La Grande Laveuse by Renior
This is a good time to stop and talk a little bit about the art we have been seeing along the mall. Pierre-Auguste Renoir once remarked, “Why shouldn’t art be pretty?
There are enough unpleasant things in the world.” Such as this piece here will be placed over on the corner where it will be seen and put in places of prominence. One of the themes of the FUlton Mall is that the public should be exposed to public art. The piece we are by is a Renior. In other places, it is behind barricades so the public can see, but not touch. here, we can climb on this piece, take pictures by it, enjoy it with its all of our senses. All of the art in the area will be moved when Fulton Mall is turned back into a street. The idea is that they may be better displayed.
We are at the La Grand Laveuse (Washer Woman)"
- Bronze by Pierre Auguste Renoir, 1841-1919, France, a
famous Impressionist painter. He attended Ecole de
Beaux-Arts. For more information, check the Fresno County
Library; there are over 30 books dealing only with Renoir.
La Grand Laveuse is the star of the sculptures on the Mall.
There were six originals made and Fresno was lucky to get
the last one. This is a classic piece of art by one of the
most famous artists in the 19th and early 20th centuries art
history. From the Fresno Fulton Mall Walking Tour site
====
Pierre-Auguste Renoir once remarked, “Why shouldn’t art be pretty?
There are enough unpleasant things in the world.” Renoir, one of the
most famous artists of the late 19th and early 20th
centuries passionately celebrated beauty and sensuality in his artwork.
He was a French painter who, along with Claude Monet, was a central
figure in the creation of the impressionist movement which focused on
capturing and representing the first impression of an object upon the
viewer. Renoir’s work is characterized by a richness of feeling and
warmth of response to the world and to the people in it.
Renoir is best known for his paintings which sell for millions
and are showcased in every top museum around the world. Late in life,
Renoir took up sculpture and, along with his assistant, Richard Guino,
created incredible works including La Grande Laveuse (Washer Woman) in
1917. It is generally considered Renoir’s sculptural masterpiece. Only
a few original castings of this sculpture were released and they are
housed in the some of the most prestigious art venues throughout the
world including Fontvieille Park in Monaco, The Tate Gallery in London, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Kemper Art Museum.
You didn’t know that? Well, it turns out that a lot of people don’t know
that there is a bona fide masterpiece right in the center of downtown
Fresno. Even many Fresnans aren’t aware that one of Renoir’s most unique
works is sitting in the middle of the Fulton Mall. What’s even more
remarkable is that this sculpture is not behind glass, protected by
lasers or placed out of reach in a museum. It’s part of a collection of
20 works of art valued at over $2 million on downtown Fresno’s Fulton
Mall. And you can walk right up to it and touch it.
The fact that other cities have secured their La Grande Laveuse out of
reach while Fresno’s is completely accessible to any and all who pass is
a testament to the very spirit of Fresno. Renoir’s La Grande Laveuse in
Fresno is practically a metaphor for the city itself: The sculpture has
been described as strong, earnest and humble. And while Fresno often
fails to receive the many loud and proud accolades that it deserves,
this city, like the sculpture, remains strong, earnest and humble even
in the most challenging times. From the Downtown Fresno Blog
====
In Nov 2006, Christie's New York sold an early cast of La Grande
Laveuse for a record $500,000. Two casts of the same work sold
respectively for $456,000 and $329,600 in May and November 2006 at
Sotheby's New York.
According to his family, the young Richard Guino (who died in 1973)
was airbrushed from history after Renoir's death in 1919. The limited
references to their collaboration are misleading, according to Guino's
80-year-old son Michel, a rugged, blunt-spoken man who is also a
sculptor. 'What was written about my father during Renoir's life and
afterwards is all a myth,' he bristles. References, usually to an
unnamed assistant, claim he was one of several aides employed by Renoir.
'Absolutely false,' Michel says when we meet in his father's former
studio in a Paris suburb. 'There were other assistants, but only after
1918 when my father stopped working with Renoir.'
Some claim that Guino carried out only the heavy moulding
and chiselling Renoir was too frail to undertake, while he issued
instructions using a baton. According to Michel and his sister Marie,
the truth was different. They often heard their father decribe how he
worked alone at the bottom of the garden, making preparatory sketches
and sculpting all the bronzes, including Venus Victrix. 'Indoors, Renoir
painted in his studio on the first floor, unable to walk. So he
couldn't constantly supervise the work,' Marie says.
In the 1960s Renoir's sons and grandsons controlled the production of
new editions of bronzes and received all profits from the sales. In 1965
Richard Guino was persuaded to set the record straight. He sued the
Renoir estate, claiming that as co-author of the sculptures he was
entitled to no less than 50 per cent of royalties from all past and
future sales. The timing of the lawsuit was significant: copyright on
Renoir's works was due to expire in 1969, 50 years after his death. The
case took eight years to settle. In November 1973, nine months after
Guino's death, a court in Paris recognised him as the co-creator of the
sculptures and awarded his estate a one-half interest in the works. The
copyright now runs until 2043, 70 years from Guino's death, thus
delivering many years' further protection to the Renoir-Guino interest.
The two families were never enemies. Quite the opposite, Michel says,
lighting another Gauloise and pouring a glass of wine. 'Papa was very
friendly with Renoir's actor son Pierre, whose brother Jean Renoir, the
film director, told my father, "My dear Guino, do whatever you want. I
know very well what you did working with my father. Good luck. I hope
you succeed." '
From The Telegraph
No comments:
Post a Comment