Gustave Geffroy
Date of birth: 1855
Place of birth: Paris
Date of death: 1926
Place of death: Paris
Category: journalist
Identity:
Gustave Geffroy was a French critic and writer on art, literature and politics.
Life:
Geffroy was greatly influenced by the socialism and Naturalism of Georges Clemenceau, Emile Zola and Edmond de Goncourt. In the 1880s he wrote for Clemenceau's newspaper La Justice and from 1893 for Le Journal. He was a champion of Impressionism and was good friends with Claude Monet. He was one of the first to appreciate Monet's series paintings. He was also close to Auguste Rodin, J.-F. Raffaëlli, Félix Bracquemond and Eugène Carrière. Both Rodin and Paul Cézanne made portraits of Geffroy in recognition of his critical support. Although showing little sympathy for the work of the Symbolists he appreciated the work of Georges Seurat, Edouard Vuillard, Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis and Paul Gauguin. He was also known for his writings on women artists, japonisme, mural painting and the decorative arts.
In 1890 Geffroy made a very detailed and perceptive descriptions of Whistler's Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Valparaiso Bay y076 and Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel y169.
In 1891 Whistler discussed with Geffroy, Stéphane Mallarmé, Théodore Duret and Roger Marx ways in which his Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother y101 could be acquired by the Musée du Luxembourg. Geffroy responded by writing an article in Le Gaulois on 4 November 1891 urging that it be bought by the French government.
Geffroy also saw and wrote about Whistler's Violet and Silver: A Deep Sea y411, Dark Blue and Silver y412 and Violet and Blue: Among the Rollers y413 in Paris in 1894, and Brown and Gold y440 in 1900.
Bibliography:
Geffroy, G., La Vie artistique, 8 vols, Paris, 1892-1903; Geffroy, G., Claude Monet: Sa vie, son oeuvre, Paris, 1922; Denommé, R. T., The Naturalism of Gustave Geffroy, Geneva, 1963; Monneret, S., L'Impressionisme et son époque, Paris, 1978-79; Paradise, J. C., Gustave Geffroy and the Criticism of Painting, New York, 1985; Paradise, Joanne Culler, 'Gustave Geffroy', The Grove Dictionary of Art Online, ed. L. Macy.
