Meeting places

Note: this page is under construction. 
Do not cite from this page for the information is incomplete and maybe incorrect.

 

 

Meta-Impressionism

Meeting places

Who were present?

 

Introduction:
When we see Impressionism as an art-movement mutual contacts are an indication of who was part of this movement and who wasn’t. At another page we will see that the ‘impressionist’ consisted of several circles of friends. At another page you will find a chronology of when and where the Impressionists die meet and paint together. On this page you will find the most important meeting places.

 

Académie Suisse:
The Académie Suisse was an art-workshop. (Note: for the sources see the link.) Pissarro attended the Académie Suisse from 1857 till 1861. Several painters that later were part of the ‘School of Pontoise‘ also attended: Cézanne (periods in 1861 and 1862), Guillaumin (somewhere between 1860 and 1864), Piette (probably in 1860). Monet attended the Académie Suisse from about 1860/02/20 and he stopped before 1861/03/02. Sure is that he didn’t meet Cézanne here.

 

Atelier Gleyre:
The Atelier Gleyre was an art-workshop. (Note: for the sources see the link.) From Autumn 1862 till the Summer of 1864 Monet, Renoir, Sisley and also Frédéric Bazille joined the Atelier Gleyre and they became an important circle of friends within the ‘impressionist’ art-movement. Bazille would die  1870/11/28 in the Franco-Prussian war. Renoir already had started November 1861. At first he was probably more related to Émile Laporte. Lépic joined Atelier Gleyre in March 1862 and would later join the first two ‘impressionist’ expositions. It is interesting to know how he was related to the others.

 

Café Guerbois:
The Café Guerbois could be found at 11, Grande rue des Batignolles; now: 19, Avenue de Clichy, Paris (R3,p78). In 1866 Manet started visiting the café; shortly afterwards it became on important meeting point for impressionist and related painters. (R3,p651; R5,p46/7;R47,p33;R11,p214/5). But also for writers / art-critics as  Alexis (Paul), Baudelaire, Burty, Cladel (Léon), Daudet (Alphonse), Duranty, Duret, Henri d’Ideville, Maître (Edmond; also a musician), Mallarmé, Silvestre, Zola, musicians like Cabaner, Sivry and others like Nadar (photographer); dr. Gachet, commandant Lejosne. Manet became the centre of a group of admirers and friends (R1,p197). Zola writes about this café in his novelle ‘l’oeuvre’ (1886) and Armand Silvestre did the same in ‘Au pays des souvenirs’ (1892). The meetings in this café Guerbois can be seen as the birthing ground of Impressionism. In the early days the Impressionists were called ‘L’Ecole des Batignolles’ (R1,p236;R5,p46). There was a ‘perpetual clash of opinions’ which the artists to form there own ideas. (R1,p197). Many of them lived near by: Manet (34, Boulevard des Batignolles; 1864-67; studio at Rue Guyot), Bazille and Renoir, Caillebotte, Cézanne, Fatin-Latour, Pissarro and also Daudet, Mallarmé) (R5,p46). Manet made a drawing of Café Guerbois in 1869 (R1,p202;R5,p46).
Which painters did attend these meetings, when and how frequently? We will render this alphabetically. Note: sources give different suggestions. My main sources are Rewald (R1,p197-202;R5,p46/7;R88I,p314/5)

  • Astruc: daily (R1,p197); 1869-70: Astruc lives at 91, Rue Lemercier, Paris (Batignolles) (iR1), which is an 8 minutes walk (iR9)
  • Bazille: daily (R1,p197); lives from early 1868 to spring 1870 at 9, Rue de la Condamine (R31,p296), a 6 minutes walk (iR9).
  • Béliard: (R21,p277;R3,p647;R88I,p315); 1868, Spring: his address is: rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière, 57, Paris (iR1), which is 31 minutes walk (iR9).
  • Bellot: an etcher (R88I,p315)
  • Bracquemond (Félix): daily (R1,p197); he never lived close by (iR1;iR9)
  • Cézanne: dropped in when he was in Paris (R1,p197), but not frequently (R1,p200);
  • Degas: frequently (R1,p197); since 1866 (R26,p12;R47,p33); 1865-70: lives at 13, Rue de Laval, Paris (iR1), now 13, Rue Victor Massé (iR218), which is a 16 minutes walk.
  • Desboutin: since 1872 (R88I,p315); Desboutin lived a 5 minutes walk away at 10, Rue Darcet in 1873  and 32, Rue de Dames in 1874+75 (iR1;iR9); .
  • Fatin-Latour: frequently (R1,p197)
  • Guigou (Paul): (R1,p204); when he was in Paris (R88I,p315)
  • Guillaumin: (R88I,p315)
  • Guillemet: daily (R1,p197)
  • Henner (Jean-Jacques): a german painter (R88I,p315)
  • Monet: 1868/11 invited by Manet (R5,p50;R1,p236); dropped in when he was in Paris (R1,p197); In August 1867 their son Jean is born at 8, Impasse Saint-Louis, Batignolles, Paris (iR3), where he also lived Spring 1868 (iR1); the contemporary address is unknown (iR9).
  • Giuseppe de Nittis: since 1868 (R88I,p315); in 1869+70 he lived at Bougival (iR1), which is 16km to the south-west (iR9)
  • Pissarro: dropped in when he was in Paris (R1,p197);from October 1868 till Spring 1869 he lived at 23, Rue Chappe (R116II,p54), which is a 18 minutes walk (iR9).
  • Renoir: since 1869; invited by Monet (R1,p236;R5,p50); frequently (R1,p197); lives with Bazille
  • Scholderer (Otto): a german painter (R88I,p315)
  • Sisley: since 1869; invited by Monet (R1,p236;R5,p50); dropped in when he was in Paris (R1,p197); came less frequently than the others (R1,p204); did not join the gatherings (R166,p262); Spring 1866 his address was 15, Rue de Moncey (iR1), a 10 minutes walk (iR9); 1867/06/17 and 1869/01/29 and Spring 1870 he lived at 27, Cité des Fleurs (R166,p261/2;iR1), a 14 minutes walk (iR9); Spring 1868 he noted as his address the same one as Bazille
  • Stevens: on occasion (R1,p197);
  • Whistler:

