Manet's Olympia Flashcards Art188 Final

Flashcards on Manet's Olympia and reactions to it, based on lecture notes.

Manet's Olympia (1865)

A rupture in the consensus as to what art was, and what it could address in wider culture.

L'Epoque

Left-wing Paper where Jean Ravenel's review appeared - Alfred Sensier's nom de plume, socialist writer, and Millet correspondent.

Fleurs du Mal

The verses quoted by Ravenel are from Baudelaire's work

Zacharie Astruc's verse

Poem placed next to Manet's title Olympia in the exhibition catalogue.

A. J. Du Pays's view

Expressed that Manet's paintings (Olympia and Christ Scourged) were offensive eccentricities.

Charles Clément's view

An example was required. The jury accepted them. It was well done.

Paul de Saint-Victor's view

Art sunk so low doesn't even deserve reproach.

Félix Jahyer's view

Expressed that Olympia could have been hung out of range of the eye.

Ernest Filloneau's view

Expressed general surprise that the jury accepted Manet's works

Léon Lagrange's view

Asserted that Manet's work was a hospital flirtation and that he would be cured of his excesses.

Ernest Chesneau's view

Cited almost childish ignorance of drawing fundamentals; criticized the loud advertisement intending to produce a noble work, thwarted by the absolute impotence of execution.

Jules Clarétie's view

Suggested the painting was a mockery or parody, depicting a courtesan.

Jules Clarétie (Le Figaro)'s view

Noted the painting's removal from a place of honor due to public censure.

Théophile Gautier fils's view

Suggested the jury should have asked Manet for a statement of his tendencies, which should have been printed as a brochure.

Théophile Gautier's view

Olympia can be understood from no point of view, even if you take it for what it is, a puny model stretched out on a sheet.

Marc de Montifaud's view

Recognized Manet's touch amidst the eccentricities, denoting a vigor which could produce a real work.

Anon. (L'Autographe au Salon de 1865)'s view

Suggested Manet clean up and tidy his pictures, and the public would marvel over them.

Gonzague Privat's view

Manet's Olympia possesses solid painterly qualities, delicacy, and is conceived and painted by a sincere man.

Théophile Thoré's view

Manet's Olympia has caused all Paris to run to see this curious woman with her magnificent bouquet, her Negress, and her black cat.

Amédée Cantaloube's view

Compared Olympia to a female gorilla and a grotesque in India rubber, aping Titian's Venus.

'Pierrot' (les Tablettes de Pierrot)'s Description

Described Olympia as an India rubber grotesque, making fun of Titian's Venus.

Victor de Jankovitz's Description

Portrayed Olympia as a prematurely aged, vicious young girl with a putrefying body.

'Ego' (Le Monde Illustré)'s Description

Described Olympia as a courtesan with dirty hands and wrinkled feet, having the livid tint of a cadaver.

'Jean Ravenel' (Alfred Sensier)'s description of Olympia

The scapegoat of the salon, the victim of Parisian Lynch law.

Manet's 'Reasons for Holding a Private Exhibition'

Manet decided to present to the public the whole of his work because the Salon jury of 1866 rejected both Manet's Fifer and his Tragic Actor.