Manet and the Modern Tradition

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Although Edouard Manet has long been regarded as one of the greatest nineteenth-century French artists, there has been little agreement about the real character of his work. His beautifully executed paintings often reveal curious tensions in the handling of space and color and leave his intentions unclear. Contemporary writers such as Zola and Mallarmé viewed his work very differently, and art historians and critics to this day interpret his paintings in many ways, from strict formalism, devoid of meaning, to internalized musings full of hidden symbolism. In this thorough investigation of the artist and the society in which he lived, Anne Coffin Hanson examines the ambiguities that surround Manet. Manet is seen not just as an artistic genius, but as a man of his times, subject to the same influences and interests as his contemporaries, and painting with the same knowledge of his craft as his fellow artists. What emerges is a totally new concept of the man and what he was trying to do: a modern artist, complex, witty, ironical, and deeply involved in the world of his day.