 

Café Nouvelle Athènes:
Located at Place Pigalle, Montmartre (R3, p651;R5,p47). Before 1870 Courbet , art-critics like Castagnary and Daudet and politicians like Clemenceau and Gambetta and Nadar (photographer) already came here (R3,p651). Café Nouvelle Athènes took over the role of Café Guerbois as important meeting place for the Impressionists, but the sources are not clear when. In 1870 (R3,p651); by and by after the war (in 1871; R88I,p627); shortly after the first impressionist exposition in 1874 (R3,p651; R31,p298), around 1875 (R88I,p315) or around 1877 (R5,p47;R11,p215).
It became a meeting place for…: (R3,p651+679;R88I,p627/8;R5,p47; R31,p298;R11,p214/5)

  • the impressionists: Caillebotte, Cézanne (sometimes), Cordey, Degas, Desboutin, Forain, Franc-Lamy, Gauguin, Guillaumin, Maureau, Monet (sometimes), Maureau, Pissarro (frequently), Raffaëlli, Renoir, Seurat, Signac and Zandomeneghi
  • and other related painters: Dubois-Pillet, Fantin-Latour, Goeneutte, Guérard (Henri), Hay (Michel Eudes de l’), Jeanniot (pierre-Georges), Lafond (Paul Jean Marie), Manet, Stevens,
  • and writers / art-critics: Alexis, Burty, Castagnary, Duranty, Duret, Martelli, Moore (George), Renan (Ernest), Rivière, Silvestre, Villiers de l’Isle Adam, Zola,
  • and others:  Cabaner (musician), Chabrier (musician), Charles Cros,  dr. Gachet, Manzi (Michel; etcher/art-dealer), Jules de Marthold, Richepin, Victorine Meurent (Manet’s model)

Desboutin and Renoir (Rue Saint-George) had their studios close-by  (R88I,p315+627). Close-by lived: Degas (Rue de Laval, now: Rue Victor-Massé), Diaz, Daubigny, Damier, Stevens, Feyen-Perrin (R88I,p627). During the mid-1880s the meetings in Nouvelle Athènes faded out (R5,p47).

 

Renoir’s studio rue Saint-George:
In 1877 at Renoirs studio in rue Saint-Georges, Forain, Félix Bochor, Norbert Guenette, Paul Arène, Théodore Duret and often Victor Chocquet woul meet after lunch to discuss ideas about art. (R43,p19/ Georges Rivière: Renoir et ses amis; Paris, 1921; p64).

 

Charpentier’s house:
Charpentier was publisher and art-collector. His wife Marguerite Lemonnier plays an important role in cultural Paris
their house is a meeting point of naturalist writers, impressionist painters en socialist politicians (R3,p654)

 

Meunier’s restaurant:
Meunier or Murer was an art-collector. 1877 onwards: On Wednesday’s dinners in his restaurant with Renoir, Monet, Sisley, Pissarro, Guillaumin and with writers and journalists (R5,p47; R31,p299); Cordey and Frank-Lamy later joined the wednesday dinners at Eugène Murer, which were also frequented by Cézanne, Guillaumin, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley and also Guérard (Eva Gonzalès’ husband), the etcher Bresdin (Redon’s master), Cabaner (a musician), Champleury, Hoschedé and Père Tanguy (R1,p414).
95, Boulevard Voltaire, Paris ;

 

Café des Ambassadeurs:
Popular café in the gardens of the Champs-Elysées ; many concerts were held here (R3,p651). Degas, Manet and Toulouse-Lautrec have painted this café

 

Père Tanguy:
There were meetings in the shop of Père Tanguy attended by Cézanne, Gauguin, Guillaumin, Pissarro, Seurat and Van Gogh (R3,p700)

 

The house of Berthe Morisot and Eugène Manet:
In 1874 Berthe Morisot married Eugène Manet (the brother of Edouard Manet). December 1885 Morisot started to hold soirées for befriended artists (R5,p144; R31,p302). These soirées were attended by Renoir (R31), Mallarmé (R5,p144).

 

Café Riche:
The Café Riche was located at the Boulevard des Italiens, Paris (R5,p47). It was the traditional setting for the impressionist ‘Thursdays’. 1892/05/06 Renoir organised a dinner here, which was attended by de Bellio, Caillebotte, Duret, Mallarmé, Monet (R31,p305)