Source: The Paper
On November 4, 2019, "The Birth of Fine Arts: From the Sun King to Napoleon - The Collection of the National Academy of Fine Arts in Paris" opened at the Shanghai Museum. The exhibition presents 85 art treasures from the collection of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure in Paris, and through various forms such as oil paintings, sculptures, prints, models, books and manuscripts, the exhibition reviews the gradual progress of French art from the time of Louis XIV to the Napoleonic Empire to the pinnacle of European art. The Shanghai Museum also has a (biographical) Ingres sketch character drawing that has never been exhibited before in this exhibition.
On the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, most of the exhibits in this exhibition are also visiting China for the first time. The works of many artists who occupy an important position in the history of world art have appeared in Shangbo, including Poussin, Flagonal, David, Angle, Wudong, Lude and so on. It is through these masters and works that we are able to connect this magnificent french art history. But this exhibition is by no means just a tour of famous art. Philippe Cinquini, one of the curators, said that many of the exhibits in the exhibition were actually seen in schools in the early 20th century, such as Xu Beihong, a group of Chinese art students who studied at the Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
Yang Zhigang, director of the Shanghai Museum, said: "Art is a mirror, and the National École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris symbolizes a continuous tradition, with its rich collection, it provides us with a vivid panorama of European art, history and thought." The exhibition tries to let the audience feel the scene of these artistic predecessors studying in France, and how Chinese and French culture communicates, influences, innovates, and produces a vision. I hope the audience thinks about the topic behind history.
Exhibition site
It is reported that the exhibition spans from the seventeenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth century, trying to sort out and show the situation of French and even European art in this period from multiple angles. The exhibition is divided into nine thematic units: "The Renaissance Movement: The Origins of French Art", "The Birth of the Modern Artist, The Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture of the Sun King", "The Artistic Flourishing of the Aristocratic Class", "Aesthetics of the Human Body: The Confrontation between Art and Science", "The Revolution of Heroic Painting in the Enlightenment Period", "Art and Revolution: From David to Ingres", "The Poetic Aesthetics of Archaeology and Ruins" and "From the Royal Academy to the Academy".
In the foreword to the exhibition, Yang Zhigang, director of the Shanghai Museum, writes, "The term 'Beaux-arts' originated in Europe in the seventeenth century, and its birth was inseparable from the rise of the Enlightenment and the growth of the Royal Academy. "This exhibition presents 86 paintings and sculptures from the period of Louis XIV to the Napoleonic Empire and related documents, aiming to explore the process of the rise, prosperity and transformation of French art, especially academic art.
Neoptolemes Stops Philocates from Stabbing Ulysses, 1813
From the Sun King to the Romantic period
The Renaissance movement began to influence France at the end of the fifteenth century, when the French elite learned that the Renaissance movement was taking place in Italy and promoted a cultural trend that imitated Italy. The Sun King, Louis XIV, king of the Bourbon dynasty of France, is also one of the important clues that run through this exhibition. During his reign, France became the most powerful country in Europe at the time. The classical art of the seventeenth century was primarily in the service of glorifying the king. Corresponding to the artistic style, baroque art or the so-called Louis XIV style, which was strongly decorative at that time, was in full swing. In the later eighteenth century, Rococo art continued to be extremely refined and elegant under the influence of the idea of pursuing happiness in France. Importantly, during this period, a set of artistic rules and academies that drew lessons from Italy and adapted to France's own artistic rules and academia system developed and established – and the glorious history of the French academy, which has had a profound influence on world art to this day, began for nearly two centuries.
Portrait of Charles Le Brunn, 1683
With the enlightenment and the French Revolution unfolding, artists inspired by reason and science, passion and turmoil, French art began to undergo profound changes. Artists represented by David opposed the delicate and frivolous subject matter of Rococo's later period, and instead promoted the innovation of the classical epic tradition, hoping to re-give art the mission of carrying moral values. Once again, people turned their attention to the classical master Poussin, to anatomy and human body sketching, and to the cultural literacy and emerging archaeology that artists should have. The use of neoclassicism in art history to refer to the characteristics of this period will also be the focus of this exhibition.
Nicolas Poussin, Mercury, Hers and Jagraulos, 1624-1626, oil on canvas, collection of the Ecole Supérieure, École Nationale Supérieure, Paris
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Napoleon ascended to the highest stage in The history of France. Law, public will and zeitgeist began to become key words. David's student, Ingres, along with questions about the college system, followed tradition and completed a series of rigorous college training. By then it may have quietly heralded the beginnings of Romanticism.
