Bouguereau at the Haggin Art Museum , Stockton Ca

William Bouguereau is a lightning rod. I mean that in the way that some individuals embody and personify a worldview and system of thinking and acting and "BEING" so fully that the mere mention of their name is a "FRAME" as a linguist at Berkeley would say. The name generates a visceral reaction. Just say the name " George Bush" and his name describes how America reacted to the World at large and how you think you could have done a better job og it . Say Madonna and you get a vision of singers gone wild with barn animals...the list goes on. Some peoples names get so identified with an incident that they are forever linked. Take for instance , " Ponzi Scheme " , Dunce ( after Dunz who was a ridiculed Thomist Philosopher) .....

Andy Warhol , Michelangelo and Whistler personify not just their work but a way of "LOOKING" at the world. The mere mention of their name is descriptive of a movement and thought process.

Darwins " On the Origins of the Species " was published in 1859 and the world has never been the same since. Man no longer was seen as spiritually significant. He was not special . He had no more purpose than a piece of mud sliding down a steep incline. A sunset was no longer a majestic metaphor for God's Glory and promise but a natural collection of photon charged particles emmitting vibrations we call light. I do not find it surprising that Charles Darwin's worldview would also affect Art, especially those artists who wanted to be taken seriously by the Cognocenti.

Bouguereau would be a symbol of dated and stilted Victorian Values. He would be a symbol of Western Culture looking "BACK" at ancient themes that no longer had vitality and "TRUTH". The active word would be that he was an " Anachronism" , like a man gifted at making beautifully crafted buggies while a 18 cylinder Dussenburg rolled by. Bouguereau was at the height of his powers when the World was shaken by Darwin.

I remember doing work for Portal Publications when a competitor "Marcel Schurman " discovered royalty free art that was long since ignored. Bouguereau's work was soon seen on bags , notecards and posters . Soon the buying public was enamored with these beautiful paintings . Pomegranate Publishing soon came out with the Bouguereau Calendar which was a huge success, We are talking mid eighties. I remember an Article in Vanity Fair Magazine where Sylvester Stallone , rich from making another Rocky Film , purchased a Bouguereau because he liked it and soon regretted the acquisition because his ' Art Consultants" thought it was Kitch. He should have hung on to it!



Which brings me to " The Nymphs" at the Haggin. It is a fairly large painting and the reproductions that I have seen online are way too brown. It actually is NOT monotone but is rich with ambers and muted greens set in degrees of Chiaroscurro. If you look at earlier paintings of William's , his tree leaves are greener and as he matures as an artist the greens become more muted and secondary leaving the figures to stand out.




I have always admired his modeling . Is it slick? Is he a "RENDROID?" well , you will have to decide that for yourself as I believe it is a matter of "Taste". But I do feel that his tight approach does lend well to narrative painting , especially when he is illustrating a scene of ancient mythology.





The world was changing around Bouguereau and artists wanted to go outside the environs of the academy and paint what they saw around them. The mere idea of competing for the Prix de Rome was anathema to these artists. Right or wrong , most art innovation is usually a reaction against the standard accepted "Salonese"




I do not find it surprising that an Art Renewal has taken place and that the academy has risen up again like a phoenix. Young and Old artists alike are hungry for knowledge . The teaching method of " just paint what you feel man " is no longer working and is a cliche for mediocrity.

The Rennaissance was a rediscovery of the glory of Rome and its standards and then re- translated to Religious Art themes relevant and alive during this period. We are seein a new rebirth again, Its about time.




Never one to let a good pose get away , B used this pose for ( or vice versa ) two paintings. A man after my own heart!




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