RENOIR

The child and I visited Tacoma Art Museum's exhibit Renoir As Printmaker: The Complete Works, 1878–1912. It was interesting to see one of the premier Impressionist painters working in another medium.

This exhibit collects together all of the extant lithographs and etchings that Pierre-Auguste Renoir created during his lifetime, in addition to a few paintings. The child was not very interested. However, I was fascinated by how Renoir could use a series of simple lines, along with some areas of shading, to evoke an image of a person.

My favorite lithograph was a small profile portrait of his friend Ambroise Vollard. Vollard was an art dealer who worked with many of the great painters of his time, including Renoir, Cézanne, and Picasso. The portrait of Vollard is somber and quiet. I sense a sadness that can only be shared between good friends. I kept returning to look at it again and again. For some reason I cannot quite fathom, this particular work really touched me.

The lithographs were primarily grouped by subject matter—nudes, mothers and children, women at work and play, etchings of two of his three sons (Jean and Claude), portraits of other artists. The latter was my favorite group of etchings and lithographs. Renoir clearly portrays the humanity of his subjects—Berthe Morisot, Paul Cézanne, Richard Wagner, Auguste Rodin, the forementioned Ambroise Vollard. He also accomplishes this with the etchings of his sons Jean and Claude. His love for these two boys and his artist friends is obvious. These works are alive with the relationship of artist to subject. Lines express this love, these relationships, in ways that almost defy explanation. They truly have to be seen and experienced.