We have the chance to see the films from the ‘Exhibition on Screen’ series at our local cinematheque. Yesterday we had the pleasure not only of watching the documentary ‘Exhibition on Screen: Renoir – Reviled and Revered‘, but also of meeting the creator of the series, Phil Grabsky, who was the guest of the evening. We had the opportunity not only to see one of the most interesting films in this series, but also to find out more information and to attend a discussion about the author’s ideas, conceptions and process of creation.
I was quite intrigued by the film’s title. Revered – I knew. Reviled – why? Grabsky’s documentary manages to interestingly develop the controversies surrounding Renoir’s late career, after he had explicitly abandoned Impressionism. At that point, having overcome material constraints and feeling free to choose the themes and style to work with, Renoir is embarking on an apparently more commercial artistic path. Much of his work consists of nudes, and the changes in the attitude of critics and a part of the public toward objectifying the body of women in art have thrown Renoir by the end of the 20th century into the middle of a debate about morality and attitude toward the feminine nudes genre that could not have taken place during his life. On the contrary, Renoir was towards the end of his life a well-known and influential painter, a model for artists such as Picasso or Matisse. Can we judge artists according to contemporary morals? It is an open debate, valid not only as far as Renoir is concerned.
Like most documentaries in the series’ Exhibition on Screen ‘and this film dedicated to Renoir is excellent filmed, highlighting details that visitors’ eyes may miss even when visiting the museum. The expert team of museographers, art historians and artists is well chosen and offers interesting and diverse points of view. My only reservation would be that the film deals too little with the history of the Barnes Museum in Philadelphia, the taste of the collector, how such an important collection of Renoir’s paintings has found its way to the United States, and how it is exposed today. There is a story there or even more than one, as interesting as the controversy that is central to the structure of the film. But even so ‘Exhibition on Screen: Renoir – Reviled and Revered‘ is a good documentary, from a series in which the spectators enjoy aesthetic pleasure combined with debates and information that enrich them intellectually.