Durand-Ruel Galleries
Jean-Marie-Fortuné Durand and Marie-Ferdinande Ruel began the Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, France, in 1830, which remained a family-run business until it closed in 1974. Their son Paul, along with his children, expanded the operation. In 1887, he set up permanent quarters in New York City, where the Durand-Ruel Galleries promote contemporary art until it closed in 1950. Several exhibition checklists from the New York location have been digitized for the Documenting the Gilded Age project (see illustrations).
The 1886 exhibition Works in Oil and Pastel by the Impressionists of Paris featured paintings by the Impressionists and in typical Durand-Ruel fashion, contained a few more traditional works to soften the shock value (Paul Durand-Ruel). The exhibition was held at the American Art Association (AAA) for the month of April and consisted of 289 paintings assembled from Durand-Ruel’s stock. The AAA introduced the Durand-Ruel Galleriesto America. Although this exhibition catalog has not been digitized as part of the Documenting the Gilded Age project, catalogs related to Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas, noted Impressionist, have been scanned (see illustrations). Besides Impressionism, Durand-Ruel was known for its support of the Barbizon School of painters. In the decades to follow, Durand-Ruel helped to create some of the most important American private collections, and these, in turn, eventually formed the basis of the great American museum collections (Introduction).
Works Cited:
—. “Paul Durand-Ruel.” Wikipedia. Web. 23 Oct 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Durand-Ruel>
—. “Introduction.” Durand-Ruel et Cie. Web. 23 Oct 2012. <http://www.durand-ruel.fr/english/introduction.html>