Renoir: An Intimate Biography

by Barbara Ehrlich White

Expertly researched and beautifully written by the world’s leading authority on Auguste Renoir’s life and work, Renoir fully reveals this most intriguing of Impressionist artists. The narrative is interspersed with more than 1,100 extracts from letters by, to, and about Renoir, 452 of which come from unpublished letters. Renoir became hugely popular despite great obstacles: thirty years of poverty followed by thirty years of progressive paralysis of his fingers. Despite these hardships, much of his work is optimistic, even joyful. Close friends who contributed money, contacts, and companionship enabled him to overcome these challenges to create more than 4,000 paintings. Renoir had intimate relationships with fellow artists (Caillebotte, Cézanne, Monet, and Morisot), with his dealers (Durand-Ruel, Bernheim, and Vollard) and with his models (Lise, Aline, Gabrielle, and Dédée). Barbara Ehrlich White’s lifetime of research informs this fascinating biography that challenges common misconceptions surrounding Renoir’s reputation.


Since 1961 White has studied more than 3,000 letters relating to Renoir and gained unique insight into his personality and character. Renoir provides an unparalleled and intimate portrait of this complex artist through images of his own iconic paintings, his own words, and the words of his contemporaries.


“Barbara White is a biographer of courage, seriousness and unrelenting honesty. She has read and dissected about 3,000 letters about Renoir written by him, his friends, his family, as well as the newspapers of the day. Practically every member of the Renoir family has entrusted their personal documents to her – a pledge of trust totally deserved. Whenever I am asked a question about Auguste, I write to Barbara to ask her opinion or call on her knowledge, since she has become an indisputable reference for me. She is always careful and verifies facts and contexts by every route possible. The Renoir family, and Auguste himself, are very lucky that Barbara is so passionate about her subject, and I feel personally lucky to know her. I thank her from the bottom of my heart for this work of a lifetime – a magnificent success. I am very pleased that her book has been edited by the quality editors at Thames Hudson, as it will remain a point of reference for many generations to come.” – Sophie Renoir (great-granddaughter of Auguste Renoir, granddaughter of his eldest son Pierre, and daughter of Renoir’s grandson Claude Renoir, Jr.), June 7, 2017

Genres: Art, Biography, Nonfiction, Art History, France, History, Biography Memoir

432 pages, Hardcover

First published November 7, 2017

Reviews

[Hon Lady Selene · Rating 5 out of 5]

-last words about painting, age 78-
"I think I'm beginning to learn something about it.”

Amongst favourites.

[Colin Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book got off to a bad start for me as the front plate illustration was annotated 1989 instead of 1889. Then the introduction mention on more than one occasion, a reference for the 1915 video of an interview. I am sure this is a video of a film. This just made me sceptical of the whole book but in fact it seemed to be well researched and written following years of study. At the end I was left with a feeling of some disappointment as there was little controversy or anything new. Great painter but where was the feeling? A man with an illegitimate family who was simply focused on his painting. Only the mystery surrounding the departure of Gabrielle, his model and later nurse, leaves the reader with a question mark as there simply does not appear to be any evidence of exactly what occurred. The book does have some good illlustrations

Could easily have marked this down to a two.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best biography of Renoir that I’ve read. I highly recommend this book!

[Mary Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This lucid and engaging style by Barbara Erlich White painted quite a picture of Renoir's life, his struggles and his triumphs. Frankly, you came to feel that Dr. White was drawing on personal experience to pen with such exactness. I am now a convert to Renoir's fan base and look forward to a return visit to the Barnes with a new sense of appreciation. No need to be an art historian to enjoy this good read!

[Hoan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s obvious that there was a wonderful wealth of information that took an immense amount of research to provide the rich details and wonderful stories of the great painter Renoir. The intimate stories of Renoir and his close knit circle is brought to life by the author through her relentless scouring and research of Renoir’s personal letters. It’s amazing how much has been preserved and can be shared for the readers delight! As an admirer of his artwork, I’ve never fully knew about Renoir’s life and so it brings so much more context and understanding in the shifts of his art as he progressed through different stages and challenges in life. The relationship with his illegitimate daughter Jeanne gives you an idea of how caring, genuine and full of heart the artist had inside. I’m glad that despite all of his early struggles, he kept his passions alive and well and resumed what he loved and painted until the end! Such an inspiring story!

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Closely based on letters. We learn about Renoir's illigitambe daughter whom he secretly supported.
An annoying section where the author evaluates Renoir for antisemitism. Renoir said some angry words about Jews and the author uses this to adjudicate Renoir and Jews. There are many examples of Renoir's wife cruelty towards Renoir but the author does not adjudicate Renoir's wife for misandry.

[Harley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent biography of Renoir. Renoir was born into a working class family and began by painting ceramics. He was poor the first 30 years of his art career and had to borrow money from friends. He became famous his last 30 years and was able to support himself and his family. He was generous with his money.

[Jomar Aunario · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring life of a man, who despite of old age and getting progressively sick, still continued to do what he enjoyed until death.

That was painting.

Great storytelling by the author. This gave me a fascinating introduction to art and the business of art dealing.

[Irina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Renoir: my favorite artist ever ... I'm learning some new facts of his life; however, the book could be one third of its length since there are so many repetitions :(

[Jack Madden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written with lots of detail with many references/quotes from letters among family, with dealers and other painters - good color plates are included.

[Gerald Greene · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an inspirational book! He was driven to paint and not only paint but to improve. It took years for him to find his artistic voice. I'm glad I read this book.

[Dr Susan Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A somewhat disorganised and rather boring biograpghy of this famous artist. I have struggled to get into it. I did learn a little more about Berthe Morisot, an artist I admire, whom Renoir supported