Henri Gervex, 10.12.1852 — 7.06.1929 — French artist who painted genre scenes and portraits, historical and mythological paintings in the directions of academicism and realism. At first he studied with the famous academician Alexandre Cabanel, which was reflected in his creative style and choice of subjects for paintings: Gervais preferred mythological subjects, which contained a considerable share of idealism and salon aesthetics. But gradually, the paintings, so far removed from real life, began to seem hopelessly outdated and vulgar.
Satyr playing with a bacchante
However, Gervais found a way out: he became close to the French realists and adopted their basic methods and techniques of painting. In addition to portraits, he also painted genre scenes, which, in the best traditions of the Itinerants, were very literary, and many of them can be used to tell a whole story.
Scene in a Parisian cafe
Following an old academic habit, many of his paintings are maximally decorative; Gervais sometimes deliberately added elements of academicism to realistic genre scenes, achieving the most attractive image.
Thrown away by a wave
Sometimes it was appropriate, but more often it caused bewilderment. However, such a mix was liked by many viewers who were not ready to hang in their living rooms a gloomy realistic picture about the suffering of the "humiliated and insulted", but already considered salon academicism to be out of fashion.
Evening in Pré-Catelan
His paintings were distinguished by masterful coloring and precise lighting effects. True, some critics wrote that their content was shallow and did not correspond to the goals of realism, and that the attempts to evoke emotions in the viewer were too straightforward and crude.
Five hours to Paquin
But still, his best pictures are distinguished by their non-trivial plot and impeccable technique. Let's talk about them in more detail.
Returning from the ball
In 1879, Gervais painted the painting "Return from the Ball". As can be seen from the painting, the evening at the ball clearly did not go well and brought a lot of grief to both with far-reaching consequences. Surely, some admirer gave the pretty young wife of the man sitting in front of us flowers - they are in the foreground, and showed signs of attention. It is not surprising that her husband, who is much older than his wife, became jealous and made an ugly scene right at the ball. He took the bouquet of flowers from his wife and threw it in her face, and challenged the obsessive admirer to a duel - the husband only has one glove, the second was used for the challenge. And here everything can end tragically for the jealous husband, although it is possible that his young wife will only be happy with such an outcome in her heart.
Rolla
The painting "Rolla" is based on the poem by Alfred de Musset. Rolla is a highly paid courtesan of the highest rank, who agreed to spend the night with a man standing by the window. He probably paid a lot, almost everything he had, but it seems he does not regret it at all and is only afraid that soon she will wake up, get dressed and he will have to return to ordinary life again. But the soul will be warmed by the memory of a wonderful night.
Gervais decided to draw the attention of society to the fact that even the most respected and rich courtesans, in fact, are ordinary prostitutes who simply serve the rich and noble and charge a lot for their services. But the artist's message went unnoticed, the painting was not allowed to participate in the Paris Salon as "immoral".
Before the operation
In 1887, Gervais painted the picture "Before the Operation" by order of the surgeon Jules Péant. Gervais rejected the idea of painting a regular portrait: it would be too banal and boring, so he suggested Péant to capture him at work. He agreed, and Gervais depicted the famous doctor surrounded by colleagues and assistants at the very moment when he is performing an operation. Well, then Gervais follows his signature style: the operation is to be performed on a pretty young half-naked girl who is lying down, sedated with chlorophos. The artist was even accused of deliberately shifting the focus to such an attractive patient, and the audience is looking only at her. But Gervais said to all the critics: "don't interfere with me doing my job, you are not trying to teach Péant how to perform operations."
By the way, it quite accurately depicts the peculiarities of medicine at that time, when operations were carried out in ordinary clothes, and not in sterile gowns, using only the simplest antiseptics, like ethyl alcohol. But still, many of them probably ended successfully, and this is largely due to the skill of the surgeon, to whom Gervais paid tribute in his painting.
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