The greatest painting of the 21st century is not what you think it is.
It isn’t abstract, but it also isn’t very realistic.
It’s not “epic,” it’s not dramatic, it isn’t political or historical or even all that psychological.
The painting is quite simple—though it still takes its time.
It is at once specific and universal.
It is Mark Tennant’s “Clothesline,” which he painted in 2018. […]
There’s hardly enough love and understanding for Chardin. It’s not a look that screams ‘genius’ or ‘radicality’. Such might be held against him—his lack of glamour. His ill-preparedness for survival.
Yet Chardin hasn’t been without his share of admirers. The encyclopaedist, Denis Diderot, wrote prolifically on his work. Manet, Braque and Matisse all cite Chardin as a major influence. And Cezanne, in his own typical way, praised him in a letter as an ‘artful devil’.
In life, Chardin was a time-tenured salon academician and businessman, with a permanent residence at the Louvre and a state pension. But he was also, for all his sophistication and studio-training, a functional illiterate who rarely left the city of Paris. There’s little evidence to suggest that he was any kind of intellectual or possessed a coherent aesthetic programme. It would simply appear that he painted what he thought would sell, and what could best showcase his talents. […]
