The de Young museum in San Francisco is presenting a special exhibition of art from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris called the Birth of Impressionism. There are nearly 100 works by renowned artists living in France during the latter half of the 19th century.
Prior to the industrial revolution the Church and royalty were the primary buyers of European art. Most works explored religious, Romano-Greek classics or statist political themes. With increased technological advances, income levels increased and there was new demand for art from a new class of patrons.
In my opinion, this resulted in smaller works with less detailed brush strokes that were quicker to paint. They also focused on bright daily scenes that would also appeal to their new clientele.
The exhibition shows the transition from realism to impressionism in a way no book can reproduce. This is because you can view the art up close and see each brush stroke first hand.
The Floor Scrapers - Gustave Caillebotte
Of all the works that I saw, Les raboteurs de parquet (The Floor Scrapers) by Gustave Caillebotte struck me the most. It is a scene of three shirtless workers stripping varnish from the floor of Caillebotte’s apartment. At the time it was considered shocking, as it depicted the working conditions of the urban proletariat versus the more common and familiar depictions of rural peasants. The social commentary directed towards the upper classes starkly reminded them that many of their luxuries they enjoyed were the result of hours of exhausting labor.
The first thing that struck me was that the men in the painting were not obviously immigrants nor ethnic minorities. In comparison, a large portion of US construction work is currently done primarily by Latinos. When I was growing up in the Caribbean, receiving a temporary work permit to pick fruit in the USA was a blessing.
We often forget that economic migration from the developing to the industrialized world didn’t begin in earnest until the end of the World War II when Europe enticed laborers from their colonies to rebuild its economy. The United States’ society has been continuously refreshed by immigration and it’s post war growth was built on the contributions of yet another wave of external labor. Les raboteurs de parquet reflects a time when this wasn’t the contentious issue in employment markets as it is today.
There are other things I liked about Caillebotte’s rendition. Two of the men are clearly engaged in conversation. A bottle of wine nearby and the long shadows hint that the work was being done in the afternoon. The man on the far right seems to prepare the the floor by removing strips of varnish. His coworker then works on the spaces in between. The reflection of light on the floor is almost photo-realistic versus impressionistic. In fact the composition is very similar to that of a picture taken by a photographer standing above the men, limiting the amount of background sunlight to the top corner to prevent the need for a fill flash to lighten the silhouetted figures in the foreground. The powder blue walls in the background are dainty, bright and luxurious while those who work to maintain the apartment are dark and almost featureless. In this sense it reminded me of the murals of Diego Rivera depicting the plight of the worker. The use of color is muted in comparison. It is not a glamorized or inspirational depiction of what it presents.
There are many other evocative works on display. I recommend the exhibition to anyone with an interest in European art from this period who lives in or plans to visit the San Francisco Bay Area during the summer of 2010. It will be a worthwhile visit.
