Renoir

by Barbara Ehrlich White

  Renoir and Coco (foreground), Les Collettes, c. 1915. 7.6 × 9.2 cm (3 × 3⅝ in.). Univ. of California Los Angeles, Art Library Special Collection, Jean Renoir Collection. Photographer unknown

  It was fortunate for Renoir to have young and healthy friends such as André, since those Impressionist friends who were still alive were elderly. Degas died at seventy-three on 30 September 1917. During his last years, he had become blind and could not work. Renoir expressed his own feelings in a note to their dealer, Georges Durand-Ruel: ‘I have received a letter and a telegram informing me of Degas’s death. It’s fortunate for him and for the people around him. Any conceivable death is better than living the way he was.’128 Degas’s death particularly saddened Cassatt, who had been a close friend. She herself was suffering from cataracts that seriously hampered her work, as she told Durand-Ruel in February 1918. Although she and Renoir had not been especially close formerly, now that they lived near each other in the south of France, they kept in touch. In the same letter to Durand-Ruel, Cassatt wrote that she wanted to visit Renoir but had no means of transport.129 Six months later, in August, Renoir, then seventy-seven, and Cassatt, then seventy-four, finally saw one another. In a letter to Louisine Havemeyer, she expressed how depressed she felt because of going blind from cataracts. Her first cataract surgery had left her blind in one eye and she feared a second cataract ‘operation which may end in as great a failure as the last one’. In the same letter, the depressed Cassatt continued: ‘Renoir says the finest death is a soldier’s. Why don’t they send all of us who are old and useless to the front? Death is a release.’130 Cassatt was depressed because she could not paint. In contrast, Renoir was lucky since he could still paint and be involved both with Guino and sculpture and with his sons and ceramics.

  Monet, too, had been diagnosed with cataracts in 1912, but postponed his surgery for eleven years, during which time he was able to paint. Finally, in 1923, he was lucky enough to have two successful cataract operations. Back in March 1916, Renoir composed a cheerful letter to Monet, then aged seventy-six: ‘I’m delighted to hear that you have some large decorations [the Water Lilies]; they will be additional masterpieces for the future. As soon as I’m in Paris, around May I think, I’ll leave you a note. It will be a real pleasure to share a [meat] chop with you. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water in anticipation.’131 Monet was close enough to Renoir to know that his description of what he would eat at a meal together was a fantasy, since Renoir ate mashed, diluted food through a straw.

  During Renoir’s last years, he remained close with his three key dealers – the Durand-Ruels, the Bernheims and Vollard. Since Paul Durand-Ruel was in his eighties, his son Georges became the head of the Paris branch, while his older brother, Joseph, became head of the New York branch. During the war, Renoir donated paintings through Durand-Ruel as a means of contributing to the war effort, as a letter of 1917 from Georges to Renoir mentions: ‘I’ve just seen the two paintings you sent, one for the Journalists’ Syndicate, the other for the War Blind; they are both superb. With the numerous paintings that you have already given for various other charities, you have contributed on your part more than any other artist and I understand that you are playing dead like you wrote me the other day.’132 Since the Durand-Ruels were Renoir’s primary dealer from 1872, the artist continued to keep his primary account with their firm; for example, his annual rent of 1,150 francs for the Paris apartment was paid out of these funds.133 The Durand-Ruels wanted any Renoir artwork that they could get, as Georges told Renoir in May 1917: ‘I never write you to ask for paintings because I think that you know that we are always ready to take everything that you will give us. If you have any new paintings or old paintings already in your studio that you want to dispose of, we would be very happy to take them.’134 Before, during and after the war, the Durand-Ruels continued to display Renoir’s art in their Paris and New York galleries and in affiliated galleries throughout Europe.135

  The Bernheims were also friends who sold and exhibited Renoir’s work.136 Alexandre Bernheim had died in 1915; his two sons, Josse and Gaston Bernheim-Jeune, took over their father’s business.137 The Bernheims had put on Renoir’s most important exhibition in 1913 (comprising forty-two major paintings) and they continued to display his works in their sumptuous Paris gallery.138

