ZOLA, Emile
1840-1902

Friendship with Cezanne and a literary career in Paris in the 1860's led to Zola's interest in the new realist school in art. In 1864 he met Gabrielle Alexandrine Meley who posed for Monet and Cezanne and became his companion and, in 187o, his wife. A series of articles on the Salon of 1866 for L'Evenement marked the start of Zola's courageous defense of Manet in the 1860's. A study in the Revue du XIXe siecle was reprinted for Manet's 1867 exhibition, and Zola protested against the censorship of his lithograph and painting of The execution of Maximilian in 1869. He wanted Manet to illustrate his Tales for Ninon and dedicated the novel Madeleine Ferat to him in 1868, the year in which Manet painted his portrait and possibly one of Gabrielle.

Rejected as a volunteer in 1870, Zola took his wife and mother away from Paris during the war, reporting on the provisional Republican government in Bordeaux. In the 1870's he continued his art criticism, championing Manet as leader of the new realist and Impressionist school but with reservations (in 1879 through an article which had appeared in a Russian review, and in 1880 with his articles in Le Voltaire). Although Zola was ultimately unable to accept him as the hoped for 'man of genius', Manet remained grateful for his old friend's support and paid tribute to his integrity and courage in 1881.