Refusing the salon of the refused | Seth's Blog

It was organized by and featured artists who weren’t even among those that had a slot at the runner’s up exhibit for artists who weren’t featured in the real Salon in Paris. Manet didn’t have the guts to join them, so he participated in the ‘Refused’ exhibit. The others understood that a real change was possible.

Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Degas, Berthe Morisot, Pissarro, Béliard, Guillaumin, Lepic, Levert, and Rourt all participated. They not only put their art in the show, they organized and paid for it.

The first exhibit was a financial and critical failure. The show received fewer than 1% of the number of visitors that the mainstream salon benefitted from, and there were few reviews, most of them negative.

They knew someone who had a building, and the empty space he offered them was enough of an instigator that it turned some maybes into yesses. Use it or lose it.

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