Paul Durand-Ruel

Until the turn of the 20th century the French 'Salon System' was the primary institution for exposing art to the public sphere. While the French Salon was an effective tool for funding and marketing new artists, it was completely centralized and relied on the state and the French Academy, and made it difficult for artists to gain popularity otherwise. The Impressionists were the first group of artists excluded from the Salon to successfully launch a series of art exhibitions outside of the state-sponsored system, and they did so with the help of Paul Durand-Ruel and other dealers.[5] The exhibitions relied on a new, free market business model where artists would retain the proceeds from their own sales, and the success of an exhibition relied upon the market demand for the art, rather than the reviews of the state. The emergence of the dealer-artists relationship and independent exhibitions beginning in the 1870's broke down the monopoly power of the Salon, and began a new era of art markets.[6]

Prior to his support of the Impressionists, Durand-Ruel began his career in a campaign to raise the value of 'the beautiful School of 1830'.[3] This group of artists were well known for their work in Romanticism and landscape painting, and included Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Théodore Rousseau, Jean-François Millet, Eugéne Delacroix, and Gustave Courbet. Durand-Ruel played an active role in the collection of these painters' art in the 1860s and 70s. By 1874, having purchased 432 works by Delacroix, Corot, and Rousseau, Durand-Ruel was in a state of financial distress.[3][2] It was during this time that Durand-Ruel developed seven innovative principles for supporting and increasing the value of art. Through organizing international exhibitions and curating an active public discourse around his art, Durand-Ruel's investment in La Belle École proved immensely profitable, and helped finance his later support for Impressionist artists.

Paul Durand-Ruel in his gallery in 1910. Photo by Dornac.

[7]Durand-Ruel and Claude Monet in Giverny, 1900

He recognized the artistic and fashionable potential of Impressionism as early as 1870, and his first major exhibition of their work took place at his London gallery in 1872. Eventually Durand-Ruel had exhibitions of Impressionism and other works (including the expatriate American painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler who lived in London), at his Paris and London galleries. During the final three decades of the 19th century Durand-Ruel became the best known art dealer and most important commercial advocate of French Impressionism in the world. He succeeded in establishing the market for Impressionism in the United States as well as in Europe. Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley are among the important Impressionist artists that Durand-Ruel helped to establish.[8] He represented many lesser known artists including Maxime Dethomas or Hugues Merle amongst others.

Part of the success of Impressionism was due to the international demand. Durand-Ruel established a network of galleries and exhibitions in many countries, with hubs in London, New York, and Berlin. Regarding the Americans' open-mindedness towards Impressionism, Durand-Ruel once said, "The American public does not laugh. It buys!"[9] “Without America,” he said, “I would have been lost, ruined, after having bought so many Monets and Renoirs. The two exhibitions there in 1886 saved me. The American public bought moderately . . . but thanks to that public, Monet and Renoir were enabled to live and after that the French public followed suit.”[10]

Original poster designed by Carlos Schwabe for the First Rosecrucian Exposition, which took place at the Galerie Durand Ruel, Paris, in 1892

During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, Durand-Ruel left Paris and escaped to London, where he met up with a number of French artists including Charles-François Daubigny, Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro.[11] In December 1870 he opened the first of ten Annual Exhibitions of the Society of French Artists at his new London gallery at 168 New Bond Street, under the management of Charles Deschamps.[11]

The main hall of The Grafton Galleries, 1905

In London, Durand-Ruel pioneered many new strategies for exhibiting art such as providing a catalogue for each exhibition, charging an entrance fee, and strategically placing unknown works next to high-priced art to increase its value.[12] During this time, he acquired iconic paintings of the early 19th century, such as David's Marat and Delacroix's Death of Sardanapalus to showcase in his exhibitions and enhance publicity.

It was during this time that Durand-Ruel began to introduce paintings by the then unknown Monet and Pissarro in his exhibitions. Starting in 1872 he began large purchases of Impressionist paintings that later became well-known. Durand-Ruel hosted London's first exclusively Impressionist exhibitions in 1882 and 1883.[12] These exhibitions proved unsuccessful and almost bankrupted Durand-Ruel's enterprise.

In 1905 Durand-Ruel returned to London to showcase a massive exhibition of Impressionist paintings coming mostly from his private collection. The Grafton Galleries contained 315 paintings from Manet, Boudin, Pissarro, Renoir, and Monet. While the show only provided 13 direct sales for Durand-Ruel, it sparked an interest among international art collectors in Impressionism.[3]

His business dealings with Americans date back to the 1860s,[12] but were initially kept to short-term ventures, such as exhibitions in Boston and Philadelphia, as well as client visits in Paris. Durand-Ruel opened his first permanent gallery in the United States in 1887. The New York City based enterprise is seen as a cornerstone to Durand-Ruel's success with Impressionism.

Durand-Ruel & Sons was the official name of his American venture, which included his sons Joseph, Charles, and Georges by 1893.[12] With the help of his sons, Durand-Ruel was able to have a permanent presence in the United States. In addition to the permanent gallery in New York City, he organized exhibitions in Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Chicago, among other locations. The family-run American enterprise continued operating after Paul Durand-Ruel's death until 1950.

Durand-Ruel's business in Germany came soon after his success in the United States. Germany hosted its first exhibition of the Impressionists in 1883, with the help of Durand-Ruel.[12] With his main focus in the United States in the 1880s, Paul Durand-Ruel's presence in Germany came through the help of the German art critique Emil Heilbut, who purchased and sold many paintings between 1880 and 1896. His connection with German painter Max Liebermann led to exhibitions in Dresden, Berlin, and Hamburg of both French Impressionism and later work by Liebermann himself.[3]

From 1899 Durand-Ruel's business in Germany was focused in Berlin, through a collaboration with German art dealer Paul Cassirer, who operated a permanent art gallery there.[3]

By taking on debt to invest in promising works, Durand-Ruel pioneered the integration of free markets with the art world. His well-known strategy followed seven innovative principles:

1. Protect and defend art above all else
2. The exclusivity of the artists’ production
3. Individual exhibitions
4. A network of international galleries
5. Free access to his galleries and to his apartment
6. Promote the artists’ work via the press
7. Associate the art world with the finance world[13]

Through these principles, Durand-Ruel transformed art markets into a market system, where artists are monetarily supported by financiers impressed by their work. Between 1891 and 1922, Durand-Ruel purchased nearly 12,000 paintings. In 1920, at the age of 89, he declared:

"At last the Impressionist masters triumphed just as the generation of 1830 had. My madness had been wisdom. To think that, had I passed away at sixty, I would have died debt-ridden and bankrupt, surrounded by a wealth of underrated treasures…"[13]