In 1985, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts held an exhibit of paintings by the French Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir — works which were described by Kermit Champa in the New Criterion as, “effortlessly delightful and unobstructed by the difficult barriers normally raised by high art.” He also wrote this:

As a maker of crowd-pleasing aesthetic confections…[Renoir displayed]...a consistent sense of the degree of narcissism and self-indulgence necessary to excite his late-century audience to ecstasies of self-satisfaction.

The exhibit also excited late 20th century idiots to ecstasies of loathing — with their rising gorge hurling up barf-worthy demonstrators with signs proclaiming “Renoir Sucks.”

The phrase “unobstructed by the difficult barriers normally raised by high art” is worth debunking. The history of Western art is dominated by great works which were bought and paid for.  If those purchasers had ever been “obstructed” by “difficult barriers,” they would never have paid. As a matter of fact, “high art” was never hard to appreciate by those who originally financed it. Only now is it often difficult to read by those ignorant of its surrounding culture.

Unfortunately, the notion that art must be “obstructed” gained such currency that many artists have cultivated obscurity in both their works and the titles of those works. By wrapping their little enigmas in mystery, they pretend to an esoteric wisdom decipherable only by those privileged to unlock its “difficult barriers.”

And who can miss the condescending tone in Champa’s description of Renoir’s “audience?” No high-minded aesthete would ever descend to such low-life gratifications.  Therefore, so as not to be shamed for pandering, contemporary artists avoid beauty like the plague.

I do not blame Kermit Champa for these miserable ideas. In his review, he was simply standing up for brainy snobs everywhere blessed with prune-pit hearts.

It must be admitted that Renoir turned out quite a few paintings which could be called “sweet mush.” I don’t know whether they resulted from his debilitating arthritis, or were turned out rapidly to sell cheaply. But it is deeply unfair to judge — let alone dismiss — any artist for his failures. An artist should be admired for the times he hit a high mark exactly right — because so few artists ever do. Renoir’s representations of one of the great subjects — the female nude — rivals Rubens and Titian, and surpasses Watteau.  His multi-figured compositions, such as The Boating Party and Dance at the Moulin de la Galette radiate a fresh beauty unprecedented in Western art. No other artist had ever expressed man-woman love so eloquently as with his dancing couples.  For these and many other wonderful paintings, Renoir deserves our gratitude and love.

Image: Public domain.