Renoir at the Theatre: Looking at La Loge from The Courtauld
Gallery http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/exhibitions/2008/renoir/furtherinfo.shtml
Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s La Loge (The Theatre Box), 1874, is
one of the masterpieces of Impressionism and a major highlight of The Courtauld
Gallery’s collection. Its depiction of
an elegant couple on display in a loge, or box at the theatre, epitomises the
Impressionists’ interest in the spectacle of modern life.
La Loge was Renoir’s principal exhibit in the first
Impressionist exhibition in Paris in 1874.
The complexity of its subject matter and its virtuoso technique helped
to establish the artist’s reputation as one of the leaders of this radical new
movement in French art. Renoir’s brother
Edmond and Nini Lopez, a model from Montmartre known as ‘Fish-face’, posed for
this ambitious composition. At the heart
of the painting is the complex play of gazes enacted by these two figures
seated in a theatre box. The elegantly
dressed woman lowers her opera glasses, revealing herself to admirers in the
theatre, whilst her male companion trains his gaze elsewhere in the
audience. In turning away from the
performance, Renoir focused instead upon the theatre as a social stage where
status and relationships were on public display.
‘Stop’ (Louis
Morel-Retz) (1825-99) Aux Italiens (At the Italian Theatre) Caricature from Le
Petit Journal pour Rire, 1857 The Courtauld Gallery, London Theatre in Paris
was a rapidly expanding industry during the 19th century, dominating the
cultural life of the city. At the time
of La Loge it was estimated that over 200,000 theatre tickets were sold every
week in Paris. Theatres ranged from the
popular variety act venues to the fashionable elegance of the great opera
houses. The burgeoning wealth of the
middle classes meant that the logesof the premier theatres were no longer the
preserve of high society. From the 1830s
onwards celebrated caricaturists such as Honoré Daumier (1808-79) and Paul
Gavarni (1804-66) seized upon the theatre box as a rich theme for social
satire.
By the 1870s leering men with
over-sized opera glasses, middle-aged women struggling to maintain their
appeal, fathers parading their elegant daughters, and gauche visitors from the
provinces had emerged as stock types in weekly magazines such as Le Petit
Journal pour Rire. The interest in the
theatre, and particularly the loge as a space for social display, was also
harnessed by the booming fashion industry which catered to the aspirational and
newly wealthy middle class. Lavishly
produced journals such as La Mode Illustrée included fine hand-coloured engravings
showing the latest fashions modelled by elegant ladies in theatre boxes . A rich selection of this little-known graphic
material from contemporary Parisian journals will be on display in the
exhibition.
Renoir’s La Loge received enthusiastic reviews when it was
first exhibited in Paris in 1874 and later that year it travelled to London for
an exhibition organised by his dealer Durand-Ruel, making it one of the first
major Impressionist paintings to be shown in this country. However, the
painting did not sell at either exhibition and was bought inexpensively the
following year by the minor dealer ‘Père’ Martin for 425 francs, providing
Renoir with much needed funds to pay the rent.
When Samuel Courtauld purchased it in 1925 the status of the painting
had risen considerably along with the price which was now £22,600 and one of
Courtauld’s most expensive acquisitions.
Today La Loge is celebrated as one of the most important paintings of the
Impressionist movement. This exhibition
will cast new light upon Renoir’s masterpiece and the spectacle of the Parisian
theatre which it captures.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) At the Concert, 1880 Oil
on canvas, 99 x 80 cm As the first
artist to make the theatre box a subject for modern painting, Renoir drew on
this popular visual culture, which would also have shaped the context in which
his paintings were viewed. At the time
of the first Impressionist exhibition Renoir had been particularly concerned
with the loge and, in addition to the Courtauld picture, produced two smaller
canvases, both of which will be displayed in the exhibition. Renoir returned to
the theme in two later canvases. At the
Theatre, 1876-7, (National Gallery, London) takes an oblique view of a theatre
box, setting a young woman and her companion off against the blurred mass of
the audience. At the Concert, 1880, (The
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown) is one of Renoir’s
most monumental treatments of the subject.
This work started as a portrait of the family of Monsieur Turquet, the
under-secretary of state for the fine arts, posed in their opulent theatre
box. Renoir subsequently altered the
composition, painting out his male patron who was originally shown in the
background, and transforming the image into a fashionable but anonymous genre scene.