Stéphane Mallarmé on Impressionism and the Impressionists in the context of French art criticism

Abstract

The article prefaces the publication of the first Russian translation of Mallarmé’s essay ‘The Impressionists and Edouard Manet:’ originally printed in English in a London-based periodical in 1876, it was not rediscovered until the early 21st c., when the essay’s translation back into French became available. In his work, Mallarmé offers the first contemporary interpretation of Impressionism as a natural next step in the development of art, revealing it to be a form of self-reflection that gazes at reality. He notes that Manet’s manner of depicting landscapes and people in them bears a similarity to Japanese prints — an art form much beloved by the Impressionists. Other innovative viewpoints expressed by Mallarmé include his interpretation of mimesis, which, rather than mimicking nature, means its recreation, ‘touch by touch:’ the idea that the representative art of the period cannot be isolated from the characteristic politics and industry of the era, and the suggestion that, rather than treating artists as spiritual aristocrats, as was customary in the Romantic era, one should consider them as ‘energetic modern workers,’ exemplified by Impressionist painters. The article sets out to present Mallarmé’s ideas in the context of French art criticism from the 18th c. until the present day.