Jean-Antoine Udon, "Bust of Jean-Jacques Rousseau", 1779, plaster coloring, collection of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris
From the Sun King to Napoleon, the exhibition will strive to recreate the magnificent history of French art during this period that was defined, reached its peak, and brewed with new transformations. As Yang Zhigang wrote in the preface, "Looking back at the French "academic school" and "fine arts" through the works in the exhibition, we see not only the refinement of craftsmanship and the evolution of style, but also the flow and transmutation of painting subjects from God and heroes to human beings themselves, the trade-offs and games under the constraints of imperial politics and guilds, the penetration and reflection of Enlightenment philosophy and rational thought in art, and the awakening and transformation of the self-consciousness and identity of art producers from "craftsmen" to "artists". ”
From David to Ingres: Masters with Their Works
Before the Revolution of 1789, David's career was the same as that of prestigious academic artists: from the grand prize to the crown, to Rome for further study, then to the academicians, to accept royal orders, to make a name for himself in the salon and to open a successful studio. He drew nourishment from Poussin's classicism and passed it on to his students. Among his students, Ingres is undoubtedly one of the best.
Jacques Louis David, Androma Lamentations Hector, 1783
In the exhibition hall, "Andromal's Lamentations for Hector" is one of the most important masterpieces of the artist Jacques Louis David, and the largest exhibit in the exhibition. As the most important section of the exhibition, this work will be placed in the same exhibition hall along with other works by David, as well as important works by Ingres, Udong, Jean Nicolas Sevadoni and several other important artists. In order to achieve the best viewing effect of oil paintings, this exhibition hall of Shangbo is also the first time to simulate natural light sources for display.
An exhibition hall that simulates natural light sources
Earlier, Alice Thomine-Berrada, curator of the exhibition and a depositary at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, said that Androma's Lamentations on Hector is a very important representative work that reflects the artist Jacques Louis David's transfer of French art from the Baroque period when he was educated to the neoclassical period.
According to Alice Tomin Bellada, the exhibition hall will also present some of the most important works in the exhibition, such as Jean-August Dominique Ingres, "Achilles Receives the Messenger of Agamemnon", "The Half-Torso Human Body", and Jacques Louis David's "Erasisstate Discovers the Cause of Antioch's Illness".
Ingres, Achilles Receives the Messenger of Agamemnon, 1802
Ingres's Half-Torso Body is the winner of his competition, and Achilles Receives the Messenger of Agamemnon is the winner of his Rome Prize. From the works, we can see that the artist has to present the artist's own social identity while creating the work. The one on the right is David's Erasisstadt discovers the cause of Antioch's illness. ”
David, "Elassy Stratus Discovers the Causes of Antiochus's Illness," 1774
With his teacher David, the beginning of Ingres's career was also accompanied by questions about the Academy, but with Ingres's later discovery of Raphael's art in Italy, as well as factors such as setbacks at the Salon, he embarked on a different artistic path from David.D. In 1802, Ingres conceived works that already showed his fantastic mastery of lines, foreshadowing the birth of later Romanticism under his brush.
"Ingres was David's best student, and there were similarities and differences between them, and we put it together to present it so that the viewer could better appreciate it. Alice Tomin Bellada said.
At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, the original play "Ingres" of the Shanghai Museum premiered. The play takes Ingres' stay in Paris due to financial crisis after winning the Rome Prize as a starting point, presents the artist's wandering and groping between the academic style and the new style, and explores the multiple cross-sections of that period of art history. The play was directed by Wang Xiaoying, former executive vice president of the National Drama Theatre, which is the second cooperation between the Shanghai Museum and Wang Xiaoying's director team.
The shanghai museum's original play "Ingres" premiered
What the pioneers who studied in France saw
The exhibition spans from the 17th century to the beginning of the 19th century, and the works on display have had a profound impact not only on French art, but also on China.
In the first half of the 20th century, a group of Chinese artists went to study in France, many of whom were registered under the paris of Gaomei. Among them are the famous Xu Beihong, Lin Fengmian, Pan Yuliang, Wu Guanzhong, Wu Fading, Chang Shuhong, Yan Wenliang, Lu Sibai and so on. These artists studying in France have greatly promoted the development of Chinese art and Chinese art education.
Philippe said the exhibition at the Shanghai Museum is a continuation of other exhibitions held in China in recent years with the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 2015, "Masters and Masters" presented the collection of the Xu Beihong Museum with the collection of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure in Paris in Shanghai, thus clarifying the history of modern Chinese art and the history of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
He said that many of the exhibits in this exhibition are actually a group of Chinese art students who went to study at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the early 20th century, such as Xu Beihong, who saw them in school at that time.