  Renoir’s third major dealer, Vollard, continued to be a frequent visitor in Paris and a house-guest in Essoyes and Les Collettes.139 He remained personally close to Renoir because, of the three dealers, only he knew about Renoir’s secret daughter. Certainly, Renoir always felt indebted to Vollard for all his help throughout the years, and even chose him to appear in a documentary film showing Renoir painting.140 The shrewd Vollard used his intimate relationship with the artist to obtain paintings that would otherwise have gone to other dealers, none of whom understood why Renoir was especially sympathetic to Vollard. In June 1917, André reported to Georges Durand-Ruel: ‘Vollard got things because he stayed eight days and schemed during this time to get what he wanted.’141 Two days later, André wrote again: ‘He’s shrewd as a monkey.’142 During one of Vollard’s 1917 visits, Renoir sold him his 1869 portrait of his father and three sketches for a total of 12,000 francs.143 Aside from outright sale, Vollard obtained various Renoir works by commissioning paintings, prints and sculpture, as discussed earlier. In 1917, for example, Vollard sat for his third portrait by Renoir.144 In this one, he is dressed in a toreador’s outfit that he had recently bought in Barcelona. Previously, he had also commissioned Renoir to paint his partner, Mme de Galéa.145 In 1915, Renoir also worked on an elaborate frame for this portrait.146 Most important among Vollard’s commissions, however, were the sculptures made in collaboration with Guino. This was Vollard’s unique niche; no other dealer was involved with Renoir’s sculpture.

  Other collaborations, however, also engaged Renoir. In 1915, he was asked by the city of Lyons to make the cartoon design for a tapestry. He made an oil painting plus drawings and etchings of The Saône River throwing herself into the Arms of the Rhône River (see page 246).147 Renoir’s painting echoes one of his favourite works in the Louvre, Rubens’s Arrival of Marie de Medici at Marseilles (1621–25). In the male figure’s adoring gesture towards the female figure, Renoir was reviving many of his earlier scenes showing men adoring women, such as Lise and Sisley, 1868 (see page 85), Dance at Bougival, Country Dance and City Dance, all 1883 (see pages 94–95). Whether Renoir was painting modern life as in his earlier works or painting timeless figures as in his later works, he celebrated life. Cassatt reported a conversation she had with Renoir in August 1918: ‘Renoir says that Nature is opposed to Chastity.’148 Since the Lyons tapestry project was collaborative, Renoir asked his friend André to make the large cartoon based on Renoir’s oil, drawings and etchings. Unfortunately, the tapestry was never completed.149

  Guino was not only Renoir’s sculptural assistant but also his companion. Thus, in February 1917, when André and his wife were planning to leave Les Collettes, André wrote: ‘Dear Monsieur Guino, Monsieur Renoir has charged me with telling you that he awaits you with pleasure. We are thinking of leaving this week and it would be kind of you to come as soon as possible to ensure that he won’t be without company.’150 Guino also befriended all three of Renoir’s sons, which may explain why the Meuniers turned to him for help in convincing Coco to abandon ceramics and pursue another career. Guino sculpted busts and medallions of the three brothers, Jean thanking him effusively in early 1916: ‘Dear friend… I really want to tell you how happy I am that you did my bust. I think about it often and I am glad to know it was so well done.’151 In the summer of 1917, Jean wrote again to Guino: ‘Since my flight team is still in the same spot, I regretted that I hadn’t taken the beautiful medallion that you were kind enough to have made of me. But on my next leave I will get it…. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your unfaltering kindness.’152

  While these family portrait sculptures were done by Guino alone, two years earlier,
at Vollard’s request and in collaboration with Renoir, Guino had begun a series of seven portrait medallions of artists.153 Four were based on Renoir’s earlier portraits: his 1880 pastel of Cézanne,154 the 1882 oil of Wagner,155 a 1906 pastel of Monet156 and his 1914 pastel of Rodin.157 The three other medallions had independent sources: Delacroix’s was based on a reproduction of Delacroix’s self-portrait, and the images of Ingres and Corot were based on photographs. Each medallion is 80 centimetres (31 inches) in diameter and shows the subject surrounded by a garland of fruit and leaves, inscribed with the name of the sitter and with Renoir’s. Guino’s name was never affixed to any of the sculpture he made with Renoir. The medallion series was completed in 1917, when Vollard arranged for them to be reproduced in bronze.158

