Art Historian Briony Fer, Lecturing at UC Davis

On Thursday, February 2, Briony Fer, a British art historian, critic, curator and Professor of Art History at University College London, gave a lecture at UC Davis, being an invitee of Davis’ visiting artist lecture series.  Her focus is in contemporary and modern art, with an emphasis on abstract art.

She started her talk by acknowledging that there are questions raised by the artist Edouard Manet that we are still currently discussing in contemporary art.  Her presentation was specifically directed around discussing Manet and the abstract qualities of the numerous flower still life paintings he completed over his career.  Briony was interested in wandering what would happen if we were to think of Manet as a consequence rather than as a precursor to abstract art.  What would he (Manet) get from abstraction, had that movement preceded his time? She seemed to suggest that had Manet come after the abstract expressionism movement, his work probably would have been more abstract than it was.  It is important to note, too, that the series of flower still life paintings that Manet completed, came towards the end of his life.

Edouard Manet, Lilac and Roses

Moving through her slides of Manet’s still life compositions, she speaks to how Manet dramatizes how we experience vision, stating that the “abstraction happens in the vases.”  She points to the patches of color and brush marks, which Manet used to create the forms of the vases, as evidence of abstraction.  When viewing these marks together, they create a recognizable form, but when dissected apart, his (Manet’s) strategy for creating the vases, and their reflections, are rooted deep in the formal elements of how we contemporarily define abstraction.  However, she does clarify that Manet used abstraction in an aesthetic sense, instead of as a way to invoke transcendental meaning.  Regardless though, these vases are examples of pure process, questioning the makability of art.  Interestingly enough, the vases are the only areas in the works in which Manet granted himself the freedom to work this loosely.  The rest of the work doesn’t seem to be addressed in this same manner, but is instead a victim of a naturally rendered piece of art.  In other words, outside of the vases, the rest of the work is still realistically rendered.  Yet, it is within these containers that one can’t help but wonder about Briony’s proposed question.  Perhaps, had Manet lived longer, he might have been able to break through the realistic rendering that bound him, and advanced further down the road into pure abstraction.

Edouard Manet, Lilac in a Glass

Briony Fer

UC Davis Lecture Hall, Manetti Shrem Museum

Briony's Website link      https://www.ucl.ac.uk/art-history/people/academic-staff/briony-fer