Xu Beihong once stated his experience of seeing Ingres's "Half-Body Body" on the beautiful campus in Paris. Now we have the privilege of standing in front of these works in China, to recall xu Beihong and other artists who studied in France at that time, and they also learned about the artistic and social changes in France from the sixteenth century to the eighteenth century through the collection of the National École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. I think that's the significance of the whole exhibition. ”
Ingres, Half-Torso Body, 1800, oil on canvas, collection of the École Nationale Supérieure, Paris
It is worth noting that the Shanghai Museum has a sketch of a character that has never been exhibited, which confirms such a magnificent history. This work depicts a muscular male body with precise structure, free lines, rich layers and delicate texture. This painting's unique sketching technique has been identified as Ingres's original work by Xu Beihong, Yan Wenliang, Zhang Chongren and other artists, and believes that it belongs to Ahn's early study in Rome, this work changed hands several times, went to New York, was purchased by Shao Xunmei in a famous ancient painting shop in New York in 1946, and once again brought back to China. For this exhibit, Yang Zhigang said, "This is a good story of Sino-French cultural exchanges. ”
Ingres (biography), Sketch Character Drawing Page, Sketch on Paper, Shanghai Museum Collection
The work has the Style of Ingres, but whether it is a genuine work remains to be studied. Yang Zhigang told reporters, "In the West, next year will be a batch of Ingres works in the Roman period will be studied. After that, it will be helpful to study this work. ”
In the second half of the exhibition, we can also see the birth of various new artistic genres in France in the 18th century, and even at the end we can see the hints of Romanticism. "All the content presented in the exhibition is also what the early Chinese artists who studied in France saw and brought back to China, and I summarize them as the most important three points, the first point is the complete mastery of sketching, the second point is the presentation of the human body, and the third point is history painting." Philippe Cinquini said, "Of course, these have some context. It was after experiencing kingdoms, empires and several revolutions since 1789 that a republic was finally established in France. ”
In Philippe's view, among the Chinese artists studying in France, he believes that the most outstanding is Xu Beihong. "Because Xu Beihong is the one who understands French art most thoroughly among all these artists and has realized the spirit of French art to the greatest extent in China."
Jean-Baptiste Renio, Alexander visits Diogenes, 1776
Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts,
As one of the world's leading institutions of art teaching and collecting, located on the banks of the Seine, across the river from the Louvre, the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (hereinafter referred to as Paris Gaumei) has a long history. The predecessor of the académie dates back to the Royal French Academy of Painting and Sculpture founded by Louis XIV in 1648. It is here that the system of the "Academy of Fine Arts" has achieved decisive development, and the teaching method is based on sketching human body sketches as the core, accompanied by competitions, study tours, salons and other systems. In the next two centuries, the system and artistic philosophy surrounding this academy once became a model for art academies in the West and even in the world. Although the academic school has since declined, it is undeniable that this academy still has an important and far-reaching influence on world art today.
Patricia STIBBE, vice president of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, said: "In that era, drawing was the foundation of all art forms, even now, traditional painting, photography, multimedia, drawing is inseparable from the foundation of drawing. The educational mechanism of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris is to cultivate contemporary art through the model of traditional art. This tradition continues to this day. ”
The institution not only has a profound influence on the academies of the European continent, but also contributes to laying the foundation of modern art education and talent in China. Xu Beihong, Lin Fengmian, Yan Wenliang, Pan Yuliang, Wu Guan, and a large number of modern Chinese artists and art educators have studied here, and Si can be said to be the place where the early art sages were in the blue wisps. Therefore, to explore the formation of China's modern art education system, it is inseparable from the study of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
It is worth mentioning that the Accademia building follows the building of the Museum of French Monuments. Founded during the Revolution (1793), the Musée des Monuments français was a great influence because it allowed the many works of art of the French medieval period to shine back, unlike the perfect masterpieces of classicism, which were born long before the revival of ancient Greco-Roman art. The museum's influence is enormous, as it allows the resurgence of a large number of works of art from the French medieval period, unlike the perfect masterpieces of classicism, which were born long before the revival of ancient Greco-Roman art.
Charles Marie Boudon, Interior View of the Fifteenth-Century Exhibition Hall of the Museum of French Monuments, 1814, oil on canvas, collection of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure, Paris
"The entrance and exit of the exhibition is a remembrance of the Museum of French Monuments; a museum of revolution corresponding to the end of the metropolitan government, but at the same time the first attention to royal art; this concern is critical of despotism, but it is extremely precious for the artist, his work of art, and the origin of French art, which is regarded as distinct from Italian art." Curator Philippe CINQUINI says so.
The exhibition will be on view until February 9, 2020.
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