Varnishing
Vernis-sage: Guillaume Apollinaire was an art critic in his youth, and between 1910 and 1914 he wrote for the newspaper L'Intransigeant, in the section La vie artistique, where he frequently wrote about the Salon and... its vernissages.
Ah, those "brilliant" vernissages (the word is often used) where "beautiful ladies, handsome gentlemen, academicians, generals, painters, models, bourgeois, people of letters and low-blue men" crowded together, where "despite the uncertainty of the weather, there were many light-colored toilets", where "the originals of the portraits were shown to each other and we chatted, we chatted...". (1)
Circumstances prevent vernissages from taking place for some time yet, and inaugurations, launches and other (re)openings abound, in compliance with sanitary constraints. Has the vernissage shed its mundane meaning and come closer to its original meaning? A term coined at the Salon, it evoked the very last application of a coat of varnish, on site, the very morning of the inauguration. It then designated the reception on the eve of an exhibition's opening, attended by authorities, art critics and other personalities, and its public version the following day. Apollinaire testifies:
"Vernissage... a word completely hijacked from its meaning, painters no longer varnish, or at least varnish before or elsewhere. Yesterday, it was the vernissage of the art dealers who came to make purchases. We also saw M. Dujardin-Beaumetz, who buys on behalf of the State. He hasn't made up his mind yet, and will be back one of these days. Today was the public vernissage. Crowds were pouring into the barracks on the Cours-la-Reine ... the human flood after the river flood, whose soil is still damp! Barely a month ago, the Seine was rising up to here...". (2).
In anticipation of the return of such crowds and the festive character of these events, the Galeries have reopened, welcoming, exhibiting and ... varnishing wisely!
Clara Pagnussatt
