MICHAEL KIMMELMAN:
Manet’s message? That the whole modern world is dangerous, shifty and strange. The camera is just a byproduct and symptom of this altered condition. We must struggle for comprehension; art can help, up to a point. But the old bearings don’t moor us. We’re on our own.
(The New York Times, May 16, 2011)
Édouard Manet:
I am influenced by everbody. But every time I put my hands in my pockets I find someone else's fingers there.
When I put my hands in my pocket I find no fingers, not even my own because I understand so little of the subject of drawing and painting!
It was my weakest subject from kindergarten to the end of second year of engineering. I was so horrified by engineering drawing that I seriously thought of ditching engineering until the late Bam-sir (बाम-सर) came along to rescue me. Also, my younger brother helped me with biology journal of 12th and many journals of engineering.
It's a marvel of Indian higher education system that a person so weak in the subject of drawing gets away with calling himself a mechanical engineer!
When I reached IIT-Madras, it was a big relief to see all academic building blocks marked as "sciences" e.g. "mechanical sciences" except civil which was marked "civil engineering".
Had I arrived at the right place?
And yet I keep chasing pictures, drawings, paintings...all visual arts. Why won't I when the world has artists like Édouard Manet?
Look at the following picture.
I haven't seen more beautiful and funnier picture than this all my life.
Look at the man, his both hands, middle-finger of his left, his right-hand grip on the glass. Follow his eyes. Look at his bow-tie, his sideburn, his moustache...
Is he listening to the lady at all? Is he seducing her? The lady seems to be charmed. I keep wondering what he would do next...will he kiss her lightly on the lips?...
Look at the waiter. What is he looking at or waiting for?
When I see this picture, a lot of quality pictures of 20th century, including some great cartoons, don't surprise me. Manet anticipates them.
Manet has said: Conciseness in art is essential and a refinement. The concise man makes one think; the verbose bores. Always work towards conciseness.
And what else are cartoons if not conciseness?
Artist: Édouard Manet, 'Chez le père Lathuille' ('The Garden of Pere Lathuille'), 1879
Location: The Musée des Beaux-Arts in Tournai, Belgium
Courtesy: Wikimedia CommonsDo a lot of today's artists find his fingers every time they put their hands in their pockets?
The Simpsons has assembled quite a portfolio of allusions to fine art. One of them- below right- is to 'The Luncheon on the Grass' by Manet (1862-63) on below left.
More more such allusions, visit The Simpsons Park.
