Today I’m talking to you about the visionary Paul Durand-Ruel, the merchant of the impressionists and the game Art Society by Mitch Wallace. Welcome to Book Games.
The new edition at Flammarion of Memoirs of the Merchant of the Impressionists by Paul Durand-Ruel is an opportunity to rediscover this character in the shadow of the great masters of the end of the 19th century. And if the life of a great art dealer and collector tempts you, you can also play Art Society by Mitch Wallace.
Memoirs of the Merchant of the Impressionists
Paul Durand-Ruel is a Visionary. It was he who invented a new way of making artists known. He laid the foundations of the art market as it functions today. Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Berthe Morisot… Paul meets them all and defends their work with passion.
In the 19th century, in addition to the official Salon, other avenues emerged for the art trade. At the heart of this development was Paul Durand-Ruel, who became the main dealer for the Impressionists who rejected academic conventions.
In 1872 Albert Wolf wrote a particularly scathing article during the first exhibition dedicated to them:
Rue Le Peletier had bad luck. After the fire at the Opera, a new disaster has struck the neighborhood. We have just opened an exhibition at Durand-Ruel, which is said to be of painting. The harmless passerby, attracted by the flags which decorate the facade, enters, and his horrified eyes are presented with a cruel spectacle. Five or six insane people, including a woman, a group of unfortunate people suffering from the madness of ambition, met there to exhibit their works. They take canvases, color and brushes, throw in a few tones at random and sign everything.
From the 1870s, Paul Durand-Ruel understood the importance of opening the art market outside the traditional Parisian circuits. He opened a gallery in London in 1870 then in Brussels and began to exhibit impressionist works in the United States: a new Eldorado of art. The New York exhibition of April 1886, entitled “Oil and pastel works by the Paris impressionists”, marked a turning point. It is praised by critics. From then on, outside the Parisian straitjacket, the legitimacy of impressionist painters established itself internationally and therefore in France.
At the end of his life he could write in his memoirs:
Finally the impressionist masters triumphed as those of 1830 had triumphed. My madness had been wisdom. To think that if I had died at sixty, I would die riddled with debt and insolvent, among unknown treasures…
Paul Durand-Ruel wrote his memoirs several times and it is these descendants, Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel who combined the various writings in which Paul Durand-Ruel recounts his life and gives us a fascinating testimony on his time and the history of art.
“It is not on school benches or in academic circles that we will find young artists who have interesting visions. It is among those who seek their inspirations only within themselves, in the contemplation of the ever new wonders of nature, and in the in-depth study of the masterpieces of the great masters of all time. »
From 1871 to 1873, Paul Durand-Ruel discovered the work of Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Auguste Renoir, then Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt.
Monet testified in 1924:
Without Durand, all of us Impressionists would have starved to death. We owe him everything. He was stubborn, relentless, he risked bankruptcy twenty times to support us. Criticism dragged us through the mud; but him, it’s much worse! We wrote: these people are crazy, but there is someone crazier than them, it’s the merchant who buys them!
(In Giverny, at Claude Monet / Marc Elder, 1924)
He is visionary with his innovative ideas. Indeed, it provides access to his apartments on rue de Rome, which house his vast personal collection of impressionist works. At a time when exhibitions generally require payment, Durand-Ruel graciously welcomes the public into his family home. His personal collection, a true retrospective of impressionism, allows him to attract new clients within a rather traditional and reassuring setting.
Memoirs of the merchant of the impressionists by Paul Durand-Ruel published by Flammarion.
Art Society
In Art Society, you are an art lover trying to impress your peers by amassing the hottest art collection of all in your home! A player chooses the works to be auctioned (the number of players + 1) but only by knowing the size of the paintings. Then once the paintings are revealed, the auctions begin.
Collectors simply choose a panel between 1 and 20 for single use. The highest bid allows the work to be chosen first. The work that has not been chosen by the players will go to the museum and increase the rating of its type (4 different).
Then comes the tile laying phase. If identical frames earn you bonuses if they are placed side by side, on the other hand, the same type of painting will not make you mark the works: this is a misstep. The game ends when a player can no longer place his works. Scores are determined based on the works placed in the museum throughout the game and the line of sight of your wall: the best locations.
It’s a great game! While bidding is very simple, laying tiles is the main mechanic. And it works perfectly. With a little risk-taking, the interaction is light and the scoring clever. We love the theme and the reinterpretation of classic masterpieces… it makes complete sense in addition to being offbeat!
Art Societya game by Mitch Wallace, illustrated by Giacomo Vichi, Sofia Rossi, Veronica Grassi, Angelica Regni, Doris Shermaghi, Max Kosek and published by Mighty Boards.
