Renoir at the Morgan

 To me, it's strange for a survey of one artist's work to be emotionally overwhelming--but the Renoir show at the Morgan is moving in the way that a good film is moving. You see approximately fifty years of one person's work. As Renoir ages, his arthritis makes his career difficult. But he doesn't give up; he starts using red chalk, which is apparently easier for his hands. Then he moves into sculpture--he collaborates. The collaboration lets him keep an eye on his health. It would be impossible to give up.

I have been interested in Renoir since taking a trip to Paris when my son was very little. Staring at Renoir's many images of his own children, I understood that the artist was mainly compelled by the idea of different kinds of flesh. He wanted to show how the light hits a child's cheek--and how it hits a mother's cheek. The light behaves in different ways in different contexts. That one apparently small observation can be the "reason" for making a painting. The reason doesn't need to be something on an epic scale.

The thing that makes the Morgan special is its interest in rough drafts and in process. I am not a visual artist, but I know a few secrets about rough drafts. When you try to write something difficult, entire settings and characters are missing from the first draft. Certain characters might appear in the second draft--but they have two heads or they have alien tales. It's not until the third or fourth draft that they start to resemble human beings. You can see this kind of refining work or refining obsession in the Morgan show, especially as Renoir prepares to make his large painting, "Dance in the Country." You can also see this in a series that concerns babies and nursing. (Here come the babies, yet again.)

I had no idea that Renoir, a father of Impressionism, ultimately rejected Impressionism. I had no idea that he entered a collaboration with Edith Wharton. I had no idea that he also loaned his talents to an Emile Zola "project."

Wonderful exhibit.