Auguste Toulmouche; 1829–1890 — French artist, master of salon painting, who brought the art of depicting beautiful and infinitely elegant women to the extreme. Photoshop and modeling did not exist then, but the desire of ladies to look as beautiful, graceful and elegant as possible did not go away. Therefore, the role of glossy magazines and posters with beauties was performed by salon painting, in which Auguste Toulmouche was a true master.
Blue dress
The artist himself said: “at the head of the picture should be grace and completeness of execution, which it is desirable to bring to the maximum possible limits. It is necessary to avoid excessively strong feelings and dramatic subjects, and write only everything beautiful, cute and attractive. The painting should be pleasing to the eye, and not cause the desire to turn away from it, only not to see something bad, depicted there, which in recent years began to sin some realists” - the last phrase is clearly a hint at the work of Courbet, which some critics and salon painters stood across the throat.
Love letter
Toulmouche, following his philosophy, must have embellished the models, but it is unlikely that this caused anyone discontent. After all, gloss is still gloss in the 19th century, but it is more refined and has acquired the status of works of art.
Kiss
Some critics reproached Toulmouche for idealism and frivolity. Emile Zola wrote: "he is a master of depicting delightful dolls, behind which not the slightest thought can be felt." However, this was probably some exaggeration; some of the artist's later paintings also contain dramatic subjects, and the girls depicted in them have to make a very important decision.
"The Reluctant Bride" (1866)
Such is, for example, the work "The Reluctant Bride", which depicts a girl from a wealthy family, whom her parents, against her will, are trying to marry off to a "good match". But the girl does not like their chosen one at all, maybe he is already old or just ugly, a complete stranger to her. But she is afraid to contradict the will of her parents, since she has been accustomed to obeying them in everything since childhood, and it was not customary for marriageable girls to be overly obstinate. In general, there is something to think about. Toulmouche very expressively showed her intent gaze at the audience, as if she is asking them for advice, and the friends sitting next to her seem only a background and do not distract from the main thing - the doubts and inner drama of the bride herself. It is no coincidence that this picture has become the basis for many popular memes in our time.
Young woman in the interior
Toulmouche came from the wealthy family of the broker Emile Toulmouche, who lived in the French city of Nantes, and, in general, knew what he was writing about. Everything depicted there was close and clear to the artist, he spent a good part of his life in these very living rooms, talking to guests or amusing them with poems and his drawings when he was a child. It soon became clear that Auguste was good at drawing and it was desirable to hone this talent.
Sweet Idleness. 1877
He studied with the local portraitist Biron, and when he turned 17, he went to conquer Paris. There, Toulmouche studied with Charles Gleyre and even became his favorite student, and 2 years later he exhibited his first painting at the famous French Salon. Here he hit the mark, his paintings were very popular with the audience and there was no shortage of buyers. On the contrary, orders were scheduled a year in advance, so just to buy a finished painting by Toulmouche, you had to pay a lot of money and wait a long time.
Vanity. 1870
His paintings were bought even by Emperor Napoleon III himself, so it is not surprising that other wealthy bourgeois sought to buy work from “the same artist”. In some ways his work resembled “glamorous” paintings of Konstantin Makovsky, who liked to depict the rich, festive boyar Russia, which in that form and existed only in the imagination of the artist. Toulmouche was repeatedly awarded medals of the Paris Salon, and in 1870 was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor. In 1861, Toulmouche married a cousin of impressionist Monet, and despite the different views on painting, communicated with him quite akin.
Mirror. 1868
Toulmouche's wife inherited a large estate near Nantes, and Toulmouche decided to move there permanently, set up a studio and painted his exquisite paintings. True, gradually the demand for them fell, they seemed already outdated and vulgar, and the ball ruled despised earlier Impressionists. But the cream of the Toulmouche has already taken off, money for a secure existence, he had enough, and the tastes of the public are so fickle, and seriously expect to meet them in his work all his life is not worth it.
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