JEAN-FRANCOIS MILLET Drawn into the Light JEAN-FRANgOIS MILLET Drawn into the Light Few artists of the ninete«nth century created works as subtly evocative, as socially poignant, and as artistically influential as Jean-Francois Millet did. This book examines Millet's technical and creative achievement, focusing on his rarely seen pastels, watercolors, and drawings, and considering them as independent works of art, as procedural steps toward paintings, and as important elements in his finished pictures. Alexandra Murphy and her co-authors explore the ways that Millet reinvented his art and reshaped the course of nineteenth-century painting in the process. Through his shift away from the idealized nudes of the academic tradition to nudes in a real world, his confrontation with the physical land- CO scape of work, and his perception of the light and l 3 weather conditions that alter landscape, Millet's pastels, watercolors, and drawings had a profound § 5- >« impact on his artistic contemporaries. Counted SE2 CL among his particular admirers were Degas, Seurat, CD O CO *-* Pissarro, Gauguin, and van Gogh, who described CD an exhibition of Millet's pastels as "holy ground." In this context, the authors discuss Millet's most famous painting, The Gleaners, which not only represents a technical and aesthetic achievement but also serves as an essential symbol of the politi- cal causes of the time: Millet's peasants have held their place in social history because they are so beautifully drawn that their gestures speak across ^eca^des, nations, and cultures. This book is a catalogue for an exhibition that will open at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Insti- tute in Williams.town, Massachusetts, in June 1999 and will then travel to the Frick Art and Historical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the Rijks- museum Vincent van Gogh ini Amsterdam. JEAN-FRANCOIS MILLET STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE Williamstown, Massachusetts in association with THE FRICK ART & HISTORICAL CENTER Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS New Haven and London Alexandra R. Murphy Richard Rand Brian T. Allen James Ganz Alexis Goodin JEAN-FRANgOIS MILLET Drawn into the Light . Frontispiece caption: The Shepherdess (detail), cat. 84 Copyright © 1999 by Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illus- trations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Designed by Bessas & Ackerman and set in Minion type by Bessas & Ackerman, Guilford, Connecticut. Printed in Singapore by C. S. Graphics, pte. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Jean-Francois Millet : drawn into the light / Alexandra R. Murphy . . [etal.]. p. cm. An exhibition catalog. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-300-07925-7 (alk. paper) 1. Millet, Jean- Francois, 1814-1875—Exhibitions. I. Murphy, Alexandra R. NC248.M55A4 1999 741.944—dc2i 99-11142 CIP A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. 10 987654321 CONTENTS FOREWORD Michael Conforti Vll ACKNOWLEDGMENTS LX LENDERS TO THE EXHIBITION xiii DRAWN INTO THE LIGHT REDISCOVERING JEAN- FRANCOI S MILLET 1 CHRONOLOGY 31 CATALOGUE 35 NOTES 123 BIBLIOGRAPHY 127 INDEX 135