Edouard Manet – Olympia Part.2

III. Olympia as
a Deck of Trump Cards

In the context of art history, the audacious brushwork in “Olympia” by Édouard Manet serves as a departure from the well-trodden path of Far Western artistic tradition, which had remained quite stable since the Renaissance era. Indeed, “Olympia” emerges as a defiant statement against the prevailing societal norms of its age. From a painterly perspective as well, this masterpiece reveals itself as a rebellion against the entire four-century history of Far Western painting.

Courbet, who positioned himself as a rebel against society, left a comment on “Olympia,” referring to it as “A spade’s queen just out of her bath”. Certainly, “Olympia” is like a spade’s queen—akin to an image from a deck of Trump cards. Its forms are sharply defined, and the use of color is notably flat. Indeed, Manet’s work often tended to reject depth and accentuate the two-dimensionality. This is the point where “Olympia” and Titian’s “Venus of Urbino” differ in terms of artistic expressions, whereas both share similar compositions.

1. Background

For instance, in Titian’s painting, where the flooring’s intricate pattern in the background, particularly on the right side, exhibits a meticulous use of perspective. In stark contrast, when we inspect “Olympia”, the floor pattern gives way to solid background.

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2. Overlapping Legs

Moreover, as regards to the overlapping legs of the woman, in Titian’s “Venus of Urbino”,  the right leg assumes a subtle yet distinct bend backward, creating a sense of three-dimensionality through strong shading. However, in “Olympia”, two legs appear nearly parallel, eschewing the use of shading to articulate depth.

3. Hands on the Legs

Similarly, the left hand resting on the thigh is bestowed with shading, commencing from the elbow and ascending upwards. In Manet’s “Olympia,” the hand takes on a nearly monochromatic appearance, approaching a flat, cream-like hue.

4. Neck

In “Venus of Urbino,” the neck gracefully inclines, resulting in a slightly slanted face. This subtle turn imparts a nuanced depiction of the neck’s musculature and imparts depth to the cheeks, the upper and lower lips. Conversely, in “Olympia”, the body takes on the semblance of a nearly uniform, two-dimensional color plane.

5. Deliberate 2D Perspectives

The fact that “Olympia” stands much more upright in the upper body compared to “Venus of Urbino” is due to Manet’s deliberate attempt to portray the face and upper body with a frontal perspective that accentuates the flatness of the surface. In essence, Manet’s composition exudes a certain two-dimensional decorative quality, akin to a trump card in a deck of artistic expressions.

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This two-dimensional representation in “Olympia” contradicts the realism-oriented expressions of Far Western art since the Renaissance. The era aimed at capturing the triad of spatial, volumetric, and depth reality on a two-dimensional canvas through the adept deployment of perspective techniques and chiaroscuro.

Indeed from the works of Masaccio to pioneering efforts of Giotto, Western art had relentlessly dedicated to transmute the three-dimensional world into the confines of a flat canvas through the mastery of perspective and shading techniques. However, it would have been beyond the imagination of even Courbet, not to mention others, to anticipate the near-complete departure from these traditional methods witnessed in Manet’s “Olympia.”

IV. Exotic Prints and
Sense of Color

For the coexistence of three-dimensionality within the confines of a two-dimensional canvas is  inherently formidable, Manet’s intention did not appear to involve the creation of a fully three-dimensional world. That being said, in Manet’s works, this challenging coexistence manages to achieve a remarkable equilibrium. Consequently, we are not merely presented with the image of the Queen of Spades reclining on a bed; instead, we distinctly perceive the volume and weight of the figure’s body.

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Yet, the balance is not solely a result of the traditional interplay of light and shadow or the application of techniques for three-dimensional representation. Rather, it emerges from Manet’s exceptional mastery of contour lines and his nuanced use of color to convey the sensation of radiant skin.

1. Japanese Ukiyo-e

Firstly, the technique Manet employed to convey depth is characterized by the precise and meticulous modeling of form, undeniably drew inspiration from the unfamiliar yet intriguing style of Japanese Ukiyo-e prints. The exotic style began to captivate the artistic sensibilities of 19th-century Europe.

We may speculate that Manet’s exposure to this Japanese artistic tradition opened up fresh and alluring avenues for his own artistic expression. It is worth noting that the period in which ‘Olympia’ came into being aligned with the era of the Second French Empire. During this time, the allure of Japanese Ukiyo-e prints had swept through Europe, finding enthusiastic admirers, particularly among the art connoisseurs of Paris and London.

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The deviation from the conventional methods evidenced in “Olympia” echoes the influence of Japanese Ukiyo-e style, while it is still rooted in the tradition of Titian’s depiction of goddesses at the same time. That Manet and his contemporaries were presumably captivated by the bold expression of this exotic print can be identified in Manet’s portrait of Emile Zola where Japanese Ukiyo-e and a folding screen with a phoenix motif are depicted.

2. Keen Sense of Color

Admittedly, when examining the structural composition of Manet’s canvases, we may not readily proclaim them as groundbreaking innovations. ‘Olympia’ derives its compositional structure from ‘Venus of Urbino,’ while ‘Luncheon on the Grass’ draws from Giorgione’s ‘Concert in the Open Air’ and Raphael’s ‘The Judgment of Paris.’ Similarly, ‘The Balcony,’ a portrayal of his brother’s wife Berthe Morisot, finds its muse in Goya’s eponymous work.

Nonetheless, it is imperative to acknowledge Manet’s acute sensitivity to color. Amidst our admiration for ‘Olympia,’ it is Manet’s prowess in the domain of color that emerges as a distinctive highlight. Our perception of the vividness of Victorine Meurent’s body in ‘Olympia’ owes in large part to Manet’s expression of color expression.

V. Édouard Manet (1832-1883)

Édouard Manet (1832-1883) stands as a pioneering figure in 19th-century art, steering painting towards the direction of modernity. His innovative contributions reshaped the trajectory of art after him. In this regard, Manet’s historical role arguably surpasses that of Courbet. Although Courbet was a rebel and a revolutionary thinker within civic society, he did not quite revolutionize painting itself. His works retained a strong connection to traditional expressions. In contrast, Manet’s works unmistakably exhibit a rupture from tradition.

The irony lies in the fact that Manet, who aimed to establish his position in bourgeois society, turned out to be more revolutionary in his artistry compared to Courbet, who presented himself as a revolutionary. Nevertheless, history often unfolds through such paradoxes. Despite Courbet’s proclaimed audacity, he was a fierce individualist. On the other hand, Manet, as a sophisticated urbanite, relished social interactions within high society and meticulously attended to his appearance whenever he went out. When their paintings were rejected by the Salon, Courbet defiantly asserted his innovation, while Manet was genuinely disheartened.

Post-Manet, the trajectory of modern painting ventured into the bold innovation insinuated by ‘Olympia.’ Interestingly, this direction, which Courbet didn’t quite embark on, marked a daring step. Manet, who was temperamentally conservative and bourgeois, achieved the rejection of three-dimensionality and emphasis on flatness. This is well-known. Manet himself probably didn’t fully comprehend the historical significance embedded in his works. Ironically, the artist Manet was revolutionary, while the individual Manet was conservative. In some sense, Manet could be seen as a victim of his own genius. He paid the price of vehement criticism from the society he sought to enter with his work. Nevertheless, this ultimately led him to eternal glory in art history. The history of modern painting that unfolds in the late 19th century attests to this fact.