Edouard Manet - Street Singer 1862

Street Singer 1862
Street Singer
1862 171х105cm oil/canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA

« previous picture | Edouard Manet | next picture »

Eva Gonzalès 1849 – 1883. French painter known for her depictions of contemporary Parisian life and an aesthetic that reflects the strong influence of her mentor, Édouard Manet. ArtsViewer.com

From Museum of Fine Arts, Boston:
Manet was inspired by the sight of a woman with a guitar emerging from a sleazy café. She refused to pose for the picture, so Manet employed his favorite model of the 1860s, Victorine Meurent. The style and subject matter seemed crude to academic critics when the painting was exhibited in 1863. But Manet’s friend, the novelist and critic Emile Zola, admired its formal beauties and its apparent confrontation with real life.