By Emily Cutler | Social Media | October 7, 2015 |
By Emily Cutler | Social Media | October 7, 2015 |
The headline “Renoir haters picket outside Museum of Fine Arts” made me immediately question if Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a secret wife beater or child molester. Surely the only reason to attack a respected artist who’s been dead for 97 years is if he was really and truly a horrible person. You would need a Cosby-level crime in order to tarnish the otherwise sterling reputation of a man considered to be one of the great Impressionist painters, wouldn’t you?
Not if you think that the artist sucks at painting.
Max Gellar doesn’t think Renoir is a bad person, he just doesn’t think Renoir’s very good at his job. Granted, the Instagram account is supposed to be funny, but that doesn’t mean it can’t also be used to change our ideas about which painters should be considered canonical. Should Renoir and other Impressionists continue to be as revered as they are given that there have been artists and art movements of equal importance in the intervening years? Couldn’t you argue that Postmodern and contemporary artists have more of an impact on our current daily lives especially given the increasing importance of art in architecture? Or that the fact that Impressionist art has been so co-opted by college students and Hallmark cards it’s rendered the rebellious nature of Impressionism moot thereby decreasing its emotional impact? Hasn’t Impressionism just become pretty, but muted watercolors?
Also Gellar has a solid point that Renoir just sucks at painting.
On the plus side, I think this means a hundred years from now another artist might have a flourishing career. Spanish Church Painting Lady, your day will come.