Zacharie Astruc

Zacharie Astruc (23 February 1833 in Angers – 24 May 1907 in Paris) was a French sculptor, painter, poet, and art critic.

Zacharie Astruc; portrait by Édouard Manet, Kunsthalle Bremen

He was an important figure in the cultural life of France in the second half of the 19th century, and participated in the first Impressionist exhibition of 1874 and also in the Exposition Universelle of 1900. As an art critic, writing primarily between 1859–72, he was a strong defender of Courbet, and was one of the first to recognize the talent of Manet. He also defended Monet, Whistler, Carolus-Duran, Fantin-Latour, and Alphonse Legros.

He appears in the famous painting of Henri Fantin-Latour, A Studio at Les Batignolles, where he is seated next to Manet, who is shown painting his portrait. Astruc is generally credited with titling Manet's painting Olympia since an excerpt from an Astruc poem was included in the catalogue entry with the piece when it was exhibited at the 1865 Salon.[1]

Astruc was a hispanophile, well versed in the art and literature of Spain. After his own trip to Spain in 1864, he helped prepare the itinerary for Manet's only trip to Spain in 1865.[2] Astruc helped to promote a widespread revival of interest in El Greco's paintings.[3] Astruc was also a leading figure in the Japonism movement in France in the 1860s and '70s, publishing, among other writings, three pivotal articles on Japonism in the Parisian newspaper, L'Etendard, in 1867–68.[4]

Works
  • Roses Carelessly
    Thrown on a Vase
  • Parisian Interior
  • Chinese Gifts
  • The Mask Seller
    Jardin du Luxembourg
gollark: > I avoid CS like the plague nowWhy?
gollark: Vaguely considering switching to chemistry instead of CS, since I technically *can* do that until term actually starts.
gollark: I'm doing maths/further maths/physics/computer science next year, personally.
gollark: oh dear.
gollark: That seems like a weird mix of responsibilities.

References
  1. Sharon Flescher, Zacharie Astruc: Critic, Artist and Japoniste (1833–1907) (Garland Publishing: New York, 1978).
  2. S. Flescher 1978, Chapter II.
  3. J. Russel, Seeing The Art Of El Greco As Never Before
  4. S. Flescher 1978, Chapter lV.
  • Zacharie Astruc in American public collections, on the French Sculpture Census website


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