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| ART “4” “2”-DAY
24 February v.5.10 |
| DEATH:
1911 LEFEBVRE |
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Born on 24 February 1753: Henri-Pierre
Danloux, French artist who died on 03 January 1809. — Orphaned at an early age, Henri-Pierre Danloux was raised by his uncle, an architect. Around 1770 he studied under a genre painter and a history painter. He followed one of them to Rome in 1775 and then traveled throughout Italy. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Danloux preferred drawing the Roman countryside and portraits instead of ancient monuments. Settling in Lyon, France, in 1783, Danloux established himself as a portraitist in the relaxed, informal manner of Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin. After moving to Paris in 1785, Danloux's reputation grew as a portraitist to the aristocracy. Danloux paid great attention to rendering fabrics, embroidery, and accessories in both oils and chalk. After another sojourn in Rome, Danloux returned to Paris in 1789, where he was commissioned to make portraits of the royal family. Soon the French Revolution forced him to flee to London. Influenced by fashionable English portrait painters like George Romney, Danloux excelled in family groups and portraits of children, whom he captured in natural, spontaneous poses. He also began painting history subjects. He returned to Paris in 1801 and spent his remaining years frustrated by his failure to establish himself as a history painter. — LINKS — Mademoiselle Rosalie Duthé (1792) [Ne pas confondre “voir Duthé” et “boire du thé”, bien qu'on (bien con?) puisse deviner que ce que servait à boire au peintre la demoiselle Duthé était du thé.] |
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Born on 24 February 1788: Johan-Christian-Clausen
Dahl, Norwegian Romantic
painter and collector, active in Germany, who died on 14 October 1857. His
paintings, imbued with Romantic and patriotic sentiments, had a strong influence
on the landscape tradition both in Germany (especially Dresden) and in his
native Norway. — The son of a fisherman, Dahl initially was trained as an artisan painter in his home town of Bergen, Norway (at that time still a part of Denmark). At the Copenhagen Academy, where he studied from 1811 to 1817 under C.A. Lorenzen, he won minor and major silver medals and chose to become a landscape painter. He was enormously influenced by Dutch landscape paintings in Copenhagen collections, particularly by Ruisdael and Everdingen, and by Eckersberg's studies of nature. He exhibited intermittently at Charlottenborg from 1812 to 1855 and at the World Fair in Paris 1855. In 1818 Dahl traveled via Berlin to Dresden, where he met Caspar David Friedrich. He spent 1820 and 1821 in Italy, living near the Bay of Naples and then in Rome, where he made friends with Thorvaldsen. He eventually settled in Dresden, and was appointed professor at the city's Art Academy in 1824. However, his mission in life remained the depiction of the Norwegian landscape, then considered a sublime primordial wilderness. He therefore undertook five long study tours from to his homeland, in 1826, 1834, 1839, 1844 and 1850. J.C. Dahl's artistic expression had parallels in the fierce independence felt by Norwegians and, although most of his Norwegian paintings were done from memory, they never lost the spontaneity and intense feeling which tied him so strongly to his country. The fundamental romanticism and drama of Dahl's works was a decisive inspiration for the Danish nationalist romantic landscape painters of the 1830s and 1840s. — The students of Dahl included Thomas Fearnley, Christian Friedrich Gille, Albert Emil Kirchner. — LINKS — Frederiksborg Castle (1814; 600x908pix _ ZOOM to 1400x2119pix) — Landscape with Torrent (1819; 600x884pix _ ZOOM to 1400x2063pix) — View of Honefossen (1847; 600x788pix _ ZOOM to 1400x1841pix, 714kb) — Wooden Houses in Hjelle in Valdres (1850; 600x972pix _ ZOOM to 1400x2268pix) — xXxRenBADLINK>>>Returning from Harvesting (1881, 84x145cm) — xXxRenBADLINK>>>Sailing in a Fjord — xXxRenBADLINK>>>An Alpine Landscape with a Shepherdess and Goats (86x147cm) — xXxRenBADLINK>>>By the Fjord (49x67cm) — xXxRenBADLINK>>>The Daughters Of Ran (92x144cm; 661x1000pix) _ In the ancient nordic mythology Atla, Eistla and Gjalp are ocean giantesses taking the shape of ocean waves, who simultaneously gave birth to the God Helmdel (or Heimdall), Guardian of the Bifrost, the rainbrow bridge between Asgaard (realm of the Aesir, the war gods) and Midgaard (realm of Humans). Atla, Eistla, and Gjalp are three of Ran and Ägir's nine daughters, of which the others are Angeya, Eyrgjafa, Greip, Iarnsaxe, Imd, and Ulfrun. Ran is an ocean giantess as well and mother of all ocean waves. She reigns the realm of those died by drowning. Her husband, Ägir (similar to Poseidon) is the giant of the calm seas, king of all ocean giants