[Perhaps Manet's most famous painting, "Olympia" (1863) is…]

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Perhaps Manet's most famous painting, "Olympia" (1863) is unfortunately not on show in this exhibition. (It is well worth a visit to the Jeu de Paume in Paris to see).

However, Le Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe (1862-3), which caused an equal stir in the art world at the time of its first showing, is here.

This painting (adapted by Malcolm Maclaren for the cover of the first Bow Wow Wow LP) challenged all classical artistic conceptions by painting a naked but proud and natural female figure, alongside two fully-dressed men. The traditional role of nude women in painting was to fulfill male erotic fantasies: so women conformed to an oppressive and passive stereotype. Manet's woman stares confidently and challengingly out of the canvass (as does his "Olympia").

Also on display is Manet's most famous political painting, 'The Firing Party". Manet was a bourgeois radical and republican who despised the Emperor Napoleon II. The Firing Party depicts the execution of Napoleon's Mexican protege, the Emperor Maximilian. - Howéver, one of the executioners has Napoleon I's façe. - à comment by manet on the Emperor's treacherousness and self-interest.

The exhibition contains some of Manet's works depicting the bourgeois Paris of the 1860s. •The Waitress" shows a typical Parisian 'nightlife scene, and 'Music in the Tuileries Gardens" (1862) shows rich and stylish Parisians (including Manet himself in all their oppulence.

This is a small but important exhibition commemorating a crucial figure in the history of modern painting. Manet's art reflects the changes that European society saw in the 19th century. He is a modern painter, painting the modern world we all know.

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Socialist Organiser no.147 September 22 1983 Page 12 Where we sta nd How to fight ORGANISER Socialist