(b. Feb. 25, 1841, Limoges, France--d. Dec.
3, 1919, Cagnes)
French painter originally associated with the Impressionist
movement. His early works were typically Impressionist snapshots
of real life, full of sparkling colour and light. By the
mid-1880s, however, he had broken with the movement to apply
a more disciplined, formal technique to portraits and figure
paintings, particularly of women (e.g. , Bathers, 1884-87).
In 1854 he began work as a painter in a
porcelain factory in Paris, gaining experience with the
light, fresh colors that were to distinguish his Impressionist
work and also learning the importance of good craftsmanship.
His predilection towards light-hearted themes was also influenced
by the great Rococco masters, whose works he studied in
the Louvre.
In 1862 he entered the studio of Gleyre
and there formed a lasting friendship with Monet, Sisley,
and Bazille. He painted with them in the Barbizon district
and became a leading member of the group of Impressionists
who met at the Café Guerbois. His relationship with
Monet was particularly close at this time, and their paintings
of the beauty spot called La Grenouillère done in
1869 (an example by Renoir is in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm)
are regarded as the classic early statements of the Impressionist
style. Like Monet, Renoir endured much hardship early in
his career, but he began to achieve success as a portraitist
in the late 1870s and was freed from financial worries after
the dealer Paul Durand-Ruel began buying his work regularly
in 1881. By this time Renoir had 'travelled as far as Impressionism
could take me', and a visit to Italy in 1881-82 inspired
him to seek a greater sense of solidarity in his work.
The change in attitude is seen in The Umbrellas
(NG, London), which was evidently begun before the visit
to Italy and finished afterwards; the two little girls on
the right are painted with the feathery brush-strokes characteristic
of his Impressionist manner, but the figures on the left
are done in a crisper and drier style, with duller coloring.
After a period of experimentation with
what he called his `manière aigre' (harsh or sour
manner) in the mid 1880s, he developed a softer and more
supple kind of handling. At the same time he turned from
contemporary themes to more timeless subjects, particularly
nudes, but also pictures of young girls in unspecific settings.
As his style became grander and simpler he also took up
mythological subjects (The Judgement of Paris; Hiroshima
Museum of Art; 1913-14), and the female type he preferred
became more mature and ample. In the 1890s Renoir began
to suffer from rheumatism, and from 1903 (by which time
he was world-famous) he lived in the warmth of the south
of France. The rheumatism eventually crippled him (by 1912
he was confined to a wheelchair), but he continued to paint
until the end of his life, and in his last years he also
took up sculpture, directing assistants (usually Richard
Guino, a pupil of Maillol) to act as his hands (Venus Victorious;
Tate, London; 1914).
