Picnic (after Manet and Leger)
Pairing:
Luncheon on the Grass by Edouard Manet
Leisure by Fernand Leger
Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 48" x 60"
Artist's Insight:
Q. This is a fascinating juxtaposition. What motivated you to put these pairings together?
A. I chose Luncheon on the Grass, probably because it is so famous and had been used as a subject for art on several occasions before I created my work in 1970. I recalled that one of the criticisms of Manet's painting was that the woman in the background didn't seem to fit the scene. I decided to remove the background entirely and place Leger's Leisure in its place. The result is a group of happy people of all ages enjoying themselves as doves fly about.
Q. What did you do to make all the elements of the two works of art fit so well together?
A. Interlocking oval shapes encompass and unite the two pairings. The bicycle wheels and their implied movement adds a swirling movement. I was sure about the pairing when I saw that the flower that the young girl is holding fell right in the center. I think it must be the rhythms created in this juxtaposition that inspired a choreographer, Cynthia Arenillas, to conceive and create an original ballet based on the painting.
Q. What story did the ballet tell?
A. The ballet was performed by members of the Nutmeg Ballet Company in Connecticut. It was a brilliant production. There was a love story between Leger's young man and Manet's nude (in a body stocking). They danced a pas de deux but the woman did not succumb to his advances. She remained as distant as her two male companions who were seated in the foreground like props. They did not move throughout. The father and daughter dance together; her feet never touch the floor. The ballet ends when the young man, crestfallen, crushes the flower he was carrying and sprinkles it on his dance partner's head. It was a thrill for me to see my painting come alive.
I love the way Jack Perretti of the Register Citizen analyzed the whole process:
He wrote: ". . . the choreographer takes this two dimensional art piece, fits it with appropriate music, and transfers it from the canvas and into the three dimensional medium of the dance. This differs from the task of taking a narrative and dancing it, as in the case of Romeo and Juliet because a literary piece has a clearly defined story line. In Picnic the choreographer must create a narrative line from the canvas, translate it into motion, and then leave the final interpretation to the viewer. . . . I found this to be the challenge and the joy of the evening: how did I respond to the choreographer's response to the artist Gulino's response to artists Manet's and Leger's response to their subjects? it was an exercise in the dialectic of art."
Print options available.
Luncheon on the Grass by Edouard Manet
Leisure by Fernand Leger
Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 48" x 60"
Artist's Insight:
Q. This is a fascinating juxtaposition. What motivated you to put these pairings together?
A. I chose Luncheon on the Grass, probably because it is so famous and had been used as a subject for art on several occasions before I created my work in 1970. I recalled that one of the criticisms of Manet's painting was that the woman in the background didn't seem to fit the scene. I decided to remove the background entirely and place Leger's Leisure in its place. The result is a group of happy people of all ages enjoying themselves as doves fly about.
Q. What did you do to make all the elements of the two works of art fit so well together?
A. Interlocking oval shapes encompass and unite the two pairings. The bicycle wheels and their implied movement adds a swirling movement. I was sure about the pairing when I saw that the flower that the young girl is holding fell right in the center. I think it must be the rhythms created in this juxtaposition that inspired a choreographer, Cynthia Arenillas, to conceive and create an original ballet based on the painting.
Q. What story did the ballet tell?
A. The ballet was performed by members of the Nutmeg Ballet Company in Connecticut. It was a brilliant production. There was a love story between Leger's young man and Manet's nude (in a body stocking). They danced a pas de deux but the woman did not succumb to his advances. She remained as distant as her two male companions who were seated in the foreground like props. They did not move throughout. The father and daughter dance together; her feet never touch the floor. The ballet ends when the young man, crestfallen, crushes the flower he was carrying and sprinkles it on his dance partner's head. It was a thrill for me to see my painting come alive.
I love the way Jack Perretti of the Register Citizen analyzed the whole process:
He wrote: ". . . the choreographer takes this two dimensional art piece, fits it with appropriate music, and transfers it from the canvas and into the three dimensional medium of the dance. This differs from the task of taking a narrative and dancing it, as in the case of Romeo and Juliet because a literary piece has a clearly defined story line. In Picnic the choreographer must create a narrative line from the canvas, translate it into motion, and then leave the final interpretation to the viewer. . . . I found this to be the challenge and the joy of the evening: how did I respond to the choreographer's response to the artist Gulino's response to artists Manet's and Leger's response to their subjects? it was an exercise in the dialectic of art."
Print options available.