Evening star., 1940-08-04

| ties with the birth of Impressionism
as definite movement or revolt.
Monet was much influenced by
Manet's work for some years after
the Salon des Refuses" as, indeed.
were all the Impressionists: and
Manet was in turn influenced by
them, although he remained an out
slider.
Broken Up by War.
The Franco-Prussian war tempo
rarily broke up the group and when
peace was restored most of them
settled in the country. Monet
lived in Argenteuil for a number
of years and toward the end of the
'70s settled in Vetheuil, another lit
tie town on the Seine. which is the
subject Of many of his paintings.
including the Phillips Memorial
Gallery's canvas, Road to Vetheuil. -
This exquisite painting, dated 1879,
is executed in warm light golden
brown and gray-blue colors. The
village is seen in the distance: there
is hint of cloud in the sky, and the
scene has the diffused light so char
acteristic of France
Early in the l870s Monet and his
fellow rebels wanted to exhibit as a
group, for although they OCCASION
ally got paintings accepted by the
official salon, these works were
lost" among the hundreds of other
exhibits. 1t was not customary for
young and unknown artists to eX-
hibit as a group without a jury;
hence their plans for joint exhi-
bition were revolutionary They
held their initial group show in
1874 and were rewarded with
| laughter and contempt Mirbeau
relates how the derisive public laid
copper sous on the frames of the
paintings as an expression of insult
One of Monets paintings entitled
"Soleil Levant: Impression in that
first exhibition, gave the group its
name. Hostile critics called them
"Impressionists" in ridicule Monet
and his friends repudiated it at first
but the public took it up and
eventually it was adopted by the
artists themselves.
The next six years were the I'M
they held at the Hotel Drouot in
1875 las most of them were strug-
Cling with severe poverty, 70 of
their paintings fetched total sum
of only 1o,346 francs. One of
Monet's paintings, which went for
10 francs at this sale, eventually
sold for 10000; another, which at
the Drouot brought so francs, scared
in successive sales to 100000
Only one established dealer in
Paris, Paul Durand-Ruel had the
foresight and courage to purchase
the Impressionists' works. and his
gallery was the scene of their second
exhibition Paris critics wrote of
them as ''lunatics. Two later shows
were the laughing stock of Paris
Renoir credited Monet with the I'M
pressionists' endurance of these
trials. Had it not been for Monets
'invincible courage and optimism
| which would never acknowledge de-
feat" Renoir said he would have
given up more than once.
Woman Joins Group.
Mary Cassatt, the United States
first great woman painter, joined
the Impressionists in 1879 and in
terested her wealthy friends in buy
ing their pictures. Two years later
Monet had a one-man show in
Paris, which made a profound i'm
preston, and from that time on his
I fortune was in the ascendancy.
The year 1886 must have been
particularly happy for him. He set
tied in Giverny. which was his home
for nearly half his life; his work
was shown in the United States that
year for the first time and Ameri-
can collectors began to acquire
many of his paintings; while he
received a sensational commission
from a Japanese collector. The
latter, visiting in Europe, was en-
chanted with Monet's work. He
searched out the artist and gave
him the sum of $125,000, with an