Jeanne Samary in life and in painting: "tasty" portraits of Renoir, which you want to eat with a spoon
Jeanne Samary in life and in painting: "tasty" portraits of Renoir, which you want to eat with a spoon

Video: Jeanne Samary in life and in painting: "tasty" portraits of Renoir, which you want to eat with a spoon

Video: Jeanne Samary in life and in painting:
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Left - Felix Nadar. Portrait of Jeanne Samary, 1877. Right - Auguste Renoir. Portrait of Jeanne Samary, 1877
Left - Felix Nadar. Portrait of Jeanne Samary, 1877. Right - Auguste Renoir. Portrait of Jeanne Samary, 1877

When they talk about the miraculous power of transformation in art, then, probably, first of all, associations come with the canvases of the famous French impressionist Auguste Renoir … Without pursuing the goal of photographic accuracy, he creates such sensual, light, harmonious portraits that each of them could be called a hymn to female beauty and the joy of life. He was reproached for the fact that his work is too far from reality, but this is the true skill of the artist - to see the beauty in the ordinary, to convey his own feelings, to capture the beauty that is not noticeable to others. As it happened with portraits of the actress Jeanne Samary.

Left - Charles Émile Auguste Carolus-Durand. Jeanne Samary, 1885. Right - Jeanne Samary. Photo, 1890
Left - Charles Émile Auguste Carolus-Durand. Jeanne Samary, 1885. Right - Jeanne Samary. Photo, 1890

Everyone who has seen the photographs of the actress Jeanne Samary and the portraits by Auguste Renoir will surely notice the striking dissimilarity of the prototype with the image created by the artist. Without distorting a single line, Renoir seems to bring each of them to perfection. In portraits, the actress looks much more refined, sophisticated and aristocratic than in real life.

Felix Nadar. Jeanne Samary as Night, 1877
Felix Nadar. Jeanne Samary as Night, 1877

The portrait of Jeanne Samary by the famous photographer Felix Nadar shows all the flaws that Renoir does not seem to notice: a heavy chin, a rustic appearance, an everyday hairstyle, a plump figure - in a word, an unremarkable ordinary woman "from the people".

Louise Abbema. Portrait of Jeanne Samary, 1879
Louise Abbema. Portrait of Jeanne Samary, 1879

Jeanne Samary was at that time an aspiring, but already quite popular actress of the Comedie Française theater. She made her debut at 18 as Doreena in Moliere's Tartuffe. At the time of her acquaintance with Renoir she was 20. They say she was transformed on stage. Her acting role was soubrets - traditional comedic characters, lively and cunning servants who help masters in love intrigues. Such images were quite consistent with her appearance.

Auguste Renoir. Portrait of Jeanne Samary, 1877
Auguste Renoir. Portrait of Jeanne Samary, 1877

Renoir painted three portraits of Jeanne Samary, between 1877 and 1880. They met in Madame Charpentier's salon, after which Jeanne's parents ordered her portrait. Already in this work, Renoir created that incredibly captivating and gentle image that is still associated with the name of Jeanne Samary. The first portrait is in the collection of the Comédie-Française Theater.

Auguste Renoir. Portrait of Jeanne Samary, 1877
Auguste Renoir. Portrait of Jeanne Samary, 1877

A month later, the artist began work on the next portrait, which caused a controversial reaction. Emile Zola wrote: "The undoubted success of the exhibition is the blonde, cheerful head of Mademoiselle Samary." Some critics were outraged: “What a strange portrait! It is impossible to imagine anything further from the original."

Auguste Renoir. Portrait of the actress Jeanne Samary, 1878
Auguste Renoir. Portrait of the actress Jeanne Samary, 1878

In 1878, Renoir creates another portrait in which the actress is depicted in full growth, in a ball gown. The woman is so beautiful that it is impossible to look away from her - a real aristocrat! Probably, one cannot say better about the portraits of Jeanne Samary than Louis Leroy: “Pleasant uncertainty in performance, genuine primitiveness of the drawing and small greenish shades on the full chest of a beautiful lady held me captive for a long time! Vanilla, red gooseberries and pistachios are included in the dish of colors. This portrait can be eaten with a spoon!"

Auguste Renoir. Self-portraits, 1875 and 1876
Auguste Renoir. Self-portraits, 1875 and 1876

Jeanne Samary died very early - at the age of 33 she died of typhus. Her husband kept her portrait until his death, after which Ivan Morozov bought it for his collection. So the picture turned out to be from Russia, like the portrait of 1878, Renoir's paintings do not lose their popularity today. They inspire our contemporaries to create new works: 20 remakes of the most famous paintings recreated by art lovers

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