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Author: Matt_Viinanen, Contributing Editor
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"Emma Zorn reading", oil 1887. 17"x24"
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Paris, 1888-1896
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| In 1887, Zorn had received a request from the management of the 'Uffizies', in Florence, to paint a self-portrait for their collection. It was not until 1888 that he completed this, and left the following reflections:
"I had by then never painted a portrait in the studio, because of the strange lighting and due to all the people disturbing me, but for my portrait, this could fit... It should be done in oils, and so I began trying. Of course, my vanity would portray me as a man capable of much more than painting, and suiting enough I was working on a bust of Emma in clay, so I let that lump of mud get in there as well. Just before I sent it away to Florence I had to add a dab of red at my coat, - the "Legion of Honour Ribbon", this so eagerly longed for award, the same year as I was rewarded the gold medal at the World Fair." This painting reflects, as does Zorn's own words, his professional pride as well as his joy over the social success he had reached. The bust of Emma, and the back of a stretched canvas seen in the background of the painting hints towards the man's occupation. The vast collection of sketches to this painting provides some information as to how he may have worked. Zorn was obsessed with the problem of getting a solid and harmonious composition. It would appear that he used a method of exclusion, where different approaches were tested and measured against one another. Even if the final painting gives the impression of a rapidly painted portrait, completed in a moment of inspiration, this was certainly not the case, it was the result of many calculations and practices. Critics of that time said Zorn succeeded artistically, in spite of the 'incomplete' manner he had gone about it. Zorn's technique was inspired by the "Claire obscuro" paintings of Velázquez and Rembrandt.
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 | In Paris Zorn's lifestyle changed. He took up horse riding in the Boulogne forest among many other continental habits. He was always dressed very elegantly in his English made suits. He had a love for extravagance, but not without reason - he was still a peasant boy from Mora, trying to be a gentleman in Paris.It has been said that Zorn adapted to this lifestyle, strictly motivated by how it could benefit him in business. He had mentioned on several occasions, the importance of making an impression on wealthy clients; Zorn realised the value of appropriate behaviour and representation. He wished, more than anything, to remodel himself as a gentleman, and yet, contradictorily, he rejected some upper class attitudes. For example, when he stayed with the Earl, the upper class of England in the 1880's, he chose to socialise with the servants and sleep in their quarters. He would never become a painter for hire, in the sense that he would take orders from someone else, just because they came from a "more correct" background.
In 1889, he painted a double portrait of the Schwarz sisters whom Zorn had also given some painting lessons to:"In the studio... I found my painting, - there they sat, in front of their easels, wearing their red dresses drawing a head I had given them as an assignment. I immediately drew some lines on my canvas to not lose what I had found. The next morning, the parents of the children came to visit. The lady asked me if I couldn't do the portrait in a landscape format instead, so that it would fit over her bed. I furiously asked her who the hell she thought I was, and if she were not aware of the fact that there was a photographer down the street, who would be more suitable for her than an artist she would only bother! I threw my palette into a corner and explained to her that if she wanted me, Zorn, to paint, she had to say yes or say no and immediately leave the room so I could go on with my work. Terrified, and with tears running down her cheeks she said yes and left the room. My wife later promised them I would do something special for them, and she was right. Any piece of crap would be special to mutts like such people and I would give them a couple of hours, nothing more! Funnily enough, the painting was one of my most saluted at the world fair that year.“ He later added: "I never really made close and devoted friends with anyone in Paris after that event." "Les demoiselles Schwartz" oil, 1889. |
| Zorn's professional pride thus drove him to opposition toward the upper class and their lack of social appreciation of an artist and his work. Whenever Zorn mentioned the lower class he spoke of the great mass of people who didn't understand better than to not appreciate a first class artist when they saw one. This aristocratic view, which preferred a social order based on knowledge and achievements, and not on irrelevant things such as social positions coming from heritage, also came to expression when he commented on the opposition's liberation from the Academy. Zorn meant, that they were; "preaching against any kind of tokens of favour, and only for the kind of recognition that their own work would give them. This institution, its inability and faults were retired at its young years".
Here he condemns the Academy, calling it a nest of incompetents, whilst at the same time revealing that he had been secretly offered a chair in the boards and a professorship there. This event epitomised Zorn and his relationship to established society; whilst rejecting its class-structure, he stands loftily above its snootiness, demanding to be accepted on the same conditions as anyone else supposedly better than himself. Zorn became highly appreciated in certain circles in Paris, with his nationality becoming an asset to his fame. Through Cassel, Zorn was introduced to representatives of the Parisian establishment. Among the people he met and got to know was Antonin Proust and Manet, famous actors and musicians. Among his clients could now be linked the most famous and wealthiest of all the family's in Europe, which pleased Zorn immeasurably. When it came to his colleagues in fine art, he had no real time for them, stating in his biography: "There were no other artists worth remembering". However, Zorn did remember the meeting with Rodin, Renoir and Degas, who often attended the same shows as himself. He even went to see many of these at their homes and studios. Why he chose to not remember these artists could arguably be seen as an attempt to underline his feeling of being a foreigner in a foreign land. |
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