{"id":9096,"date":"2014-12-09T15:16:54","date_gmt":"2014-12-09T14:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/?p=9096"},"modified":"2014-12-09T15:29:51","modified_gmt":"2014-12-09T14:29:51","slug":"the-lesson-of-paul-durand-ruel-protect-and-defend-art-above-all-else","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/12\/09\/the-lesson-of-paul-durand-ruel-protect-and-defend-art-above-all-else\/","title":{"rendered":"At the Mus\u00e9e du Luxembourg to learn Paul Durand-Ruel&#8217;s lesson: defend art above all else"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-9096 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/12\/09\/the-lesson-of-paul-durand-ruel-protect-and-defend-art-above-all-else\/dsc_0014\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"113\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/DSC_0014-480x360.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-9097\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-9097'>\n\t\t\t\tPierre Auguste Renoir, Charles and Georges Duran-Ruel, 1882, private collection.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/12\/09\/the-lesson-of-paul-durand-ruel-protect-and-defend-art-above-all-else\/dsc_0017-2\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"113\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/DSC_0017-360x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-9098\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-9098'>\n\t\t\t\tPierre Auguste Renoir, Marie-Th\u00e9r\u00e8se and Jeanne Duran-Ruel,1882, Norflok, Chrysler Museum of Art. \n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/12\/09\/the-lesson-of-paul-durand-ruel-protect-and-defend-art-above-all-else\/dsc_0022-3\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"113\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/DSC_0022-360x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-9099\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-9099'>\n\t\t\t\tPierre Auguste Renoir, Joseph Durand-Ruel, 1882, private collection.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/12\/09\/the-lesson-of-paul-durand-ruel-protect-and-defend-art-above-all-else\/dsc_0030-2\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"113\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/DSC_0030-360x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-9100\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-9100'>\n\t\t\t\tEug\u00e9ne Delacroix, L&#8217;assassinat de l&#8217;\u00e9v\u00eaque in Li\u00e9ge, 1829, Mus\u00e9e du Louvre.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/12\/09\/the-lesson-of-paul-durand-ruel-protect-and-defend-art-above-all-else\/dsc_0041-2\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"113\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/DSC_0041-360x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-9109\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-9109'>\n\t\t\t\tAlfred Sisley, Vue the Saint-Mamm\u00e9s, 1881. Pittsburgh, the Carnagie Museum of Art.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/12\/09\/the-lesson-of-paul-durand-ruel-protect-and-defend-art-above-all-else\/springtime\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"114\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Monet-La-liseuse-480x366.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-9106\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-9106'>\n\t\t\t\tClaude Monet, La Liseuse, 1872, oil on canvas, 50 x 65 cm. Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum. \u00a9 The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/12\/09\/the-lesson-of-paul-durand-ruel-protect-and-defend-art-above-all-else\/dsc_0033\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"113\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/DSC_0033-360x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-9101\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-9101'>\n\t\t\t\tEdgar Degas, Petites paysannes se lavant \u00e1 la mer, ver soir, 1869-1875, oil on canvas. Private collection.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/12\/09\/the-lesson-of-paul-durand-ruel-protect-and-defend-art-above-all-else\/monet-green-park\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"70\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Monet-Green-Park-480x223.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-9104\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-9104'>\n\t\t\t\tClaude Monet, Green Park, Londres, 1870 ou 1871, oil on canvas, 34,3 x 72,5 cm. Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art. \u00a9 Philadelphia Museum of Art.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/12\/09\/the-lesson-of-paul-durand-ruel-protect-and-defend-art-above-all-else\/dsc_0049-2\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"113\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/DSC_0049-360x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-9103\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-9103'>\n\t\t\t\tClaude Monet,  Le Jardin de l\u2019artiste, 1873,  oil on canvas, 61 x 82,5 cm. Washington, National Gallery of Art  \u00a9 National Gallery of Art, Washington.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/12\/09\/the-lesson-of-paul-durand-ruel-protect-and-defend-art-above-all-else\/a12382-jpg\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"113\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Monet-le-jardin-de-lartiste-480x360.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-9105\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-9105'>\n\t\t\t\tClaude Monet,  Le Jardin de l\u2019artiste, 1873,  oil on canvas, 61 x 82,5 cm. Washington, National Gallery of Art  \u00a9 National Gallery of Art, Washington.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/12\/09\/the-lesson-of-paul-durand-ruel-protect-and-defend-art-above-all-else\/057-001\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"119\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Monet-Les-Galettes-480x382.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-9107\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-9107'>\n\t\t\t\tClaude Monet, Les Galettes, 1882, oil on canvas, 65 x 81 cm, Private collection. \u00a9 Durand-Ruel &#038; Cie.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/12\/09\/the-lesson-of-paul-durand-ruel-protect-and-defend-art-above-all-else\/renoir-paul-durand-ruel-1910\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"120\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Renoir-P.