Jean Béraud (; 12 January 1849 – 4 October 1935) was a French painter renowned for his numerous paintings of life in Paris and especially its nightlife. His works depicting the Champs Elysees, cafés, Montmartre and the banks of the Seine are precisely detailed illustrations of everyday Parisian life during the Belle Époque. He also painted religious subjects in a contemporary setting.

Biography

thumb|left| Symphony in Red and Gold

Béraud was born on 12 January 1849 in Saint Petersburg. His father, also called Jean, was a sculptor and was likely working on the site of St. Isaac's Cathedral at the time of his son's birth. Béraud's mother was Geneviève Eugénie Jacquin. Following the death of Béraud's father, the family moved to Paris. Béraud was in the process of being educated as a lawyer until the occupation of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.

Béraud became a student of Léon Bonnat and exhibited his paintings at the Paris Salon for the first time in 1872. He did not gain recognition until 1876, with his painting On the Way Back from the Funeral. He exhibited with the Society of French Watercolorists at the 1889 World's Fair in Paris.

thumbnail|A Windy Day on the Pont des Arts

thumb|[[La Pâtisserie Gloppe|Café Gloppe]]

He painted many scenes of Parisian daily life during the Belle Époque in a style that stands somewhere between the academic art of the Salon and that of the Impressionists. He received the Légion d'honneur in 1894.

Béraud's paintings often included truth-based humour and mockery of late 19th-century Parisian life, along with frequent appearances of biblical characters in contemporary situations. Paintings such as Mary Magdalene in the House of the Pharisees aroused controversy when exhibited, because of such settings.

Toward the end of the 19th century, Béraud dedicated less time to his own painting but worked on numerous exhibition committees, including the Salon de la Société Nationale. Béraud never married and had no children. He died in Paris on 4 October 1935 and is buried in Montparnasse Cemetery beside his mother.

Style

Béraud was popular in France and was appreciated by Guy de Maupassant who called him "adorable's adversaries" (Le plus charmant des fantaisistes).

His work was completely ignored by art historians of the period. After the Revolution, Russian artists received Béraud's work with irony, seeing them as the embodiment of Western commercial consumption, indulging, in their opinion, in the bourgeois tastes of the rich middle-class. Painting style gradually shifted from academic towards impressionism. While the major Impressionists fled the chaotic milieu of Paris and painted landscapes of the surrounding areas, Béraud, like his friend Édouard Manet (1832–1883), and in some of his paintings, Edgar Degas (1834–1917), depicted the busy environment of late-nineteenth-century urban life. Artistic techniques used by Béraud, in particular when drawing the so-called À la salle Graffard, were later adopted by other artists. The upper part of the picture is hidden in a light haze, the spectators are depicted in the foreground enthusiastically responding to the speech, while the Anarchist speakers stand out against a darker background.

<gallery mode="packed" heights=" 154px" caption="Jean Béraud's Paris scenes">

File:Blanche Vesnić (née Ulman), by Jean Béraud.jpg|Blanche Vesnić (née Ulman)

File:Jean Béraud Le Cafe de Paris.jpg|Le Café de Paris

File:Jean Béraud La Lettre.jpg|La Lettre

File:Jean Béraud Personnages.jpg|Personnages

Image:Jean Béraud Au Bistro.jpg|Au Bistro

Image:Jean Béraud After the Misdeed.jpg|Après la faute

File:Jean Béraud La Partie De Billard.jpg|La Partie De Billard

File:Jean Béraud The Drinkers.jpg|The Drinkers

File:Jean Béraud - À la salle Graffard.jpg|À la salle Graffard

File:Jean Béraud Les Grands Boulevards Le Theatre Des Varietes.jpg|Les Grands Boulevards: Le Théâtre des Variétés

Image:Jean Béraud Representation at the Theatre des Varietes.jpg|Representation of the Théâtre des Variétés

</gallery>

<gallery mode="packed" heights=" 130px" caption="Jean Béraud's Paris cityscapes">

<!-- File:Jean Béraud, Parisian Street Scene.jpg -->

Image:Jean Béraud La Modiste Sur Les Champs Elysees.jpg|The Milliner on the Champs Elysées

File:Jean Béraud Sortant De La Madeleine, Paris.jpg|Sortant De La Madeleine, Paris

File:Jean Béraud Home, Driver.jpg|Home, Driver

File:Cathédrale américaine de paris.jpg|l'Église de la Sainte-Trinité

File:Jean Béraud - L'Attente.jpg|L'Attente

File:Le Retour de l'enterrement-Jean Béraud (1876).jpg|Le Retour de l'enterrement

Image:Jean Béraud La Sortie Du Bourgeois.jpg|La Sortie du bourgeois

Image:Jean Béraud Le Boulevard St. Denis, Paris.jpg|Le Boulevard Saint-Denis

Image:Jean Béraud Jeune femme traversant le boulevard.jpg|Jeune femme traversant le boulevard

Image:Jean Béraud Boulevard des capucines.jpg|Boulevard des Capucines

File:Paris Kiosk Beraud.jpg|Paris Kiosk 1880–1884, Walters Art Museum

File:Jean Beraud, Parisienne place de la Concorde.jpg|Parisienne place de la Concorde

File:Jean Béraud Le Bal Mabile.jpg|Le Bal Mabile

File:Red Dress, Jean Beraud.jpg|Parisienne in a Red Dress (c.1900), Oil on panel, 13 1/8 x 10 1/2 in. (33.3 x 26.7 cm), Clark Art Institute

File:Seaside Cafe.jpg|Seaside Café (1884), Oil on canvas, 21 5/8 x 13 1/8 in. (54.9 x 33.3 cm) Clark Art Institute

File:Windy Day.jpg|Windy Day, Place de la Concorde (c. 1890), Oil on panel, 22 1/16 x 14 13/16 in. (56 x 37.6 cm), Clark Art Institute

</gallery>

References

Sources

  • Patrick Offenstadt, The Belle Epoque : A Dream of Times Gone by Jean Béraud, Taschen - Wildenstein Institute, Paris, 1999.
  • Tate Collection | Jean Béraud<!-- bot-generated title --> at www.tate.org.uk
  • artnet.com

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