Ooh la la! It’s a naked picnic
QUESTION When was the term ‘modern art’ first used? What was the first piece of art so described? Modern art is often confused with contemporary art, as we use the word ‘modern’ to describe something new and exciting. But while contemporary is the correct way to describe new artworks, modernism is an elastic term, referring to a period of art-making running from the mid-19th century to the Seventies.
The 1800s were a time of rapid change. The sharp rise in urban populations caused a greater demand for urban architecture along with more applied art and design.
other influences on the art world were advances made in photography, allowing artists to photograph scenes which could then be painted in the studio.
This created a new style of painting known as impressionism and, as the years went by, more ‘isms’ followed: realism, surrealism, expressionism and many other styles that fitted in and around these new movements. ‘Modern art’ for modern times.
Artists Henri Matisse, Wassily Kandinsky and Pablo Picasso are famous for the key roles they played in modern art, but the first piece of work to be considered as such was edouard Manet’s Le dejeuner Sur l’Herbe (The Luncheon on The Grass) of 1863.
This French painting of a nude woman enjoying a picnic with two fully-clothed men while a second nearly nude woman bathes in a stream was modelled on a renaissance work by raphael, but seemed to suggest that the women weren’t goddesses but models, or possibly prostitutes, which was most scandalous.
The naked women among men, unjustified by either mythological or allegorical precedents, along with the contemporary dress, rendered the strange and almost unreal scene obscene in the eyes of the public of the day.
Manet challenged the established threedimensional perspective of renaissance painting, but was forced to exhibit his picture in the Salon des refuses in Paris — after the official Salon, which could display only paintings approved by the French Academy, rejected it.
He had a sincere respect for the academy and, disheartened by the criticism and ridicule for his art, left Paris in 1865.
Manet was the first of many artists who were fed up with following the traditional academic art forms of the 18th and early 19th century. dejeuner Sur l’Herbe demonstrated his refusal to conform to convention. Conservatives snubbed it, but ‘modern art’ had begun.
Emilie Lamplough, trowbridge, Wiltshire. QUESTION Is it true that the composer Chopin wore a beard on only one side of his face? FrederIC CHoPIn (1810-1849) suffered from chronic poor health throughout his life, particularly with respiratory problems. According to J. o’Shea’s Music & Medicine: Medical Profiles of Great Composers, this meant he couldn’t develop proper facial hair and it was this which led to the idea that he wore a beard on only one side and would show it to his audience in profile.
There may be a kernel of truth in the story, as the composer himself wrote in 1832: ‘I have one side whisker — the other simply won’t grow … ’
In 1848, dr James Hedderwick of Glasgow described Chopin as a ‘little, fragile-looking man, in pale grey suit, including frock-coat of identical tint and texture, moving about among the company, conversing with different groups, and occasionally consulting his watch, which seemed to be no bigger than an agate stone on the forefinger of an alderman’.
He was ‘whiskerless, beardless, fair of hair and pale and thin of face’, his appearance was ‘interesting and conspicuous’ and, when ‘after a final glance at his miniature horologe he ascended the platform and placed himself at the instrument, he at once commanded attention’.
russian author Wilhelm von Lenz recalled ‘a young man of medium height, slender, skinny, his face of matt paleness with very distinctive features and unusually exquisite manners. So far, I have never met such an elegant person in my life’.
Simon Francis, oxford.
QUESTION I noticed that Boris Johnson’s Brexit lorry is a French-made Renault. Are there any British-made lorries these days? LeYLAnd Trucks based at Leyland, in Lancashire, still manufactures trucks, but they all carry the dAF badge.
The dAF company originated in the netherlands and is now part of American conglomerate Paccar Group. Leyland Trucks belongs to this group, though the brand name Leyland on trucks (as far as the UK is concerned) has been dropped.
There’s a large collection of recognised British truck brand names within the Paccar Group, all now redundant. Before being absorbed into Paccar, Leyland had already added Austin, Morris, Albion, Guy, Thorneycroft, AeC and Scammell, plus a few others. Later, Paccar itself absorbed Foden trucks.
I believe the last truck from an established and recognised British manufacturer, made in Britain, was an erF. The erF manufacturing plant, based in Sandbach, Cheshire, finally closed in 2002. erF had been taken over by German truck manufacturer MAn and the company became, for a brief period, MAn erF, but all erFs made after 2002 were essentially MAn vehicles carrying an erF badge. The brand name erF was dropped completely in 2007.
Some feel this takeover and retention of the erF name, together with a UK administrative headquarters for MAn erF in Swindon, Wiltshire, was merely to assist MAn in capturing a lucrative contract for the supply of replacement trucks for the British Army. This achieved, the erF element of the name was dropped and the trucks supplied to the British Army were all badged as MAn.
The name dennis is well known in Britain and, at one time, the firm manufactured trucks in addition to specialist vehicles such as refuse trucks and fire appliances, but the company decided to concentrate on specialist vehicles and the manufacture of trucks ceased in about 1970.
dennis was long established in Guildford, Surrey, but in recent times split into three elements, all under different owners, but all incorporating the dennis name. dennis refuse trucks are now made in Warwick, while dennis fire appliances are built in Guildford.
At another site in Guildford, the engine/ chassis units for buses and coaches are manufactured, incorporating the dennis brand name. David Marks, orpington, Kent.
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