美国国家公共电台 NPR Guess Who Renoir Was In Love With In 'Luncheon Of The Boating Party'

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

In 1880, the artist Renoir wrote a friend that he was in a riverside town near Paris painting oarsman. He'd been itching¹ to do it for a long time. "I'm not getting any younger," the 41-year-old artist wrote, "and didn't want to defer² this little festivity."

Well, NPR special correspondent Susan Stamberg says that painting, "Luncheon³ Of The Boating Party," is the star of a new exhibition at the Phillips Collection in Washington.

SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE⁴: It's the only painting I've ever wanted to be in - 14 young people on a sunny balcony overlooking the Seine, having a wonderful town. Lunch is over - half-full wine bottles, golden grapes, pears on the white tablecloth⁵. Now they're relaxing, talking, flirting⁶.

ELIZA RATHBONE: I really don't know any painting in Renoir's work that surpasses "The Boating Party."

STAMBERG: Eliza Rathbone curated this show.

RATHBONE: He's at the height of his powers. Renoir has really been painting in an impressionist style for more than a decade, and he's ready to surpass himself.

STAMBERG: He asked friends to pose for him - pretty models, actresses, the wealthy painter Caillebotte in the sleeveless T-shirt for rowing, a man in a top hat, the guy who owns the restaurant where they're lunching. They probably never posed together.

RATHBONE: I think it was a logistical challenge, bringing 14 people together. We doubt he ever did quite that.

STAMBERG: The Phillipps show explains how Renoir got them all onto his large canvas. Not all his models were cooperative.

RATHBONE: One, he found so impossible, he had to dismiss her from the project.

STAMBERG: And scratched her out and painted somebody over where she had been.

RATHBONE: Exactly, and he...

STAMBERG: X-rays and infrared⁷ reveal the 19th-century scratch outs. Renoir's new and lovely substitute sits a bit apart on the left in a straw bonnet⁸ with red flowers, a blue dress, nuzzling an adorable little dog. It's a 21-year-old country girl named Aline Charigot.

BARBARA EHRLICH WHITE: She was a waitress in the creamery across the street from where he lived.

STAMBERG: ...Barbara Ehrlich White, author of "Renoir: An Intimate Biography." Aline hadn't known Renoir very long when she posed for "Luncheon Of The Boating Party," but he's fallen for her. She's pretty in pink, and plump. They'd become an item.

RATHBONE: I think that's why she has the role that she does in the painting because you wouldn't ever be in any doubt which figure he was in love with.

WHITE: He shows romance.

STAMBERG: Again, biographer Barbara White...

WHITE: He's the only impressionist that does romance in his art.

STAMBERG: Aline became one of Renoir's favorite models - also, his lover - finally, his longtime wife. Diagonally across from Aline and farther back in "Boating Party," another pretty woman stands between two attentive⁹ men - another flowered hat - black - to match her dress. She's thought to be Jeanne Samary, a famous actress.

RATHBONE: She had a huge reputation.

STAMBERG: ...Which had grown huger that summer when she got engaged to the son of a banker.

RATHBONE: And all the gossip columns in the paper were full of it.

STAMBERG: ...Because his proper parents disapproved¹⁰ - not our class, dear. And there's Jeanne in the painting, covering her ears with gloved hands.

RATHBONE: Perhaps she's trying to block out the gossip.

STAMBERG: A brown bowler¹¹ hat covers the head of another Renoir pal¹² in the picture, a man talking to a rosy-cheeked girl. He sits with his back to us.

WHITE: The Baron¹³ Barbier, the guy in the middle...

STAMBERG: Barbier had once been the mayor of Saigon. France ruled Vietnam in those days. Now he lived near the restaurant and stored Renoir's big canvas at his home. For 16 months, the artist traveled back and forth¹⁴ from his Paris studio to the restaurant in Chatou to work on the painting. And somewhere in there, Renoir had a bad accident.

WHITE: He fell off a bicycle in February of 1880, and he broke his right arm. And he was right-handed.

STAMBERG: But the intrepid¹⁵ Monsieur Renoir put brushes in his left hand, and kept right on painting and produced what became his masterpiece. "Luncheon Of The Boating Party" is the centerpiece of this Phillips show - it's up through early January - surrounded now by paintings of and by some of the other folks at that long-ago lunch. It's a delightful¹⁶ reunion of art and discoveries.

RATHBONE: There's always something new to see, even when you're talking about a masterpiece that seems so well-known.

STAMBERG: In Washington, I'm Susan Stamberg.

(SOUNDBITE OF MILES DAVIS' "BLUE IN GREEN")

1 itching   

adj.贪得的，痒的，渴望的v.发痒( itch的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The itching was almost more than he could stand. 他痒得几乎忍不住了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My nose is itching. 我的鼻子发痒。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 defer   

vt.推迟，拖延；vi.(to)遵从，听从，服从

参考例句：

• We wish to defer our decision until next week.我们希望推迟到下星期再作出决定。
• We will defer to whatever the committee decides.我们遵从委员会作出的任何决定。

3 luncheon   

n.午宴，午餐，便宴

参考例句：

• We have luncheon at twelve o'clock.我们十二点钟用午餐。
• I have a luncheon engagement.我午饭有约。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 tablecloth   

n.桌布，台布

参考例句：

• He sat there ruminating and picking at the tablecloth.他坐在那儿沉思，轻轻地抚弄着桌布。
• She smoothed down a wrinkled tablecloth.她把起皱的桌布熨平了。

6 flirting   

v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Don't take her too seriously; she's only flirting with you. 别把她太当真，她只不过是在和你调情罢了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• 'she's always flirting with that new fellow Tseng!" “她还同新来厂里那个姓曾的吊膀子！ 来自子夜部分

7 infrared   

adj./n.红外线(的)

参考例句：

• Infrared is widely used in industry and medical science.红外线广泛应用于工业和医学科学。
• Infrared radiation has wavelengths longer than those of visible light.红外辐射的波长比可见光的波长长。

8 bonnet   

n.无边女帽；童帽

参考例句：

• The baby's bonnet keeps the sun out of her eyes.婴孩的帽子遮住阳光，使之不刺眼。
• She wore a faded black bonnet garnished with faded artificial flowers.她戴着一顶褪了色的黑色无边帽，帽上缀着褪了色的假花。

9 attentive   

adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的

参考例句：

• She was very attentive to her guests.她对客人招待得十分周到。
• The speaker likes to have an attentive audience.演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。

10 disapproved   

v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My parents disapproved of my marriage. 我父母不赞成我的婚事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She disapproved of her son's indiscriminate television viewing. 她不赞成儿子不加选择地收看电视。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 bowler   

n.打保龄球的人，（板球的）投（球）手

参考例句：

• The bowler judged it well,timing the ball to perfection.投球手判断准确，对球速的掌握恰到好处。
• The captain decided to take Snow off and try a slower bowler.队长决定把斯诺撤下，换一个动作慢一点的投球手试一试。

12 pal   

n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友

参考例句：

• He is a pal of mine.他是我的一个朋友。
• Listen,pal,I don't want you talking to my sister any more.听着，小子，我不让你再和我妹妹说话了。

13 baron   

n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王

参考例句：

• Henry Ford was an automobile baron.亨利·福特是一位汽车业巨头。
• The baron lived in a strong castle.男爵住在一座坚固的城堡中。

14 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

15 intrepid   

adj.无畏的，刚毅的

参考例句：

• He is not really satisfied with his intrepid action.他没有真正满意他的无畏行动。
• John's intrepid personality made him a good choice for team leader.约翰勇敢的个性适合作领导工作。

16 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。