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Renoir: Painted by Frédéric Bazille Oil on Canvas - Musee d'Orsay, Paris |
One very strange incident happened in the year 1860. Jean-Frédéric Bazille was on the verge of becoming a physician, as his parents had decided.
However, his wealthy father gave him one concession. As he had agreed to study the medicines, his parents agreed to his advances in the field of art.
And the gentleman Jean-Frédéric Bazille never became a doctor; but
he became one of the best impressionist painters.
Frederic had descended on the airstrip of painting due to his intuitive
elements. On his visit to Paris, he found a new light in the colours. He
found a pathway for his talents. His love of art would make him a good friend
of master artists like Degas, Renoir, Berthe Morisot, Manet, Sisley, Monet and
a host of other contemporary impressionists. Frederic’s early attempts at
impressionist painting adventures were presented to the master artists
in Paris. They admired his work.
Were we to find any difference between the impressionist artists and the
others, the most striking would be the location of doing the paintings. The
outdoor locations. They would take their colours, canvases and the ‘long hand
brushes’, and would proceed on a short trip: to the river banks, to the thick
of the forests, or to the sand smelling seashores. It is because they,
the impressionists wanted to catch the here and now feeling of the scenes they
painted.
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The Family Reunion (1868) by Frédéric Bazille Oil on Canvas - Musee d'Orsay, France, Paris |
The Artist: Though having a well-equipped studio, Jean-Frédéric Bazille did
paint on locations. Sitting on a bank of a river or a hillside, there would
emerge an artwork. When these artists were at work, the ‘outdoor figural art’
was at its best, perhaps. In the paintings done by the impressionist artists,
the visual resonance was given higher space than the logical depiction of the
scene of the person being painted. That element made the difference. The
painting given here The Family Reunion by Frederic is one of
the finest examples of the artworks done during this period. Like his other
peers, here Frederic Bazille had remained preoccupied with depicting the
Parisians and their love of sunlight. They used to hold parties in open spaces.
Frederic’s living in Paris was the happiest time of his life. It
was the time when the master artists were around. Moreover, the streets
of Paris were the dream destination for all the artists. In Paris,
Frederic was able to meet many master artists of the time. And what was
happening in his time? The world of painting was taking a new shape during
those days. Frederic witnessed these artistic changes along with his friends.
Were we to judge the artworks of an artist, we should know about how the
artist imagined while doing his work. Every artist has his or her peculiar
temperament and the method of expressing herself or himself. Frédéric
Bazille took the help of impressionism as the style of art for doing his
paintings. He used the style of impressionism extensively. he used it vary
significantly with deep meaning.
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Frédéric Bazille Painting at his Easel -by Pierre-Auguste Renoir Oil on Canvas Musee Fabre, France |
The Art: Art and artistic depiction is a subjective phenomenon. There are artists of
several types; two of them are like this; one, the artists Painting their
Imaginations, and two, the Artists Depicting their Individuality. What an
artist sees with his or her eyes is the same as all of us see with our eyes.
But the artist's eyes make a variation. What an artist perceives through the filters
of imagination makes a difference.
Look at Frederick Bazille's portrait painted by the master artist Renoir.
Here Frederick is sitting on a chair and painting at his easel. Unlike a
portrait painting, in this portrait, the face is given less weightage, lesser
than the details of the other objects present in the studio.
We can see a rose and would understand that it is beautiful and it looks
nice on the plant. It makes out a good scene in our veranda. But when an artist
sees the same rose, he or she would think differently. An artist's view could
be like this: the rose has unlimited colours on its petals and every petal is
radiating these colours in the surrounding. In short, every artist would
think creatively. Frédéric Bazille was the man who thought
very creatively.
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The Pink Dress Frédéric Bazille Musee d"Orsay, Paris |
Painting Analysed: The painting that is given here was titled The Pink Dress (1864). The sitter
herein is Frederick's cousin. She is painted seated on a wide stone-built
wall, looking at the far scenario. This very typical, as most of the artist
would paint the model looking at the viewers.
Here keeping the model so positioned, the artists wanted to emphasize the
importance of the landscape and not of the person. That is how the
impressionist artists would think; that is how those freedom-lover artists
always thought. They all believed in non-traditional ways of executing their
art-pieces. Frederick followed the tradition of the time. He wanted to make a
painting that would look impersonal. He did it. He presented only the beauty of
the mother earth.
What catches our eyes is the
contrast the artists has created by painting the trees in the near vicinity,
infusing much detail in them. The village is situated at a distance. The houses
of the village are sun-bathing. Like all the impressionist artists, Frederick
had tried to paint the moment of the time. The sunlight and the freshness of
the scene. Presently this painting is exhibited in Musee d'Orsay, Paris.
The Tragic Death: Now about some facts of his life: very hard facts. When the Franco-Prussian-war started in the year 1970, the artist in Frederic Bazille could not resist the call of the nation. He joined the army. He was deployed for training and to fight at the frontier of Algeria. Tragically enough, Frederic was killed in the same year on November 28, 1870. One more tragic fact: his age was only twenty-eight years when he died. Jean-Frédéric Bazille (December 6, 1841 – November 28, 1870). We love good people, but God likes them more than us, perhaps. That's why he calls good people back earlier. [All the paintings are in Public Domain, taken from Wikimedia Commons]
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