and a rich and usually kind god. — xXxRenBADLINK>>>The Fjord (93x147cm) — xXxRenBADLINK>>>A Cloud and Landscape Study by Moonlight (1822, 16x19cm; 4/5 size) — Evening Landscape with Shepherd (1822) — Bergfossen Near Tinn (1831, 55x72cm; 585x765pix, 86kb) — Forest Scene near Engelholm (1814, 77x89cm; 585x682pix, 89kb) — View of Fortundalen (1836, 199x265cm; 585x771pix, 71kb) — Hjelle in Valdres (1851, 93x135cm; 550x800pix, 87kb) — Waterfall at Tvinde near Voss (1830, 82x119cm; 555x800pix, 67kb) — Forest with a Waterfall (101x88cm; 892x762pix, 66kb) _ copy of a landscape by J. Ruisdael _ Ruisdael painted many waterfalls from the late 1650s onwards (example 1; 970x853pix, 131kb — example 2; 790x672pix, 125kb). In the past it had been assumed that he himself must have traveled to Northern Europe where he would have seen this type of landscape. However, no such trip has been recorded and, instead, his paintings were inspired by the Amsterdam landscape painter Allart van Everdingen, who had visited Scandinavia in 1644 and had made a number of drawings of rocky mountainous scenes with torrents and waterfalls. |
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Born on 24 February 1619: Charles
Le Brun, French painter, designer, decorator, and art theorist,
who died on 12 February 1690, the dominant artist of Louis XIV's reign.
He studied under Nicolas
Poussin and Simon
Vouet. Le Brun's students included Charles
de La Fosse. — After being trained by Vouet Le Brun went to Rome in 1642 and worked under Poussin, becoming a convert to the latter's theories of art. He returned to Paris in 1646. In 1662 he was raised to nobility and named 'Premier Peintre du roi', and in 1663 he was made director of the reorganized Gobelins factory. Also in 1663 he was made director of the reorganized Académie, which he turned into a channel for imposing a codified system of orthodoxy in matters of art. His lectures came to be accepted as providing the official standards of artistic correctness and, formulated on the basis of the classicism of Poussin, gave authority to the view that every aspect of artistic creation can be reduced to teachable rule and precept. In 1698 his small illustrated treatise Méthode pour apprendre à dessiner les passions was posthumously published; in this, again, following theories of Poussin, he purported to codify the visual expression of the emotions in painting. Despite the classicism of his theories, Le Brun's own talents lay rather in the direction of flamboyant and grandiose decorative effects. Among the most outstanding of his works for the king were the Galerie d'Apollon at the Louvre (1663), and the famous Galerie des Glaces (1679-84) and the Great Staircase (1671-78, destroyed in 1752) at Versailles. His importance in the history of French art is twofold: his contributions to the magnificence of the Grand Manner of Louis XIV and his influence in laying the basis of academicism. Many of the leading French artists of the next generation trained in his studio. Le Brun was a fine portraitist and an extremely prolific draftsman. — LINKS — Martyrdom of Saint John the Evangelist at Porta Latina (1642, 282x224cm) _ This is an early work of the artist showing a strong influence of Simon Vouet. It was executed for the church Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet in Paris where it can be seen since then. — The Triumph of Faith (1660) The decoration for the newly constructed château of Vaux-le-Vicomte was begun by Le Brun in 1658 and was probably completed by 1660. On the ceiling of the Hôtel Lambert in Paris, on that of the great room in this Château, and in that of the Galeries des Glaces at Versailles Charles Le Brun rivalled the Italian decorative artists. — Chancellor Séguier at the Entry of Louis XIV into Paris in 1660 (295x351cm) _ Le Brun must not be rejected as a mere decorator, even though so much of his other art is relatively inaccessible, deposited in provincial museums or surrounded in the Louvre by so much more exciting and exacting painting. There was no sense of his inferiority at the time - on the contrary, his art was highly esteemed by his contemporaries - and the ambivalent attitude towards him came about only in later centuries when the art of the period came to be assessed as history. Le Brun was in fact the most important painter in France in the second half of the century and portrait of Chancellor Séguier in the Louvre justifies a high estimation of his talent. The composition forms an enormous pyramid with the figure of Séguier at its apex. The scale is almost life-size, and the characterization of the sitters is worthy of Champaigne. Acknowledged as a masterpiece even though the name of Le Brun is forgotten, it is a unique record of an important official surrounded by his attendants. — Entry of Alexander into Babylon (1664, 450x707cm) _ Louis XIV was interested in the story of Alexander the Great because of his own special type of