Realism in the Age of Impressionism: Painting and the Politics of Time

270 Pages·2015·14.9 MB·English

by  Marnin Young

Realism in the Age of Impressionism

Realism in the Age of Impressionism
Painting and the Politics of Time
Marnin Young
Yale University Press New Haven and London
Publication of this book has been
aided by a grant from the Millard
Meiss Publication Fund of the
College Art Association.
Copyright © 2015 by Marnin Young.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced,
in whole or in part, including
illustrations, in any form (beyond
that copying permitted by Sections
107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright
Law and except by reviewers for
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Number: 2014943612
isbn 978- 0- 300- 208320
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Jacket illustrations: (front) Jean-
François Raffaëlli, The Absinthe
Drinkers (Les Déclassés), 1881 (detail
of fig. 81); (back) Jules Bastien-
Lepage, October (Saison d’octobre,
récolte des pommes de terre), 1878
(detail of fig. 30).
Frontispiece: Gustave Caillebotte,
Interior, Woman at the Window
(Intérieur, femme à la fenêtre), 1880
(detail of fig. 123).
For Gabrielle
This page intentionally left blank
contents
Acknowledgments viii
Introduction 1
1 1878 / The Motionless Look of a Painting: Jules Bastien- Lepage,
Haymaking 15
2 1879 / The Impressionist Moment: Gustave Caillebotte,
Decorative Triptych 53
3 1880 / The Politics of Time: Alfred- Philippe Roll,
The Strike of the Miners 91
4 1881 / Heroic Indolence: Jean- François Raffaëlli,
The Absinthe Drinkers 127
5 1882 / The Revolutionary Foyer: James Ensor, Russian Music 165
Conclusion 205
Notes 215
Index 255
Illustration Credits 259
acknowledgments
The origins of this book can be traced to a question posed one day long ago at the
University of California, Berkeley. “Why,” one of my professors asked, “doesn’t anyone
write about Realism anymore?” My name quickly appeared to fill the gap, and a thesis
gradually followed. From start to finish, Tim Clark unstintingly supported my work, and
I doubt anyone will be surprised to hear the depth of his engagement as a supervisor. The
page after page of handwritten commentary on my dissertation, for example, would con-
stitute an independent article. The substance of his response to my argument has guided
my research and writing ever since, and his own work continues to serve as a model of art
historicalscholarship.
In the writing of any book, debts accumulate, and this one is no exception. Thanks
are owed, most notably, to all those generous enough to offer help along the way. Ann
Banfield and Anne Wagner both read my dissertation with seriousness and attention. They
pushed me to refine both my logic and my rhetoric. Many other friends and colleagues
from Berkeley—Jennifer Bethke, J. P. Daughton, Whitney Davis, André Dombrowski,
Strefan Fauble, Amy Freund, Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby, Sabine Kriebel, Katherine Kuenzli,
Amy Lyford, Heather MacDonald, Jessica May, Mark Rosen, Michael Schreyach, and
Josh Shannon, among others—have given feedback, support, and advice. Elsewhere, Sarah
Betzer, Bonnie Blackwell, Jane Block, Babette Bohn, Michel Draguet, Jeffrey Freedman,
Anne Frey, André Gunthert, Robert Hoozee, John House, Sura Levine, Seamus O’Malley,
Charles Palermo, Mark Thistlethwaite, Martha Ward, Malcolm Warner, Gabriel Weisberg,
and Jacob Wisse have all taken an interest in my work and assisted in various ways. At
Yeshiva University, I would like to thank Dean Karen Bacon, who provided funds to
aid with the acquisition of reproductions. A generous grant from the Millard Meiss
Publication Fund made it possible to obtain the remainingimages.
Elements of this book have been presented publicly, and I should thank all those
who listened and responded to my work at the College Art Association, the Getty
Research Institute, the Midwest Art History Society, the Nineteenth- Century French
Studies Annual Colloquium, and the Nineteenth Century Studies Conference. A shorter
version of chapter 1 appeared under the title “The Motionless Look of a Painting: Jules
Bastien- Lepage, Les Foins, and the End of Realism” in Art History 37, no. 1 (February 2014):
38–67; chapter 4 was published in slightly different form as “Heroic Indolence: Realism
and the Politics of Time in Raffaëlli’s Absinthe Drinkers” in The Art Bulletin 90, no. 2 (June
2008): 235–59. The readers for both journals provided insightful commentary that greatly
improved my analysis. Likewise the peer review at Yale University Press helped enor-
mously with a later stage ofrevision.
In particular, Michael Fried gave detailed and very encouraging commentary on the
entire manuscript. All the way through, as this book no doubt shows, Fried’s command of
period- specific art criticism and his account of the historical genesis of Modernism have
informed my thinking and writing about nineteenth- century Realistpainting.
I owe several of my colleagues a special debt of gratitude. Kevin Chua and Todd
Cronan have been my key interlocutors during the genesis and realization of this book,
and both of them have offered bountiful friendship and intellectual camaraderie. Kevin
and I published reviews of Fredric Jameson’s Antinomies of Realism at nonsite.org 11
(14 March 2014), and I would like to thank Todd for organizing the “Tank” on this sub-
ject and for facilitating Jameson’s response. The opportunity helped me refine some
thoughts about Realism and time, and elements of my review consequently reappear in the
introduction of this book. Very generously, Bridget Alsdorf took time to read the entire
manuscript at a late stage and gave extremely productive and insightful remarks when it
mattered most. Her subtlety of thought and keen eyes have made me look afresh at each of
the paintings I treat in thisbook.
At Yale University Press, Katherine Boller has been especially supportive since we
first discussed the possibility of this book. Since then, Amy Canonico, Heidi Downey,
Mary Mayer, and Tamara Schechter have offered vital assistance with its production.
The attentive copyediting of Linda Truilo has made the text muchclearer.
Finally, the contributions of my family have proved to be foundational and enduring.
My grandmother, Frances Young, read parts of the text and provided essential support. My
parents, Kristin Wilson and Frank Young, took me to museums before I could walk, and
we continue the art historical conversation today. In the past few years, my own children
have provided delight and distraction in equal share. Last, but not least, my wife, Gabrielle
Larocque, has given unending help in the realization of this project. This book is forher.
ix acknowledgments