legion of dealers and collectors…likes to relax by decorating tiny pots, thus preserving all his freshness for his paintings.’108 In an article of 1948, Coco wrote: ‘I decided to have a profession that allowed me to be close to my father: ceramics’, which fulfilled Renoir’s wishes and allowed him better to bear the last two years of his life. Renoir’s interaction with him was as ‘the master who was speaking to his disciple’. Coco explained his ‘apprenticeship…. Every afternoon, my father would cut short his painting sessions to work with me. He made me draw the shapes of vases and execute decorative motifs…. He was happy and told me about his beginning as a painter on porcelain and his first professional difficulties.’109
Coco’s upbringing lacked one crucial element that had been present for his two brothers – stability. Pierre had had boarding school and Jean had had Gabrielle, but Coco not only constantly moved from Paris to Essoyes to Cagnes to Nice, but also never had a consistent adult presence. He was brought up by various maids, models and tutors. His early teenage years were even more chaotic, partly due to the onset of the war. When only thirteen, Coco was traumatized in the space of nine months by Pierre having his arm shattered, Jean being shot through the thigh and the unexpected death of his mother. Thus it is unsurprising that Coco latched onto his father, becoming his apprentice in craftwork. Coco also became his father’s general assistant, as Georges Durand-Ruel wrote to Renoir: ‘If you don’t have time to write me, could you please ask Claude to give me news of your trip?’110
The elderly, ailing Renoir was preoccupied with his own health and with Jean’s precarious military situation, leaving little energy to be concerned with Coco. Renoir deluded himself into thinking that Coco was doing well. In January 1916, he wrote to André: ‘Coco is doing well. He is the happiest. He does nothing but run around in the countryside.’111 A photograph around this time shows Coco barefoot with a rifle in his hand standing next to his father (see page 339).112 Five months later from Essoyes, Renoir wrote to Vollard: ‘Coco is happy. He is trout fishing.’113
While Renoir was unaware of his son’s problems, Coco’s godparents were concerned. His godmother, Mélina Meunier (née Renard), along with her husband Clément, was the caretaker of the Essoyes family house when the Renoirs were away (as noted in Chapter 5). Mélina felt unable to confront Renoir about her godson, even though she was troubled by Coco’s choice of profession. In April 1917, her husband wrote to Guino, the only person he thought was close enough to help: ‘I can tell from your letter that Claude is going to decide what to do. In reality there is still time, and I think that you can give him good advice. It can come neither from his absent brothers nor his immobile father. [Coco] recently wrote to his godmother and gave us some details about his work; that he was having an oven built to fire painted plates. But try to tell him to get a job that makes money.’114
Maleck André and André Heuschling (also known as Dédée), in the ceramics studio at Les Collettes, 1920. Gelatin-silver print. Musee d’Art Sacré du Gard, Pont Saint-Esprit
Oil studies for glazed earthenware pottery of plates and pitcher, c. 1916, 31 × 17.8 cm (12¼ × 7 in.).
Meantime, Coco’s godfather, André, was more concerned about his behaviour. In December 1916, while visiting Renoir in Cagnes, André expressed his worries to Georges Durand-Ruel: ‘I don’t know if we will have the courage (my wife is here) to stay much longer. The young Coco is really too abominable, and we look like accomplices by not warning Renoir of the dangers of this education. But on the other hand, it would be cruel to bother the poor man in his last moments.’115 A few days later, André wrote again to Georges Durand-Ruel: ‘Myself, I am completely alarmed by all that I see around this poor Renoir. We don’t know what we should or shouldn’t say. It’s quite troublesome. I don’t think I will stay much longer.’116 Although André clearly understood that Coco was in trouble, like Mélina, he felt unable to confront Renoir. Not only did he fear that Renoir could die at any time, but he had also always been intimidated by his famous friend. Despite his obvious discomfort with Coco’s neglected state, André chose loyalty to Renoir over his obligation as Coco’s godfather and he never brought the problem to Renoir’s attention.
André and Maleck were also unable to confront Renoir because they felt indebted to him for taking them in during the privations of the war. Renoir, who was considered a national treasure as ‘the greatest living painter’,117 suffered fewer shortages and offered the Andrés food and shelter. In November 1916, André had explained to Durand-Ruel: ‘We are going to Cagnes to Renoir’s who is kind enough to offer us hospitality. In addition to the pleasure of being with him, it saves me from a difficult situation. No wood, no charcoal at Laudun, hardly even any light! You can imagine how depressed I feel in these conditions.’118 Renoir, meanwhile, benefited greatly from the company of his friends, as André reported to Georges Durand-Ruel in the same letter of concern about Coco: ‘I’ve been with Renoir for about two weeks. When I arrived, he had the flu, was confined to his room and was very grumpy. But he regained his health quickly and 2 or 3 days after my arrival, he came downstairs and started painting. He is doing magnificent things.’119 Renoir, too, wrote to Georges, in January 1917: ‘The Andrés are here which gives me pleasant company.’120 (At this time, Renoir encouraged André to become a museum curator at Bagnols-sur-Cèze.121) After spending three months with Renoir, the Andrés left Les Collettes in early March.122 Three months later, André returned to Cagnes to spend another four days with Renoir.123
As a loyal client of the Durand-Ruels, André feared that Renoir might give in to other dealers more easily than in the past, as he wrote to Georges Durand-Ruel in June 1917: ‘The poor Renoir is in such a weak state that he is incapable of resisting, as I told you, even the slightest pressure from those around him, that is to say, someone who could take from him and then take from him again every day. I had this experience several times this winter.’124 Renoir would not have appreciated André’s implication that his mind was as weak as his body, but it is highly unlikely that he ever learned of it since André consistently treated Renoir with love and respect.
An
dré showed his devotion to Renoir by spending time with him and continuing to paint and draw him.125 The younger artist also began work on a book about Renoir that included a long essay and illustrations of thirty-five paintings kept in Renoir’s studio. André related to Georges Durand-Ruel: ‘I finished the little preface about Renoir that I’ve talked to you about. I went to read it to Renoir who seemed very touched.’126 In May 1919, André’s book was published by Crès in the series Cahiers d’Aujourd’hui. After he saw André’s book, Renoir enthusiastically wrote: ‘My dear friend, in reading your preface, I only saw one thing, it is written as much with love as with friendship. No one in the world could have said as much. You see me in a rosy and golden light, but you see me thus. I’m not one to complain that the bride is too beautiful. Renoir.’127