  In Chapter 6 we saw that between 1914 and 1917, Guino and Renoir also worked together on various statues related to Renoir’s 1913 Judgment of Paris (see page 247) painting (the small, medium and large versions of Venus Victorious, the small and large bases with frieze of the Judgment and two sculpted heads of Paris, bearded and beardless). Related to this theme of love was their Clock Project, 1914–17 (also called The Triumph of Love). Guino and Renoir also worked on two other statues – Small Blacksmith, 1916 (also called Fire or Young Shepherd)159 and The Small Washerwoman, 1916 (also called Water, Small Stooping Washerwoman or The Small Bather).160 After Renoir approved each work, Guino took it to Vollard for reproduction in bronze. Then, in 1917, Vollard told Guino to make a larger version of the Small Washerwoman, to be called The Large Washerwoman, 1917 (also called Water, Large Stooping Washerwoman or The Large Bather).161 Renoir was never shown this statue for his approval. It is likely that he learned of the deception from his friends André and Georges Besson in late December 1917; Renoir told them that he did not want his name on any piece that he had not supervised; this violation of his agreement with Vollard upset him.162 His response was to tell Vollard to end his four-year collaboration with Guino. This decisive action when confronted with Vollard’s unscrupulous behaviour was entirely unlike André’s portrayal of the artist as vulnerable to exploitation by dealers. Even so, Renoir continued his pattern of avoiding unpleasant confrontations. A little over a week after he heard the news, on 7 January 1918, he wrote Vollard a subtly chiding letter: ‘If you would have written me sooner, I would have suggested you take Guino to [the sculptor] Bartholomé to be his assistant or helper. You understand why. First of all, Guino is an incomparably skillful and very serious sculptor…. Guino is a charming man whose feelings I would not want to hurt for anything in the world. He does all he can to be nice to me. That is why I am giving you this advice, which could help me without offending anyone.’163 Despite Renoir’s obvious displeasure with the dealer, he had no intention of disrupting his own friendship with and dependency on Vollard. Instead, Renoir intended to withdraw from the three-way sculptural collaboration but did not want to confront either Vollard or Guino. In the same letter, Renoir gave Vollard an excuse: ‘Furthermore, since I am extremely tired, very, very tired, I would not mind having a little rest for the time being. In the bad condition that I am in, my life is too complicated for someone my age. And I have reached a point where I can do neither painting nor sculpture nor pottery even though I want to do everything.’164

  Despite this excuse, it was only eight months later that Renoir began another sculptural collaboration with an independent sculptor, Louis Morel, thirty-one years old and from Essoyes. On 3 September 1918, from Cagnes, Renoir wrote to Morel: ‘If by any chance you should feel like coming in this direction, I can offer you hospitality and the expenses of the trip. And I will organize everything in order for you to sculpt.’165 Morel made high-relief terracottas of several Renoir oil studies and drawings: two versions of The Dancer with Tambourine, 1918 (I and II) and one of The Flute Player, 1918 (also called The Pipe Player, Joueur de flûteau).166 While Vollard had handled the bronze casting of all the previous statues, this time Renoir chose the Parisian firm of Renou and Colle for Morel’s reliefs.167 By November 1919, Renoir had become dissatisfied with the work of Morel and hired another sculptor, Marcel Gimond (aged only twenty-three), and they discussed plans for a Temple of Love, modelled on the classicizing version in Versailles, which would house the Venus Victorious statue in the garden at Les Collettes.168 Gimond also wanted to do a bust portrait of Renoir, for which the painter agreed to pose three times, the last sitting only two days before Renoir’s death. Later, Mme Gimond gave a copy of this bronze bust to the Musée Renoir in Les Collettes.169

