Salon (Paris)

In 1667, the royally sanctioned French institution of art patronage, the became public. They were held, at first, annually, and then biennially, in odd-numbered years. They would start on the feast day of St. Louis (25 August) and run for some weeks. Once made regular and public, the Salon's status was "never seriously in doubt." In 1748 a jury of awarded artists was introduced. From this time forward, the influence of the Salon was undisputed. == Prominence (1748–1890) ==

of Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau depicting her cleavage caused considerable controversy when it was displayed at the 1884 Salon. The Salon exhibited paintings floor-to-ceiling and on every available inch of space. The jostling of artwork became the subject of many other paintings, including Pietro Antonio Martini's Salon of 1785. Printed catalogues of the Salons are primary documents for art historians. Critical descriptions of the exhibitions published in the gazettes mark the beginning of the modern occupation of art critic. The French salon, a product of the Enlightenment in the early 18th century, was a key institution in which women played a central role. Salons provided a place for women and men to congregate for intellectual discourse. The French Revolution opened the exhibition to foreign artists. The Salon of 1824 was noted for its displays of British paintings by John Constable, Thomas Lawrence and Richard Parkes Bonington. In the 19th century the idea of a public Salon extended to an annual government-sponsored juried exhibition of new painting and sculpture, held in large commercial halls, to which the ticket-bearing public was invited. The vernissage (varnishing) of opening night was a grand social occasion, and a crush that gave subject matter to newspaper caricaturists like Honoré Daumier. Charles Baudelaire, Denis Diderot and others wrote reviews of the Salons. After the French Revolution of 1848 liberalized the Salon, far fewer works were refused. Medals were introduced in 1849. Early splinter groups The increasingly conservative and academic juries were not receptive to the Impressionist painters, whose works were usually rejected, or poorly placed if accepted. The Salon opposed the Impressionists' shift away from traditional painting styles. In 1863 the Salon jury turned away an unusually high number of the submitted paintings. An uproar resulted, particularly from regular exhibitors who had been rejected. In order to prove that the Salons were democratic, Napoleon III instituted the Salon des Refusés, containing a selection of the works that the Salon had rejected that year. It opened on 17 May 1863, marking the birth of the avant-garde. The Impressionists held their own independent exhibitions in 1874, 1876, 1877, 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882 and 1886. In 1881 the government withdrew official sponsorship from the annual Salon, and a group of artists organized the Société des Artistes Français to take responsibility for the show. == Secessions ==

In December 1890, the leader of the Société des Artistes Français, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, proposed that the Salon should be an exhibition of young, not-yet-awarded, artists. Ernest Meissonier, Puvis de Chavannes, Auguste Rodin and others rejected the proposal and broke way to create the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, with its own exhibition, immediately referred to in the press as the Salon du Champ de Mars or the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux–Arts. Soon, it was also widely known as the Nationale. In 1903, in response to what many artists at the time felt was a bureaucratic and conservative organization, a group of painters and sculptors, led by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Auguste Rodin, organized the . As the number of salons increased, American newspapers sometimes referred to the original salon as the Salon of the Champs Elysees. The Salon jury's selection criteria prioritized genres such as history painting and classical subjects, reflecting institutional academic values. Consequently, Salon exhibitions reinforced established conventions of technique, subject matter, and aesthetic propriety during this period. Art historians have also examined the Salon's relationship with emerging modern movements. The conservative selection criteria of the official Salon contributed to tensions with avant-garde artists, culminating in the Salon des Refusés of 1863, which publicly exhibited works rejected by the official jury and attracted significant attention to new artistic tendencies. These alternative exhibitions provided space for artists who challenged academic orthodoxy and contributed to the development of movements such as Impressionism. == Art historical interpretation ==

The Paris Salon, as the preeminent official art exhibition in France from the eighteenth through the nineteenth centuries, played a central role in shaping artistic standards and public taste in Western art. Participation in the Salon was closely tied to acceptance by the Académie des Beaux-Arts and often determined an artist’s professional reputation and opportunities for patronage. The hierarchical preferences of the Salon jury emphasized genres such as history painting and classical subjects, reflecting academic values upheld by institutions of artistic authority. Consequently, Salon exhibitions helped to reinforce established conventions of technique, subject matter, and aesthetic propriety in the art of the period. Art historians have also examined the Salon’s relationship with emerging modern movements. The conservative selection criteria of the official Salon contributed to tensions with avant-garde artists, culminating in landmark events such as the Salon des Refusés of 1863. This exhibition publicly displayed works rejected by the official jury and drew significant attention to new artistic tendencies. These alternative exhibitions provided space for artists who challenged academic orthodoxy and laid groundwork for movements such as Impressionism, illustrating the Salon’s complex role in both maintaining tradition and stimulating artistic change. == See also ==

File:Vue du Salon du Louvre en l'annee 1753 LACMA AC1998.27.1.jpg|Salon of 1753 File:Salon 1767.jpg|Salon of 1767 File:Salon_du_Louvre_1787.jpg|etching by Pietro Antonio Martini File:Salon de 1849, aux Tuileries.jpg|Salon of 1849, held at the Tuileries Palace File:This Year Venuses Again (Daumier).jpg|Honoré Daumier, Bourgeoises scandalized by the Salon's Venuses, 1864 File:Edouard_Dantan_Un_Coin_du_Salon_en_1880.jpg|Edouard Dantan, Un Coin du Salon en 1880 Salon des artistes français 1932.jpg|Salon of 1932, Grand Palais, Paris ==References==