The Club
Jean Béraud
JEAN BÉRAUD, 1911. OIL ON CANVAS.
Béraud became so immersed in the city of Paris that he came to represent the very pinnacle of metropolitan life. Charming, eloquent and exquisitely dressed, after moving to the city from his native Russia and abandoning his law degree, the doors of the capital opened for him. He found himself at the centre of the glittering social scene and was calculated in rising through the ranks to become the most talked about figure in contemporary art. His paintings were the height of modernity in both style and subject, depicting everyday urban life on the streets, the seedy underbelly of the city, and the private rooms of high society, not accessible to most Parisians. This confluence of high and low society was testament to how deeply Béraud understood Paris in all of its variation, and the neutral precision of his depictions did not pass judgement against any facet of life. Béraud’s reputation has waned since his death, but the work of the man considered the most modern of artists still retains an urgency when viewed today, more than a century after its conception.