Manet: The Execution of Maximilian: Painting, Politics, and Censorship - Hardcover

Wilson Bareau, Juliet

9780691032092: Manet: The Execution of Maximilian: Painting, Politics, and Censorship

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691032092 ISBN 13: 9780691032092

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 1992

The execution by firing squad in 1867 of Maximilian, the puppet emperor installed in Mexico by Napoleon III, was to have far-reaching implications, shattering the international prestige of France and hastening the collapse of the Second Empire. For Edouard Manet, already known in Paris as a non-conformist painter, this tragic event led to a surge of anti-imperial sentiment in his work, causing him to be labeled politically dangerous as well as artistically subversive. In this richly illustrated book, Juliet Wilson-Bareau reveals in Manet's paintings a political side little known to general admirers of impressionist art. Not only does she discuss the circumstances in which Manet painted his three large versions of The Execution of Maximilian, often seen as an isolated outburst of political feeling, but she also shows that many of his most familiar works from the 1860s take issue with contemporary events. Drawing from eyewitness accounts and newspaper reports, Wilson-Bareau examines possible sources for the paintings and the development of Manet's imagery. Douglas Johnson's historical account of the French intervention in Mexico, and John House's discussion of Salon painting in the 1860s, place Manet's choice of subject and style in a broad context of political and artistic opposition to Napoleon III. Inspired by an exhibition at the National Gallery in London, this book presents Manet's paintings alongside related drawings, sketches, prints, and photographs.

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From Library Journal:

"The Execution of Maximilian" was painted by Edouard Manet in three successive versions from 1867 to 1869. This catalog for a show at London's National Gallery, which is exhibiting all versions, presents three essays exploring the milieu in which the paintings were made. The first essay covers the event that rocked Paris and embarrassed Napoleon III, who had installed and later abandoned the ill-fated Mexican emperor. The middle essay suggests Manet's interest in politics as information filtered back to Europe past the censors, showing artifacts such as a photograph of the emperor's bullet-torn shirt and portrait of the soldiers who shot him. It also compares Goya's famous "Third of May 1808" to the image Manet finally painted. The final essay considers heroic military painting, popular at the time, which Manet despised. The visuals are excellent. But the essays, taken as a whole, leave ambiguous the artist's true intentions and seem addressed to an audience of scholars who can best appreciate its factual, dry tone. For comprehensive collections.
- Ellen Bates, New York
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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