Meet Manet, “the father of modern art,” when the Vernon Performing Arts Centre Society in conjunction with the Vernon Public Art Gallery presents the film Manet: Portraying Life, Saturday.
The documentary is the first of three screenings showcasing the works of famous artists at the Performing Arts Centre.
Manet: Portraying Life showcases the exhibition of the same name held by the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 2013. The film also reveals exclusive behind-the-scenes moments of the exhibition’s preparation, which normally go unseen by the public.
Eagerly awaited by the Royal Academy of Arts, the exhibition was the first ever retrospective devoted to the portraiture of Edouard Manet.
Spanning this enigmatic and occasionally controversial artist’s entire career, the film brings together works from across Europe, Asia and the U.S.
Before the Royal show, Manet’s portraiture had never previously been explored in exhibition form. Through paintings of his family, friends and literary, political and artistic figures of the day, Manet gave life to his subjects and Parisian society.
The Royal exhibit consisted of more than 50 works, including portraits of his most frequent sitter, his wife Suzanne Leenhoff, and luminaries of the period including Antonin Proust, Émile Zola and Stéphane Mallarmé.
These portraits, along with scenes from everyday life, reveal Manet’s forward-thinking, modern approach to portraiture.
Interwoven with a detailed and superbly crafted biography of Manet in 19th century Paris, host Tim Marlow and special guests examine the craft of this bold and influential artist.
Manet: Portraying Life screens Saturday at 1 p.m. Tickets are $18 for adults, $13 for students, and are available through the Ticket Seller box office at 250-549-SHOW (7469), or www.ticketseller.ca
