Jean-François Raffaëlli (April 20, 1850 – February 11, 1924) was a French
realist painter, sculptor, and
printmaker who exhibited with the
Impressionist
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
s. He was also active as an actor and writer.
Biography
Born in Paris, he was of
Tuscan descent through his paternal grandparents. He showed an interest in music and theatre before becoming a painter in 1870. One of his landscape paintings was accepted for exhibition at the
Salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home
* Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment
Arts and entertainment
* Salon (P ...
in that same year. In October 1871 he began three months of study under
Jean-Léon Gérôme
Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The ran ...
at the
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...
in Paris; he had no other formal training.
[Turner 2000, p. 346.]
Raffaëlli produced primarily costume pictures until 1876, when he began to depict the people of his time—particularly
peasant
A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...
s, workers, and
ragpickers seen in the suburbs of Paris—in a realistic style. His new work was championed by influential critics such as
J.-K. Huysmans
Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (, ; 5 February 1848 – 12 May 1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans (, variably abbreviated as J. K. or J.-K.). He is most famous for the novel '' À rebour ...
, as well as by
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings.
Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...
.
The ragpicker became for Raffaëlli a symbol of the alienation of the individual in modern society. Art historian Barbara S. Fields has written of Raffaëlli's interest in the
positivist philosophy of
Hippolyte-Adolphe Taine, which:
led him to articulate a theory of realism that he christened ''caractérisme''. He hoped to set himself apart from those unthinking, so-called realist artists whose art provided the viewer with only a literal depiction of nature. His careful observation of man in his milieu paralleled the anti-aesthetic, anti-romantic approach of the literary Naturalists, such as Zola Zola may refer to:
People
* Zola (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* Zola (musician) (born 1977), South African entertainer
* Zola (rapper), French rapper
* Émile Zola, a major nineteenth-century French writer
Plac ...
and Huysmans.
Degas invited Raffaëlli to participate in the Impressionist exhibitions of 1880 and 1881, an action that bitterly divided the group; not only was Raffaëlli not an Impressionist, but he threatened to dominate the 1880 exhibition with his outsized display of 37 works.
Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...
, resentful of Degas's insistence on expanding the Impressionist exhibitions by including several realists, chose not to exhibit, complaining, "The little chapel has become a commonplace school which opens its doors to the first dauber to come along." An example of Raffaëlli's work from this period is ''Les buveurs d'absinthe'' (1881, in the California Palace of Legion of Honor Art Museum in San Francisco). Originally titled ''Les déclassés,'' the painting was widely praised at the 1881 exhibit.
After winning the Légion d'honneur in 1889, Raffaëlli shifted his attention from the suburbs of Paris to city itself, and the street scenes that resulted were well received by the public and the critics. He made a number of sculptures, but these are known today only through photographs.
His work was also part of the
painting event in the
art competition at the
1912 Summer Olympics
The 1912 Summer Olympics ( sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1912), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad ( sv, Den V olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, be ...
.
In the later years of his life, he concentrated on color printmaking. Raffaëlli died in Paris on February 11, 1924.
Notes
References
*Gordon, Robert; Forge, Andrew (1988). ''Degas''. New York: Harry N. Abrams.
*Turner, J. (2000). ''From Monet to Cézanne: Late 19th-century French Artists''. Grove Art. New York: St Martin's Press.
*Young, Marnin. "Heroic Indolence: Realism and The Politics of Time in Raffaelli's ''Absinthe Drinkers''," ''The Art Bulletin'' 90, no. 2 (June 2008): 235-259.
External links
*
*
*
Jean-François Raffaëlli papers, at the Getty Research Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raffaelli, Jean-Francois
1850 births
1924 deaths
Painters from Paris
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
École des Beaux-Arts alumni
19th-century French painters
French male painters
20th-century French painters
20th-century French male artists
19th-century French engravers
20th-century French engravers
19th-century French sculptors
French people of Italian descent
People of Tuscan descent
French male writers
Members of the Ligue de la patrie française
French Realist painters
Color engravers
Olympic competitors in art competitions
19th-century French male artists