AN APPRECIATION: Frederic Bazille Self-portrait
Frederic Bazille is the lost Impressionist. He was a core member of the Impressionist circle in the 1860s and a respected artist. The reason he did not participate in any of the Impressionist exhibitions was that war tragically cut his life short before any of those exhibitions were held.
Career Bazille was born on December 5, 1841 on his family's estate (known as Meric) near Montpellier in the South of France. His French Protestant family was quite wealthy and well-connected. His father, who was a vintner and later a senator, hoped that his son would enter one of the professions. However, he did allow his son to study drawing and painting at the Musee Fabre in Montpellier as well as to take lessons from local artists. The various art lessons served to confirm Frederic's desire to become an artist. Accordingly, in the late 1850s, he announced his desire to go to Paris to continue his art studies. His father acquiesced and agreed to finance this adventure but only if Frederic also undertook the study of medicine. Therefore in 1862, Frederic moved to Paris where he enrolled with the Faculty of Medicine. However, he spent little time on his medical studies. Instead, he continued to purse his artistic training at the studio of Charles Gleyre, an academic painter who gave lessons and provided studio space to young artists. Although Gleyre praised Bazille's work, Bazille found that he was more interested in the avant garde work of some of his fellow students including Pierre-August Renoir, Alfred Sisley and Claude Monet. Through them he became part of the circle of artists that centered upon Edourad Manet and which socialized at the Cafe Guerbois. He also became friends with intellectuals such as Emile Zola and Edmond Maitre. Bazille failed his medical exams but nonetheless, his family continued to send him a generous allowance. This enabled him to have his own studio. In addition, since his friends were always short of funds, Bazille allowed them to use his studio. Indeed, he often paid their living expenses. A very tall man, Bazille appears in a number of his friends' paintings, including works by Henri Fantin-Latour, Renoir and Monet. In turn, some of his friends appear in Bazille's paintings of his various studios. After Bazille's death, Manet added the image of Bazille to one of these paintings. Monet encouraged Bazille to leave the studio and engage in plein air painting. Bazille also incorporated other avant garde ideas in his work such as cropping the image like a photograph. However, he did not break completely with the academic tradition. At that time, the road to success for an artist was to have their pictures hung at the annual Paris Salon. This was a juried exhibition and the jury was devoted to the conservative principles of the Academie des Beaux Arts. It routinely rejected avant garde works. In 1866, Bazille submitted two works to the Salon. One was accepted and to his bitter disappointment, one was rejected. Nonetheless, Bazille continued to submit works to the Salon with some success. In July 1870, Emperor Louis-Napoleon declared war on Prussia However, he did not the military genius of his uncle Napoleon I and the Germans soon invaded France. Unlike most of his artist friends who either left the country or waited to be drafted, Bazille volunteered for a Zouave regiment. The reason Bazille volunteered is unknown. Perhaps it was a burst of patriotism. However, when his close friend Maitre heard the news, he wrote to Bazille speculating Bazille must have gone crazy. Renoir was even more blunt calling Bazille an “imbecile.” At the Battle of Beaune-la-Rolande in November 1870, Baziile's commanding officer was wounded so Bazille was given the assignment of leading an assault on a German position. Wounded twice, Bazille died on the battlefield. Analysis The tragedy, of course, is that Bazille's career was ended prematurely. Although he was only 28 when he died, Bazille was respected by his piers and had produced some important works. When you compare the works done by Monet and Renoir in the 1860s with the works that they produced after 1870, the quality blossoms. So too, the work of Bazille would most likely have blossomed, achieving new heights. Bazille pioneered the idea of plein air portraiture, going beyond painting landscapes outdoors to painting faces and figures as well as the background outside. His “Family Reunion” is the best example. (The earlier “Pink Dress” foreshadows the idea but it was partially done in the studio). Monet and Renoir went on the develop the idea. It has been said that Bazille was more of a Realist than an Impressionist. However, Bazille's work in similar in style to that of Monet and Renoir of the same time period. Again, it seems likely that Bazille's work would have flowered in the same direction. See our profiles of these other Impressionists and members of their circle.
Eugene Boudin Marie Bracquemond Gustave Caillebotte Mary Cassatt Paul Cezanne Edgar Degas Henri Fantin-Latour Paul Gauguin Eva Gonzales Armand Guillaumin Edouard Manet Claude Monet (Part I The Early Years) Claude Monet (Part II High Impressionism) Claude Monet (Part III The Giverny Years) Berthe Morisot Camille Pissarro Pierre Auguste Renoir Alfred Sisley Suzanne Valadon Victor Vignon |
Above: "The Pink Dress."
Below: "The View of the Village". 
Above: "The Family Reunion."
Below: A portrait of Bazille's friend Renoir. 
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Artist appreciation - Frederic Bazille