{"id":136,"date":"2022-04-26T19:01:15","date_gmt":"2022-04-26T16:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mymanet.net\/?page_id=136"},"modified":"2022-11-15T01:23:13","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14T23:23:13","slug":"blog","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mymanet.net\/home\/blog\/","title":{"rendered":"My Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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– about My Manet 
– about Your Manet<\/em><\/strong>.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To read from the start <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

click    \u201cGo to Post 1<\/a>\u201d<\/strong><\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To look for topics on Manet,
go to    List of Posts<\/em><\/strong>  below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For an introduction,
go to    Overview<\/em><\/strong>   below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to encourage you to comment! 
Read more on the project in About<\/a><\/strong><\/em>
and in \u201cInstallation My Manet<\/a>\u201d. 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

List of Posts:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 1<\/a>     Painting the activity of painting<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 2<\/a>     Manet and the puppet theatre<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 3<\/a>     On \u201cFacingness\u201d
and Social Scale in Manet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 4<\/a>     Faces in Velazquez and Manet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 5<\/a>     System of Faces and Gazes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 6<\/a>     Beyond the Viewer:
Who is looking?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 7<\/a>   The Emergence of
Manet\u2019s Scheme<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 8<\/a>   The Composition
of Luncheon on the Grass<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 9<\/a>   Manet\u2019s Scheme:
Composition in Social Space<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 10<\/a> Manet\u2019s Realism<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 11<\/a>  Manet, Baudelaire,
and realistic Formalism<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 12<\/a> Manet\u2019s Self-Portraits
\u2013 Seeing Oneself Seeing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 13<\/a>  My Manet \u2013 looking back
and looking forward<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 14<\/a> Manet Painting Christ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 15<\/a> Painting Christ
\u2013 Another Self-Portrait?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 16<\/a> Manet and Emotions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 17<\/a> On painting a modern nude
\u2013 Manet\u2019s Olympia<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 18<\/a>  Manet\u2019s Enigma
\u2013 Breakfast in the Atelier<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 19<\/a>  More on Manet\u2019s Enigma
\u2013 Breakfast in the Atelier<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 20<\/a>  On Manet\u2019s Balcony<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 21<\/a>  Manet and Political Power<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 22<\/a>  On Paintings, Diagrams
and Exhibitions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 23<\/a> More on Diagrams
and Paintings<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 24<\/a> Seeing Being Seen
\u2013 Manet\u2019s Perspectives<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 25<\/a> Manet and the Mirror
\u2013 A Bar at the Folies-Berg\u00e8re<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 26<\/a> Manet\u2019s Scheme in the Mirror<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 27<\/a> Manet and the Male Gaze<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 28 <\/a>Manet’s Theatre: Painting “On Stage”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction and Overview:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my view,
Manet aims to paint the activity of painting<\/em><\/strong> in Luncheon on the Grass<\/em>.
He does this not directly by showing himself as painting in the painting, but he paints in a way that the painting is personally addressing and engaging the viewer.
It leads the viewer to think about what is happening before his or her eyes.
This \u201chappening\u201d I want to analyse
\u2013 first in 7 questions and 7 answers posed in \u201cInstallation My Manet\u201d.
Then, we will go beyond to other paintings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 1 <\/strong><\/em>
will tell more about the implications of this view. 
Sitting in front of an easel with a brush in your hand, an empty canvas before you, and perhaps a model inspiring you, is a social activity<\/em><\/strong>.
The painting of painting \u2013 in my view and supposedly in Manet\u2019s view \u2013 assumes at least two people, the painter and the viewer, and \u2013 typical for Manet \u2013 the model as a third person. The painter is his or her \u201cown first viewer\u201d and the other persons may not always be present, but the activity nonetheless is a (virtual) interaction.
This implies a certain scale of the scene within the painting:
At least two persons communicating with each other face-to-face and in a certain setting, 
typically in the atelier.