megalomania could see itself reflected in the Greek past. Le Brun accordingly executed the truly colossal series of four canvasses depicting episodes from the life of Alexander the Great. This series — executed between 1662 and 1668 — was considered by the artist himself to be his masterpiece. The four paintings of the series are the Passage of the Granicus, the Battle of Argela, the Entry of Alexander into Babylon and Alexander and Porus. Like so many Herculean undertakings, the paintings impressed everybody by their sheer size. Later history has not been kind to them, but even so, tremendous energy burst out of every corner of these pictures, some of which are more than twelve metres long. The source, without any doubts, is Rubens. This is not the exuberant Rubens of the Medici cycle, but the Rubens of the vast hunting scenes and tapestry cartoons. Le Brun had in effect changed sides, as he moved from modest echoes of Poussin to a full-blown eulogy of Rubens. — Apotheose of Louis XIV (1677, 109x78cm) _ In this allegoric painting Providence put the crown on the head of King riding a horse in Roman costume. Angels coming from the cloak of Providence fight the enemies of France, the lion (Netherlands) and the eagle (Germany). — The Resolution of Louis XIV to Make War on the Dutch Republic (1671, 72x98cm) _ At the end of the 1670s Le Brun began the most exacting of his tasks - the decoration of the ceiling of the Galerie des Glaces at Versailles. Many of the sketches for the main compositions survive, and allow an assessment, on a small scale, of his inventiveness, which is usually lost in the vastness of the decorated ensemble. A typical example is The Resolution of Louis XIV to Make War on the Dutch Republic, depicting an event which was to have enormous repercussions (Louis XIV was eventually defeated by the Dutch). The handling, rapid and sure, is taken almost completely from Rubens, and yet the composition is original and dramatic, and demonstrates that Le Brun conformed to the grand tradition of Rubens and Pietro da Cortona in Italy. His work at Versailles shows that he belongs among the great decorative painters on the grounds of his energy, originality and appropriateness of setting, but even in France his reputation is not as high as it should be. — Adoration by the Shepherds (1689, 151x213cm) _ This picture shows how clever Le Brun was at composition, at mingling the world beyond with earthly life and at controlling the fantastic effects of the light produced by a screened fire. |
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Died on 24 February 1911: Jules-Joseph
Lefebvre, French Academic
painter born on 14 March 1836. — Lefebvre studied under Léon Cogniet, and afterwards at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He won the Grand Prix de Rome in 1861. His early works were based upon historical events. However, after the death of close family members in the mid 1860s he began to specialise in painting nudes, such as Chloe. Lefebvre became a professor of the Académie Julian in Paris in the 1870s. Lefebvre received many awards during his long life, including being made Commandeur of the Légion d'honneur in 1898. — He studied in Leon Cogniet’s studio from 1852 and competed at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1853 until he won the Prix de Rome in 1861. In Rome he was influenced by Mannerism and especially by Andrea del Sarto, whose works he copied. In his Boy Painting a Tragic Mask (1863) Lefebvre introduced the precise draftsmanship, delicate color and a lubricity characteristic of many of his later works. In 1866 he experienced a severe depression caused by the death of his parents and one of his sisters, and by criticism of the last major work he painted in Rome, Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi. After these experiences he turned from history painting to portraits and nudes; he exhibited 72 portraits in Salons between 1855 and 1898 (e.g. Julia Foster Ward), but little is known about them since nearly all remain in private collections. Although he occasionally finished large-scale, ambitious paintings (e.g. Lady Godiva; Diana Surprised), he made his reputation with nudes such as Reclining Woman (1868). Critics praised this painting and recognized its eroticism, yet there was no scandal as there had been with Manet’s Olympia (1863). Lefebvre avoided the signs of contemporary social reality, prostitution, or the model’s personality that characterized Manet’s painting, focusing instead on the woman’s beauty and stressing her passivity and availability. — Like a typical academic artist, Lefebvre started his career with the traditional subject matter of histories and other narratives. It would not be till later in his career that he would focus exclusively on the human figure in portraiture and especially the female nude, with great ability and success. Though his father was only a baker, he nonetheless encouraged