-Durand-Ruel-385x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-9108\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-9108'>\n\t\t\t\tPierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Durand-Ruel, 1910, oil on canvas, 65 x 54 cm. Collection Durand-Ruel. \u00a9 Durand-Ruel &#038; Cie.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/12\/09\/the-lesson-of-paul-durand-ruel-protect-and-defend-art-above-all-else\/dsc_0045\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"84\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/DSC_0045-270x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl>\n\t\t\t<br style='clear: both' \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>To picture the career of someone who had purchased closed to 12.000 artworks during his life is a difficult task even if you are a leading art institution such as the Mus\u00e9e d&#8217;Orsay, the National Gallery in London, or the Philadelphia Museum of Art. But the group of paintings this pool of museums has been able to gather together to celebrate the great French art dealer <a href=\"http:\/\/www.durand-ruel.fr\/\" target=\"_blank\">Paul Durand-Ruel<\/a> \u2013 currently on display at the <a href=\"http:\/\/museeduluxembourg.fr\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mus\u00e9e du Luxembourg in Paris<\/a> \u2013 is something rare to be seen, also in the realm of the highly exploited Impressionism movement.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>From the three touching portraits of Durand-Ruel&#8217;s five children painted by Auguste Renoir in 1882, to some masterpieces like \u201cL&#8217;assassinat de l&#8217;\u00e9v\u00eaque in Li\u00e9ge\u201d \u2013 painted by Eug\u00e9ne Delacroix in 1829 and inspired by Walter Scott&#8217;s novel Quentin Durward (1823) \u2013, and through some unconventional paintings such as Alfred Sisley&#8217;s Vue the Saint-Mamm\u00e9s (1881) \u2013 that was also the first Impressionist painting bought by an American Museum (the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmoa.org\/CollectionDetail.aspx?item=1035976&amp;retPrompt=Back+to+Results&amp;retUrl=CollectionSearch.aspx%3fsrch%3dsisley\" target=\"_blank\">Carnagie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh<\/a>) \u2013 or such as the hypnotic \u201cPetites paysannes se lavant \u00e1 la mer, ver soir\u201d by Edgar Degas (1869-1875), the exhibition essentially proves how extraordinary artworks too need an enormous effort to be recognized.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In 1886 when, thanks to the help of the American art dealer James Sutton, Durand-Ruel arrived in New York with 289 paintings for sale \u2013 including 40 paintings by Claude Monet and Seurat&#8217;s masterpiece \u201cUn dimanche apr\u00e8s-midi \u00e0 l&#8217;\u00cele de la Grande Jatte \u201d (now in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago) he was in a debt for 5 millions of francs, practically bankrupt. But those paintings were still too new, and too radical for the American art market.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Due to problem over duties (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldcat.org\/title\/landscape-with-figures-a-history-of-art-dealing-in-the-united-states\/oclc\/252577832\" target=\"_blank\">Landscape with figures: a history of art dealing in the United States, 2000<\/a>) Durand-Ruel, 55 years old at that time, sold only 15 paintings out of the 289, for a total of $ 17,500 in receipts. Also the auction he organized the year after in New York was a failure; 34 years later, however, Durand-Ruel declared: \u00abAt last the Impressionist masters triumphed just as the generation of 1830 had. My madness had been wisdom. To think that, had I passed away at sixty, I would have died debt-ridden and bankrupt, surrounded by a wealth of underrated treasures\u2026 \u00bb.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Despite the hurdles he came across in his life, nowadays we ought to acknowledge that Durand-Ruel\u2019s career was in the end a great success, if considering what Impressionism represents today. Like many of the great art dealers of the last two centuries, including Leo Castelli, Ernst Beyeler or Larry Gagosian, Durand-Ruel was a great innovator. His well known principles, that today may seem obvious, are still fundamental pillars: protect and defend art above all else; have the exclusivity of the artists\u2019 production; support individual exhibitions; promote a network of international galleries; give free access to your galleries and your apartment; promote the artists\u2019 work via the press; associate the art world with the finance world.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, Durand-Ruel was against speculators, as proved by the facsimile of one of his administration books (livres des stock) on exhibition at the Mus\u00e9e du Luxembourg along with the artworks. Most of the times the selling price was just 20, or 30 per cent higher than the initial amount he paid for the artwork. Apparently that is the main difference from today scenery, in which young artists reach embarassing prices within a few years from the beginning of their career.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>On the contrary, a clear similarity with the present time lies in the \u201cphysiological\u201d beauty Durand-Ruel was interested in, and that he thought was what the new generation of bourgeois collectors needed in order to assert themselves. Is it the same kind of beauty \u2013 simple, objective, free from political or ethical meanings \u2013 that characterizes most of today&#8217;s massive production of abstract paintings? We do think so, even if nowadays the social landscape is quite different and the so-called middle class is under threat. It may be that the \u201cDurand-Ruel\u201d of the present time ought to be looked for in an active collector, more than in a brave and motivated entrepreneur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To picture the career of someone who had purchased closed to 12.000 artworks during his life is a difficult task even if you are a leading art institution such as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9108,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1796],"tags":[1876,466,1877,1875],"class_list":["post-9096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mapping-the-artscape","tag-alfred-sisley","tag-claude-monet","tag-eugene-delacroix","tag-paul-durand-ruel"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}