PASTELS Exhibition at Musée d'Orsay. From Millet to Redon

Edouard Manet: La femme au chapeau noir (Irma Brunner) (Woman with black hat)  ca1880/2

In the above pastel portrait, Manet uses just a few colours to create the image of a sophisticated seductive lady.

The pastels exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay ended in July. It added breadth to the concurrent Manet/Degas exhibit which is now in New York until Jan 7th 2024. Works on show included those two great masters, but also Renoir, Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Odilon Redon, Symbolist Lévy-Dhurmer and others. 

Claude Monet: Waterloo Bridge in London 1900

Working rapidly, whilst waiting for a crate of art materials to arrive, Claude Monet captured the foggy atmosphere on the Thames. As in the Manet portrait above, a restricted range of colours conjures up the scene. Monet rarely used pastel, unlike Degas:

Edgar Degas: Chez la Modiste (At the Milliner's) ca 1905-1910

Degas frequently took inspiration from women and their fashions. An earlier pastel shows a realistic nude portrait, where Degas' interest in composition and sense of colour harmony are evident:

Edgar Degas: Après le bain, femme s'essuyant la nuque (After the bath, woman wiping her neck) 1898

This delicious pastel drawing was left to the Musée d'Orsay by another appreciator of the female body- Isaac de Camondo, one of the Museum's great benefactors. The pastel medium conveys intimacy and sensuality. It can also help produce an air of mystery:

Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer: La femme à la médaille, ou Mystère (Woman with medal or Mystery) 1896

The Symbolist movement was around at the end of the 19th century, although over-shadowed later by Impressionism. Lévy-Dhurmer adopts the profile mode, similar to Renaissance portraits, which means that the medallion shown by the sitter is tantalizingly not visible. The lady makes a blessing sign- the symbol of the Incarnation. The same artist was inspired by a tomb sculpture of Préault's to create his enigmatic "Silence":

 

Lévy-Dhurmer: Le Silence (Silence) 1895

Lévy-Dhurmer exhibited a small ceramic plaque for the first time at the Salon of 1882. He earned his living in Cannes as a ceramic artist until moving to Paris and earning a reputation as a painter and pastellist. He combines a certain pre-Raphaelite wistfulness with bright colours.  One of his most well-known works was in this show:

Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer: Portrait of Georges Rodenbach ca 1895

The Belgian writer Rodenbach appears to merge into the background landscape of Bruges, where his novel "City of the Dead" was set. Lévy-Dhurmer is seen in Symbolist mood in his view of Lake Geneva:

Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer: Le Lac Léman 1925

Another great master of pastel was Odilon Redon:

Odilon Redon: Le Bouddha (Buddha) ca 1906-7

Although not a practising Buddhist, Redon was fascinated by the mystery of myth and religion. His portrait of his wife Camille is dated the year of their wedding:

Odilon Redon: Camille Redon embroidering 1880

Redon's colours have a glowing intensity- to be found in the large decorative panels he painted, on permanent show at the Musée d'Orsay.

A less mystic and more solidly real view of family life is portrayed by Mary Cassatt:

Mary Cassatt: Mother and child against green background 1897

 

Mary Cassatt captures a tender moment in a mother and child scene. In true Impressionist style, her vigorous zigzags of red and green on the woman's dress add to the scene's spontaneity.

Equally appealing, by Manet's pupil Eva Gonzalès, is a delightful scene of a pensive lady in her boudoir:

Eva Gonzalès: La Matinée rose (Pink morning scene) 1874

This pearly pink, blue and grey scene was shown by the artist at the 1874 Salon. Sadly Eva died aged 34, so she did not leave many works.

An ideal medium for portraits, pastel is used evocatively by the 'Hungarian Nabi' József Rippl-Rónai in his night-time park scene:

József Rippl-Rónai

Influenced by Whistler's Nocturnes and a friend of Vuillard, Rippl-Ronai creates a ghostly landscape with phosphorescent green trees.  The carved wooden frame adds to the work's particular character.

A rare pastel by Renoir shows his delicate portrait of a little girl:

Auguste Renoir: Portrait de jeune fille brune, assise, les mains croisées (Portrait of a young brunette, seated, hands crossed) 1879

Renoir brings out  the colour reflections in the girl's white dress with his stripes of green, grey and blue.

Berthe Morisot (who is about to feature in an exhibition at the Musée Marmottan in Paris) shows the influence of Manet in the portrait of her sister:

Berthe Morisot: Portrait of Mme Edma Pontillon (née Morisot) 1871

This portrait was only the third by Berthe, out of almost 200. Her sister Edma was expecting her second child, preferring marriage to a career as a painter. 

Manet, whose brother Berthe was about to marry, gives us a lively portrait of writer Emile Zola's wife, expressing her kindliness and humanity:

Edouard Manet: Portrait of Mme Emile Zola ca 1879

Let us finish with the profile of a young girl against a radiant background by Odilon Redon. He had started drawing this as a portrait of his son, then adapted it and added the intense blue Breton bonnet:  

Odilon Redon: Jeune fille au bonnet bleu (Young girl with blue bonnet) early 1890s

Redon plays with the viewer's eye, drawing a frame within a frame, complete with trailing foliage.

The exhibition demonstrates the power and delicacy of the pastel medium and provides a special peep into some of the Orsay's treasures which are kept under cover much of the time.

Pastels Exhibition From Millet to Redon

March 14th to July 2nd, 2023

Musée d'Orsay

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