his son to pursue painting, sending him to study in Paris in 1852. There, Lefebvre became a student of Leon Cogniet and a year later started attending the Ecole des Beaux Arts. His debut at the Paris Salon was in 1855. He then spent the next few years pursuing the coveted Prix de Rome (the main competition for young painters, which would win him five years of study in Rome and a reputation that would all but guarantee a successful career). In 1859 he came close, placing second. Two years later the history painting The Death of Priam would win him first place. It would be during his stay in Rome that he would find his individual artistic niche. Able to study the great Italian masters, Lefebvre was fascinated by the Mannerist painters, especially Andrea del Sarto. He copied his work avidly and demonstrated Andrea’s influence in his painting Boy Painting a Tragic Mask (1863)[2]. It was also during this time that his interest in the female nude began, painting his first in 1863. Among other works he did in Rome, he sent the narrative Roman Charity to the salon of 1864 and painted Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi in 1866. The latter narrative, however, was ill received by experts, arousing overwhelming criticism. That same year his parents and one of his sisters died. These negative events in both his personal and professional life sent him into severe depression. He emerged from his depression and came back to Paris with a different approach to art and a change of interest in subject matter. He apparently became disenchanted with the traditional formulaic approach to painting, instead turning towards more precise rendering from life. In 1868 he exhibited a Reclining Nude at the Salon, which unlike his last significant work, won him much praise. Two years later, his allegory of Truth became his first great success. A beautiful young woman holds up a mirror (the conventional symbol of truth). This symbol, though, is at the very top of the painting, so, in order to get to it one’s eye has to caress the sensuous feminine curves over the length of the outstretched figure. Shortly after the success of this nude, he was made an officer in the Legion of Honor. What followed in the decades to come were variations on Truth. His many beautiful nudes took the roles of Mary Magdalene (1876), Pandora (1877), Diana (1879), Psyche (1883), and Aurora among others. His nudes became so famous that his only rival was considered to be Bouguereau. Unlike Bouguereau’s figures though, Lefebvre used a greater variety of models, which can be seen in his work. It is not surprising then that he exhibited seventy-two portraits at the Paris Salon from 1855 to 1898. Most, of course, are of women. Among those who sat for him include his daughter Yvonne, the Imperial Prince in 1874, and the novelist Alexandre Dumas (1869), who also seems to have admired his nudes, purchasing a Femme Nue in 1892. In the 1870’s he became a teacher at the Académie Julien (an atelier that trained women artists as well as men over a decade before they were also permitted into l'École des Beaux Arts). There he is said to have insisted to his students on absolute precision in life drawing. There he became the most admired and sought after teacher of US expatriates, who came to Paris to study. Among his most famous US students, were Frederick Childe Hassam, Frank Weston Benson, and Edmund Charles Tarbell. Following the success of Truth, his accolades kept accumulating. Having won increasingly significant acclaim at the Universal Expositions, he ended up winning the grand prize in 1889. In 1891, he was made a member of the Academie des Beaux Arts. What was admired then about Lefebvre, and can be admired today is the idealized realism of his figures. They are beautiful yet individualized. — Lefebvre's students included, besides the four already mentioned, Otto Bacher, John Breck, Colin Cooper, C.C. Curran, Charles Davis, Elizabeth Bouguereau, Gaines Donoho, Frank Dumond, Eurilda France, Philip Leslie Hale, William Hart, George Hitchcock, William Kendall, Louis Aston Knight, Fernand Khnopff [1858-1921], Ernest Lee Major, Arthur F. Mathews, Julius Garibaldi Melchers, Willard Leroy Metcalf, Elizabeth Nourse, Robert Reid, Guy Rose, Joseph Henry Sharp, Otto Stark, Albert Sterner, Twachtman, Vonnoh, Mary MacMonnies, Belmiro Barbosa de Almeida, Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Louis Marcoussis, Charles Maurin, George Augustus Moore [1852-1933], Alphonse Mucha, Charles Adams Platt, Georges Antoine Marie Rochegrosse, Ker-Xavier Roussel. — LINKS — Edna Barger of Connecticut (1884 oval; 750x590pix, 58kb _ ZOOM to 1500x1181pix, 148kb _ ZOOM+ to 2250x1771pix, 215kb) — Julia Foster Ward (1880, 94x69cm; 814x472pix, 54kb _ ZOOM to 1628x945pix, 193kb _ ZOOM+ to 2250x1770pix, 211kb) — Clémence Isaure (782x631pix, 39kb _ ZOOM not recommended to patterned 1573x1262pix, 137kb) — Girl with a Mandolin (945x582pix, 68kb _ ZOOM to 1418x873pix, 80kb) — La Vérité (1870, 226x110cm), or, for those who prefer abstraction to part of the bare truth, a collaboration of pseudonymous “Hervé Béfel” with posthumous Jules Lefebvre: Vérité Étirée 5 (2005) — Chloé (1875) _ This is perhaps the most famous, notorious, well loved, well hung and controversial painting in Australia. Chloé was exhibited to great popular acclaim winning gold medals in the Paris Salon in 1875, the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879 and the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880. She was purchased in 1882 by a surgeon, Thomas Fitzgerald (later Sir Thomas) and subsequently loaned to the National Gallery of Victoria. In 1883, after three weeks of exhibition, she fell victim to Victorian "wowserism" (puritanical fanaticism) when outraged citizens objected to seeing the naked female form displayed on the Sabbath. Upon the death of Sir Thomas in 1908, Chloé was purchased by Henry Figsby Young, an ex-digger turned hotel proprietor, for the very considerable sum of 800 pounds. One story relates that Henry took the painting back to his home above Young and Jackson's Hotel and hid it from his wife. While he was away and she was "spring cleaning", the irate wife discovered it and banished it to the public bar, which ironically turned it into a smash hit. It has remained there ever since, apart from touring Australia to raise funds for the Red Cross during World War I and being loaned as the center-piece for the exhibition "Narratives, nudes and landscapes" at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1995. As for the model "Chloé", she had posed for the painting when she was 19, had subsequently fallen in love with Jules Lefebvre and when the artist married her sister, she was devastated. She boiled up phosphorous match-heads, drank the poisonous concoction and died tragically, at 21. Or so they say! — Mary Magdalen in the Grotto [123kb] — Jeune Peintre des Masques Grec (1865; 640x410pix, 47kb) |
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Born on 24 February
1836: Winslow Homer, US painter, specialized
mainly, but not exclusively, in maritime
scenes, who died on 29 September 1910. — Born in Boston, Homer became a painter whose works, particularly those on marine subjects, are among the most powerful and expressive of late 19th-century US art. His mastery of sketching and watercolor lends to his oil paintings the invigorating spontaneity of direct observation from nature . His subjects, often deceptively simple on the surface, dealt in their most serious moments with the theme of man's efforts to establish his humanness in the face of an indifferent universe. Homer died on 29 September 1910. — Born in Boston, Homer was apprenticed to a lithographer (1855-1857), then began his career as an illustrator for magazines such as 'Harper's Weekly' (1859-1867), and specialized in watercolors of outdoor life painted in a naturalistic style which, in their clear outline and firm structure, were opposed to contemporary French Impressionism. He spent two years (1881-1883) at Tynemouth, England, and on his return to the US continued to depict the sea at Protus Neck, an isolated fishing village on the eastern seaboard, where he spent the rest of his life. His work was highly original, and is often regarded as a reflection of the US pioneering spirit. — Homer's works are considered by some to be the most powerful and expressive of late 19th-century US art. He was a master of sketching and watercolor. His oil paintings are brought alive by the invigorating spontaneity of direct observation from nature. Homer's themes often include man's efforts to establish his humanness in the face of an indifferent universe. Born into an old New England family and enjoyed a happy country childhood. Mother was an amateur painter. At 19 he was apprenticed to the lithographic firm of John Bufford in Boston. Within a few years he was submitting his own drawings for publication in such periodicals as Ballou's Pictorial and Harper's Weekly. In 1859 he moved from Boston to New York City and began his career as a free-lance illustrator. The next year he exhibited his first paintings at the National Academy of Design. During the Civil War he made drawings at the front for Harper's. Unlike most artist-correspondents he dealt most often with views of everyday camp life. As the war continued, he concentrated more and more on his painting. In 1865 he was elected to the National Academy of Design. Although his studio was in New York City, the city was rarely figures in his work. During the warmer months he traveled to Pennsylvania, the Hudson River valley, and New England, to go camping, hunting, fishing, and sketching. In 1866 he went to France for about a year. In Europe he was influenced by French naturalism, Japanese prints, and contemporary fashion illustration, but his work upon his return to the US had not changed markedly. However, the