1985.R.57 Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Bather


GENERAL DESCRIPTION  
By using clean outlines and minimal shading, Pierre-Auguste Renoir depicts his figure simply and clearly. The woman is similar to classical sculpture of ancient Greece, with the drapery over her lap and averted eyes; however, she is much larger than the ancient ideal, or the contemporary ideal for that matter. The lack of specificity of the image—a nondescript landscape, a nude figure—contrasts with the solidity and full-bodied flesh of a real woman.

Excerpt from
Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, 2008.

NOTES
Created 1880-81

Checked Piction.

Representing the more Bohemian world of artists like the Impressionists, is the large study of a nude by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Like landcapes and portraits, nude figures represent another sort of imagery which the Impressionists treated differently from academic artists. Here there is no carefully modelled form, no glacial marble sheen suggesting antique sculpture, but rather the glowing warmth of an actual young woman, full-blooded, breathless, intimate. In its own way, this masterly drawing is as opulently sensuous, as representative of a new society as the gilt and lacquered papier mache furniture. Private vision replaces public art; the real world seems as mythically beautiful as Greek antiquity.
Pulled from
Anne Bromberg, "Looking at Art: France in the 19th Century,"  DMA Bulletin Summer 1986, 11-13

Cultures

Geography 

Process/materials
Red chalk on wove tissue paper mounted on board

Historical periods

Individuals

Subject terms

RELATED OBJECTS 

PROVENANCE 

AUDIO ASSETS 

VIDEO ASSETS

IMAGE ASSETS

WEB RESOURCES 

ARCHIVAL RESOURCES

FUN FACTS

TEACHING IDEAS

RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1985.R.57

Category
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General Description
 
By using clean outlines and minimal shading, Pierre-Auguste Renoir depicts his figure simply and clearly. The woman is similar to classical sculpture of ancient Greece, with the drapery over her lap and averted eyes; however, she is much larger than the ancient ideal, or the contemporary ideal for that matter. The lack of specificity of the image—a nondescript landscape, a nude figure—contrasts with the solidity and full-bodied flesh of a real woman.

Excerpt from
Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, 2008.

Fun Facts

Archival Resources

Web Resources
 

Notes
Created 1880-81

Checked Piction.

Representing the more Bohemian world of artists like the Impressionists, is the large study of a nude by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Like landcapes and portraits, nude figures represent another sort of imagery which the Impressionists treated differently from academic artists. Here there is no carefully modelled form, no glacial marble sheen suggesting antique sculpture, but rather the glowing warmth of an actual young woman, full-blooded, breathless, intimate. In its own way, this masterly drawing is as opulently sensuous, as representative of a new society as the gilt and lacquered papier mache furniture. Private vision replaces public art; the real world seems as mythically beautiful as Greek antiquity.
Pulled from
Anne Bromberg, "Looking at Art: France in the 19th Century,"  DMA Bulletin Summer 1986, 11-13

Cultures

Geography 

Process/materials
Red chalk on wove tissue paper mounted on board

Historical periods

Individuals

Subject terms

RELATED OBJECTS 

PROVENANCE 

AUDIO ASSETS 

VIDEO ASSETS

rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1985.R.57
tags
#draft
#completed
%copyedited_Gail
women: AAT: 300025943
nude: AAT: 300189568
%Archived
sitting (seated): AAT: 300263970
@Schiller
*European Art
red (color): AAT: 300126225
chalk: AAT: 300011727
drapery (representations): AAT: 300262585
nudity (culture-related concepts): AAT: 300262617
drawing (visual works): AAT: 300033973
red chalk (sanguine / inorganic material): AAT: 300080064
board: AAT: 300014616
Renoir_Pierre-Auguste: ULAN: 500115467
tissue paper (transparent paper): AAT: 300014145
source file
object_notes_2_b-0010.xml.nores