Fifteen years ago I read a book about this same period and, as in this one, Manet was a central figure. Judgment of Paris juxtaposed Manet and Messonier and how the hardly-known Messonier was rich and revered at that time while Manet was reviled then and is much respected now. The Second Empire and the terrible year of the war with Prussia, the siege of Paris, and the Commune were also a focus. While the unpleasant Messonier makes an appearance or two in this book, we learn more about Manet and in particular about Berthe Morisot.
First, it’s hard to imagine the impact of those three events on Paris over that short period. The French disastrously made war on the Prussians in July of 1870; by September when the Prussians besieged Paris, it was all but over. Paris was cut off and Parisians were starving until it ended in January, 1871. A revolutionary government took power in March and lasted until late May when the army crushed it with horrific battles during Bloody Week. Smee’s book gives us a thorough recounting of those times.
I listened to this 384-page book (12 hours) as I worked on a jigsaw puzzle or did kitchen chores with pleasure but without determination to remember the details of it. This became evident when I read the review by Marjorie Heins in Artnet.com. While she acknowledged it is an “addictively good read” about Manet, Morisot, and others during this tumultuous time, she objected to Smee’s assertion that those horrors led the painters to Impressionisms’ characteristics. She notes that Impressionism began in the 1860s and certainly that is true. I missed his assertion and acknowledge that my inattention in listening is to blame.
I will say how much I did enjoy listening to stories of those painters and how they coped with the horrors. It was only Manet, Morisot, and Degas who were trapped in the city during the siege. And Smee noted with interest that none of them made artwork that dealt directly with what they experienced and saw.
Gustave Courbet who predates the Impressionists, was admired by Manet and others and influenced them. He was an active Communard, and after 1871 was sentenced to six months in prison for his role in the destruction of the Vendôme Column (erected by Napoleon). He was ordered to pay to have it rebuilt which resulted in his voluntary exile in Switzerland.
Sebastian Smee, Paris in Ruins, W.W. Norton, 2024, 384 pages (I listened to the audiobook). Available in the public library.