Thus, still lives, larger crowds of people, and landscapes will raise different questions. We might decide to look at them later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manet depicts this in Figure 1 in a social scene \u2013 with a painter looking pretty much like Velasquez.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Figure 1: Scene of a Spanish Studio (1870)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We know that Manet loved this studio situation and immersed totally in the activity!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Post 2 and 3<\/strong><\/em>, a model or paradigm for Manet\u2019s view \u2013 the puppet theatre <\/em><\/strong>\u2013 is described.
Manet puts the social activity \u201con stage\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting with Post 4 and 5<\/strong><\/em>,
we will introduce the diagrams<\/strong><\/em> which I will use to visualize what Manet was thinking
\u2013 or what I suggest he was thinking.
The starting point are paintings by Diego Velasquez.
We know that Manet admired Velasquez as perhaps the greatest painter ever!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The diagrams introduce the actors <\/em><\/strong>on the \u201cstage\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, in Post 6<\/em><\/strong>,
I will look at painting as a \u201csocial form\u201d <\/strong>and reaching beyond the stage into the atelier. 
<\/strong>We don\u2019t need any theory to realize that the interaction in the  atelier assumes that persons will play certain roles or fulfil certain functions.
Actually, this is shown in a painting by Gustave Courbet on \u201cThe Allegory of Painting\u201d.
We will have a look at it.
We know that Manet considered Courbet as a rival for the title of the \u201ctrue realist\u201d,
and he knew this painting!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Post 7<\/em><\/strong>, we see the emergence of Manet\u2019s scheme. <\/strong>
I will elaborate more on the steps Manet takes to develop a scheme<\/strong><\/em> guiding the selection of perspectives and roles in his painting of painting<\/em>.
He reduces the complexity of the situation by deleting \u201cunnecessary\u201d personnel.
This can be inferred by looking at two paintings he produces just before embarking on the Luncheon in the Grass<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following P<\/em><\/strong>ost 8 and 9,<\/strong><\/em>
will finally take a closer look at the Luncheon on the Grass<\/strong><\/em> itself.
Since this is one of the most frequently interpreted paintings in art history, we might expect that nothing new can be said about it.
But it speaks for the greatness of this painting that even some 160 years later it inspires new views \u2013 also by other viewers \u2013 and we will have a fresh look, too.
The result will be the \u201cformal scheme\u201d of Manet\u2019s figurative paintings!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Figure: Manet\u2019s \u201cformal scheme\u201d of multi-figure paintings<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Post 10 and 11,<\/em><\/strong>
I will say more about Manet\u2019s \u201crealism\u201d. Comparing his innovative approach to other painters of his time, we might think that he actually is less \u201crealistic\u201d than, say, Courbet, Corot, or the early Degas. And then, Impressionism<\/em><\/strong> is seen as a kind of new realism, but Manet is \u2013 not only in my view \u2013 not an impressionist.
So, what is Manet\u2019s realism? In the perspective of science, we may say that Manet creates \u201creasoned imaginations<\/em><\/strong>\u201c.
His position is a \u201crealistic formalism\u201d and I will try to explain this  also by comparing his view to the realism of his friend, the novelist and critic Charles Baudelaire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my view, the paradigm of a \u201cPuppet Theatre<\/em><\/strong>\u201d or Marionette Theatre helps to understand how Manet sees the social reality of painting similar to the reality on stage.
This is what the little installation or collage, presented at the end of \u201cInstallation My Manet\u201d, tries to capture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Figure: The \u201cInstallation My Manet\u201d<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Post 12<\/strong><\/em>, 
we  return to Manet\u2019s self-portrait which is shown at the beginning of the installation.
I have postponed the discussion, because it is better understood as a later application (1879) of the \u201cformal scheme\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, we will go on beyond the installation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The puzzle \u2013 why my<\/em> fascination with the painting \u2013 is only partly solved.
Many may be fascinated, but why me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the claim that this \u201cformal scheme\u201d applies also to other<\/em> <\/strong>famous paintings of Manet has to be documented and discussed. So, we take a look at The Breakfast in the Atelier<\/em>, The Balcony<\/em>, Christ mocked<\/em>, and more
\u2026 including the unlikely cases of Olympia<\/em> and 
A Bar at the Folies-Berg\u00e9re<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, hopefully, there will be other questions waiting to be answered
\u2013 raised by Your Manet<\/em><\/strong> \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

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