  Vollard did not seem to take offence with Renoir’s dismissal of Guino and the later sculptural projects that excluded him. Instead, the dealer set out to become an even more intimate friend of Renoir. A diary entry of the dealer and collector René Gimpel (1881–1945) in August 1918 relates that Georges Bernheim told him: ‘Vollard holds his spittoon, brings him his chamber pot, and helps him…pee!’170 The motivation for wanting to remain close to Renoir was that Vollard, besides being a dealer and publisher, aspired to write about Renoir, as he had written about Cézanne in 1914.171 A month after Gimpel recorded Vollard’s intimate relationship with Renoir, he described in his diary Vollard’s devious scheme to get information from Renoir for his future publications: ‘Vollard sat down at a table with ink and writing paper and appeared to be catching up on his correspondence. The painter Émile (1868–1941) Bernard’s mission was to make Renoir talk while Vollard took notes on everything he said.’172 The previous year, in July 1917, Vollard had composed a four-page article, ‘How I came to know Renoir’.173 Now, in 1918, with more information, he published a two-volume illustrated album, Tableaux, pastels et dessins de Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Paintings, Pastels and Drawings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir), that began with a short, fictitious conversation between Renoir and Vollard, followed by photogravures (a photo-mechanical process using etching, resulting in a high-quality print) of 667 Renoir works.174 Like André, Vollard showed Renoir the proofs of his book before publication. On 3 March 1918, Renoir thanked him: ‘I have received the reproductions that you made for your book about me and I am happy to be able to tell you that I find them perfect. I am delighted.’175 The following year, Vollard wrote and published another book about Renoir, La Vie et l’oeuvre de Pierre-Auguste Renoir (The Life and Work of Pierre-Auguste Renoir), with 51 photogravures and 175 drawings.176 This time, however, Renoir objected to a text passage and tried to prevent publication. As usual, Renoir did not complain directly to Vollard, but instead sent a telegram to Georges Durand-Ruel so that he would handle the problem. On 14 May 1919, Georges replied: ‘I received your telegram the other day asking me to stop the publication of the book; I gave this telegram immediately to Vollard. The same day I received a visit from Monsieur Besson; he told me he was going to have the page skipped and would have it rewritten in a way that would leave out the passage in question.’177 Vollard’s 1919 book was published twelve days after Renoir’s death without the offending page.178

  Just as Renoir welcomed young sculptors such as Morel and Gimond, he continued to be generous to former students. For example, two months before his death, Jacques-Émile Blanche asked Renoir’s opinion of Blanche’s large composition called Mémorial, his personal homage to the dead of the Great War. Blanche intended that his mural would hang in the church of Blanche’s Normandy village of Offranville. Having seen the work, Renoir’s reaction was complimentary in writing to Blanche: ‘It seems to me an interesting work even if a little severe…. It seems to me that you have stuck to the rules of all the great decorative projects of the past which is to me of the utmost importance.’179

  Two years before Renoir’s death, two emerging artists, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso (aged forty-eight and thirty-six respectively), asked their dealer, Paul Rosenberg, to introduce them to the aged painter. At the time, both younger artists owned Renoir works – Matisse, four Renoir paintings and an album of prints;180 Picasso, seven Renoir paintings (on which see shortly). While Rosenberg was able to set up a meeting be
tween Matisse and Renoir, the older artist died before Picasso could meet him.

  Matisse first met Renoir on 31 December 1917, when Matisse was forty-eight (indeed, it was his birthday) and Renoir was seventy-six. Matisse, then living in his winter residence in Nice, was only a short distance from Renoir at Les Collettes.181 The older artist, perhaps remembering how Manet’s mentorship had helped him, was so welcoming that the younger artist came back several times throughout the next two years.182 During his first visit, while Renoir was working on a new version of the Large Bathers (see pages 194 and 246), Matisse wrote to his wife: ‘I have just come from Renoir’s place where I saw some marvellous paintings.’183 Inspired by his visit, Matisse painted Renoir’s gardens with the statue of Venus Victorious (see page 285).184 After another visit,185 Matisse reported to his wife: ‘I saw father Renoir again yesterday morning. He was very kind to me. He told me: “What you showed me gave me great pleasure – very sincerely.”…. I responded: “Monsieur, you cannot know the great pleasure you have given me.” He responded: “You know, the person you are speaking to may not have done great things, but he did something all his own. I worked with Monet, with Cézanne for years, and I always remained myself.” So, I told him how much his approval encouraged me, for I often had doubts, but I know that I can’t paint any other way and that’s it. He responded: “Well, that’s what I like about you.”’186 Just as Renoir continued the legacy of Manet in his modern use of colour, value and composition, Matisse continued Renoir’s legacy in his use of light, bright colours and his sensual and joyful figures.