pictures were generally somewhat brighter. In 1873 Homer began to work in watercolor, which allowed him to make quick, fresh observations of nature. He explored and resolved new artistic problems. From the late 1870s Homer devoted his summers exclusively to direct painting from nature in watercolor. Greater concern for atmospheric effects and reflected light added complexity. — American painter whose works, particularly those on marine subjects, are among the most powerful and expressive of late 19th-century American art. His mastery of sketching and watercolor lends to his oil paintings the invigorating spontaneity of direct observation from nature (e.g., in “The Gulf Stream,” 1899). His subjects, often deceptively simple on the surface, dealt in their most serious moments with the theme of man's efforts to establish his humanness in the face of an indifferent universe. Homer was born into an old New England family. When he was six, the family moved to Cambridge, then a rural village, where he enjoyed a happy country childhood. His artistic inclinations were encouraged by his mother, an amateur painter. When he was 19, he was apprenticed to the lithographic firm of John Bufford in Boston. At first, most of his work involved copying the designs of other artists, but within a few years he was submitting his own drawings for publication in such periodicals as Ballou's Pictorial and Harper's Weekly. In 1859 Homer moved from Boston to New York City to begin a career as a free-lance illustrator. The following year he exhibited his first paintings at the National Academy of Design. With the outbreak of the US Civil War, Homer made drawings at the front for Harper's, but unlike most artist-correspondents he dealt more often with views of everyday camp life than with scenes of battle. As the war dragged on, he concentrated increasingly on painting. In 1865 he was elected to the National Academy of Design. Admirably capturing the dominant national mood of reconciliation, his Prisoners from the Front (1866) was warmly received when exhibited at the academy shortly after the war ended. Although Homer's studio was in New York City, the city was rarely his theme. During the warm months he traveled to Pennsylvania, the Hudson River valley, and New England, camping, hunting, fishing, and sketching. In 1866 he went to France for about a year. Although influenced by French naturalism, Japanese prints, and contemporary fashion illustration, his work after his return to America did not change markedly, except that the pictures were generally somewhat brighter. Such early pictures as “Long Branch, New Jersey” (1869) and “Snap the Whip” (1872) depict happy scenes, the former of fashionable ladies promenading along the seashore and the latter of children frolicking in a meadow after school. In a few early pictures a disquieting note of human isolation is struck, premonitory of Homer's later, more powerful work. In 1873 Homer began to work in watercolor, which allowed him to make rapid, fresh observations of nature. In this demanding medium he explored and resolved new artistic problems, and paintings of the next few years, such as Breezing Up, or A Fair Wind (1876),reflect the invigorating effect of the watercolors. Homer matured slowly as an artist, but his development was constant. With the passage of years his oil paintings became larger, his figures more solitary, his concern for naturalistic detail greater. He painted many women, increasingly as single figures, intimate, withdrawn, feminine. From the late 1870s Homer began to devote his summers exclusively to direct painting from nature in watercolor. Greater concern for atmospheric effects and reflected light added complexity to the images but at the same time enabled him to achieve greater pictorial unity. Although Homer received some recognition during his early years, he had not had any real success by midcareer. By 1880 he began to show signs of increasing antisociality, deliberately shunning the company of other people. In 1881 he unexpectedly went to England, where he spent about two years sketching and painting in Tynemouth, a remote fishing port on the North Sea. Here, at the age of 45, his period of greatest artistic growth began. He was intrigued by the life of the hardy fisherfolk of Tynemouth, who struggled against the sea to earn their livelihood, but he did not paint that struggle directly. He depicted instead the robust and courageous women of Tynemouth, who mended the nets, kept house, and waited for their men to return from the sea. The English coastal atmosphere posed a new and difficult artistic challenge, but Homer mastered the diffused light, limited in color but infinitely varied in tone, in a series of subtle watercolors. After Homer's return to the US in 1883, the sea became the dominant theme in his work. He moved to Prouts Neck, a fishing village on the bleak, desolate coast of Maine. He traveled extensively