When photorealist Jenness Cortez selected Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party to honor is her painting Just Desserts, she was influenced by Renoir's mastery of composition and light, as well as the historical significance of the scene, which portrays the hedonism and decadence of mid-to-late 19th Century Europe which was marked by the fusion of classes into a new, modern society.
But as an added bonus, the people portrayed in Luncheon of the Boating Party include some of Renoir's closest personal friends enjoying a summer Sunday on the balcony of Maison Fournaise on the banks of the Seine in Chatou, France.
"This is Gustave Caillebotte," Cortez says pointing to the man wearing a white boater's shirt and straw hat seated in the lower right corner of the painting. "He was a painter and art collector. And that's actress Angèle Legault and Italian journalist Adrien Maggiol," Jenness says, pointing to the woman seated to Caillebotte's right and the man leaning over her chair. "Renoir painted her a number of times."
"And this is Aline Charigot," Cortez beams with delight as her long, delicate fingers hover over the woman in the lower left corner of the Renoir who is playing with a small dog perched on the edge of the table. "She was a seamstress who later became Renoir's wife."
With the air of a seasoned art historian, Cortez rattles off the names and occupations of the remaining figures in the Renoir: Charles Ephrussi, a wealthy amateur art historian, collector, and editor of the Gazette des Beaux-Arts; Jules Laforgue, his personal secretary and also a poet and critic; actress Ellen Andrée; Baron Raoul Barbier; the proprietor's son and daughter, Alphonse Fournaise, Jr. and Louise-Alphonsine Fournaise; Renoir's close friends Eugène Pierre Lestringez and Paul Lhote, the latter also an artist; and another actress, Jeanne Samary.
"I've done research on Renoir many times over the years, so when it came time for me to choose the Renoir I wanted for my painting, I already knew quite a bit about this particular painting."
It didn't hurt that she'd gotten to see Luncheon of the Boaters up close and personal at its home in Washington, D.C.
"I don't usually have that opportunity, but I did make a point of seeing this one in person. It has a personality that doesn't come through in reproductions," Cortez notes.
But selecting the Renoir to feature is only half of the process. Next, Cortez must choose still life objects that complement the painting. Often, they are items that would have been found in the artist's atelier or home or which are representative of the epoch during which the artist lived.
As the painting's name suggests, Cortez chose just desserts as complements for her Renoir. Decadent foods, like cake, pie, candies and expensive cheeses, with a bottle of Dom Perignon to wash them down. Of course, the blue-and-white Qing Dynasty vase is a period piece, dating to sometime around 1750, but you can almost feel the calories as you eye the delicious treats that Cortez has set across the table beneath the framed Renoir.
With the table now set, Cortez is finally ready to start painting.
Or is she?
Comments