Phil Grabsky makes the world’s largest Renoir exhibition available on film to a global audience. In it, he documents the life of the French master painter, looking through the Barnes Foundation’s extensive collection in Philadelphia, and exploring the progression of the artist’s style in his work. The film presents a range of perspectives on the artist’s controversial use of women as a recurring motif in his paintings.
More here.
Who was Renoir?
He was a leading Impressionist painter, and is one of the most famous painters of the early 20th Century. Born on February 25, 1841, Renoir started off as an apprentice to a porcelain painter, studying drawing in his free time. In the 1870s, he helped launch the artistic movement known as Impressionism, eventually becoming one of the most famous artists of his time. Notable for their use of vibrant light and saturated colour, his notable works include Girls at the Piano and Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette.
About the Barnes collection
From Phil Grabsky himself:
It is extraordinary. It is also unique: you can see a photo of a wall in any of its rooms and you know immediately it’s The Barnes. It is arguably the greatest single collection of impressionist and post-impressionist works including Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne, Renoir and many more.
It’s uneven too: 180 Renoirs on show and one Monet. But that’s what is also so interesting – the man who lay behind it – Albert C. Barnes. Those that saw my film on the Impressionists recently will remember the dealer Paul Durand-Ruel and how he almost went bankrupt championing the impressionists. Well, it was dealers like him that Barnes – after he made his fortune – went to for European art. In the process, he created one of the world’s greatest collections. Plus it will never travel. No picture will ever be seen in another gallery’s exhibition. So you have to go there – or, of course, see the film.