but always returned to his Prouts Neck studio to convert his sketches into major paintings. Solitude became for Homer not simply a preference but an absolute necessity, as he turned his mind and his art to subjects dealing with man's fate in confronting the elemental forces of nature. In the summer of 1883 Homer saw a demonstration in Atlantic City of the use of a breeches buoy for rescue from the sea. The following year he painted his large, impressive, and immediately popular painting The Life Line (1884), one of several he did at this time on the rescue theme, depicting the dramatic transfer of an unconscious female from a wrecked ship to shore. During the next few years, Homer's interest shifted from the edge of the sea to the sea itself. Perhaps inspired by a putative trip to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, Can., with a fishing fleet, he painted heroic men in the act of pitting their strength, intelligence, and experience against the mighty sea. In the most impressive of these works, Fog Warning (1885), night is falling, fog is rolling in, and a lone fisherman in a dory calculates the distance and the time remaining for him to get back to his home ship in safety. Although the monumental narrative paintings Homer produced in his studio in the mid-1880s lack the freshness of his earlier works, Homer simultaneously painted innumerable brilliantly colored watercolors. during his travels north to Canada and south to the Caribbean. While Homer's fishermen and their women are heroic in their confrontations with the physical world, the artist occasionally took a more jaundiced view of his fellowman. In Huntsman and Dogs of 1891, set in a cheerless autumnal landscape, a sullen-faced young hunter, pausing on a hillside leveled by timbering and blackened by fire, epitomizes man as a despoiler of nature, killing for trophies rather than food. Homer abandoned the human subject entirely in The Fox Hunt of 1893. A fox ventures forth to forage for berries on the snow-covered land, and a sinister line of starved black crows converges to attack him. The ensuing life-and-death struggle will be over quickly, but the pulse of nature that drives the winter ocean against the cliffs in the distance will go on forever. Northeaster (1895) distills this theme, and only the viewer witnesses the endless struggle between the irresistible sea and the immovable rocky shore. In Northeaster, Homer successfully wedded the freshness of his watercolors. to the power of his oils to achieve an impressive pictorial effect that, as in many of his later works, transcends the subject matter. The Gulf Stream (1899) stands at the apex of Homer's career. A black man lies inert on the deck of a small sailboat. A hurricane has shredded the sails, snapped off the mast, and snatched away the rudder. Unlike the boys in Breezing Up or the fisherman in Fog Warning, this man is powerless to control his vessel. He is at the mercy of the elements. Sharks circle the boat, a waterspout hovers in the distance, and a boat on the distant horizon passes by unseeing and unseen. As in the comparable short story by Stephen Crane, The Open Boat, nature is seen as not caring whether a man lives or dies. Homer, ever more crusty and isolated in his old age, continued to paint vigorously and adventurously through the first decade of the 20th century. Similar in subject matter to his earlier work, although with more emphasis on pure seascape, his late paintings, in their unconventional composition and brilliant color, reflect increasing concern with the abstract and expressive possibilities of art. Homer died in his Prouts Neck studio in 1910. Although by the 1890s he had become generally recognized as one of the leading US painters, and his work brought top prices, his passing was but briefly noted, and appreciation of his artistic achievement came only in the years following his death. — LINKS — Boys at Play (1870; 600x972pix, 135kb _ ZOOM not recommended to fuzzy 1400x2268pix, 292kb) — The Bright Side (1865, 32x43cm; 5/4 size; or see it 5/8 size) — Portrait of Albert Post (1864, 32x27cm; 3/4 size) — Cutting a Figure (04 Feb 1871 engraving, 30x47cm; or see it the recommended half size) — Sunrise, Fishing in the Adirondacks (1892, 34x52cm; 3/5 size) — The Nooning (1873 wood engraving, 23x35cm) — A "Norther", Key West (1886, 36x 52cm; full size; or see it the recommended half size) — A Swell of the Ocean (1883, 38x54cm; full size; or see it the recommended half size) — Burnt Mountain (1892, 35x51cm; full size; or see it the recommended half size) — Backgammon (1877, 45x56cm; full size; or see it the recommended half size) — The War for the Union 1862 – A Bayonet Charge (wood engraving, 34x52cm; recommended full size; or see it half size) — Prisoners From the Front — Dressing for the Carnival — Turtle Pound — On A Lee Shore — Mending the Nets — Watching the Tempest — The Lifeline — The Fox Hunt — Canoe in the Rapids — Hurricane Bahamas — High Cliff, Coast of Maine (1894) — Taking a Sunflower to Teacher — 440 images at the Athenaeum — 421 images at Webshots — The Gulf Stream (1899) [below] stands at the apex of Homer's career. A Black man lies inert on the deck of a small sailboat. A hurricane has shredded the sails, snapped off the mast, and snatched away the rudder. Unlike the boys in Breezing Up or the fisherman in Fog Warning, this man is powerless to control his vessel. He is at the mercy of the elements. Sharks circle the boat, a waterspout hovers in the distance, and a boat on the distant horizon passes by unseeing and unseen. As in Stephen Crane's comparable short story, The Open Boat, nature is seen as not caring whether a man lives or dies. |
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| Died on a 24 February: 1920 Paul Albert Girard, French artist born on 13 December 1839. — Relative? of Marie-François-Firmin Girard [1838-1921]? 1910 Osman Edhem Pacha Zadeh Hamby-Bey, Turkish artist born in 1842. 1839 Caspar Johann Schneider, German artist born on 19 April 1753. ^ 1819 Jean François Sablet “le Romain”, Swiss painter born on 23 November 1745. He was the son of painter and picture dealer Jacob Sablet [1720–1798]. Both he and his brother Jacques-Henri Sablet [28 Jan 1749 – 22 Aug 1803] studied at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris as students of Joseph-Marie Vien, François in 1768–1773 and Jacques in 1772–1775. Although their careers did not follow a similar course, the attribution of their works has frequently been confused. Among Jean François Sablet's early portraits are those of Charles de Bourbon, Comte d’Artois, as Colonel General of the Swiss and Grison Guards (1774) and Charles-Henri, Comte d’Estaing (engraved by Charles-Etienne Gaucher). He also painted genre scenes, such as Childhood in the Country and Visit to the Wet-nurse (engraved by L. Perrot, fl 1786), and mythological scenes. In 1791 he left Paris for Rome to join his brother. While there he concentrated on landscapes, for example Gardens of the Villa Borghese and Landscape at Nemi (1793), also depicting people in local costume (e.g. Peasant Woman of Genzano). In February 1793 he was obliged to leave Rome with the rest of the French community and by October was in Paris as a member of the Revolutionary Commune des Arts. He produced a number of Revolutionary portraits, including Joseph-Agricol Viala, William Tell and Lycurgus (all engraved by Pierre-Michel Alix), but spent most of his time quietly in Normandy. In 1802 he worked in Paris for the printmakers Francesco Piranesi [1758–1810] and his brother Pietro Piranesi [1773–>1807). In 1805 he established himself in Nantes, producing small-scale portraits of the city’s notables (e.g. Nantes, Mus. Dobrée) with sometimes scathing sincerity. In 1812 he decorated the Bourse in Nantes with six large grisailles depicting the Visite de Napoléon à Nantes en 1808. Born on a 24 February: ^ 1885 Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz (or Witkacy), Polish writer, art theorist, painter and photographer, who died on 17 September 1939. He was the son of the architect, painter and critic Stanislaw Witkiewicz [1851–1915], creator of the ‘Zakopane style’. He spent his childhood in Zakopane in the Tatra Mountains and was educated at his family home, a place frequented by artists and intellectuals, and also through his many travels to Eastern and Western Europe. From his wide acquaintance with contemporary art, he was particularly impressed by the paintings of Arnold Böcklin. Witkiewicz’s often interrupted studies (1904–1910) under Józef Mehoffer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków had less influence than his lessons in Zakopane and Brittany with Wladyslaw Slewinski, who introduced him to the principles of Gauguin’s Synthetism. Witkiewicz abandoned the naturalism of his first landscapes, executed under the influence of his father, rejected linear perspective and modeling and began to use flat, well-contoured forms and vivid colors, as in Self-portrait with Flowers and Fruit (1913). But his art escapes all classification, and any similarities to contemporary trends are only superficial. In the so-called ‘period of the monsters’ (1908–1914) he created Expressionist-like compositions with fantastic creatures and deformed, ugly human figures. He exploited the ‘perverse harmony’ of complementary colors and turbulent forms. — LINKS 1884 Josef Stoitzer, Austrian artist who died in 1951. 1844 Raffaelo Sorbi, Italian artist who died on 19 December 1931. ^ 1815 Jules Achille Noël, in Nancy, French painter who died on 26 March 1881 in Algeria. A student of Cherioux in Brest, Noël came to Paris to open his own atelier. He exhibited at the Salon regularly from 1840 through 1879. The shores of Normandy and Brittany were his life-long inspiration. He painted their fishing ports and beaches at low-tide, fishing boats in stormy seas and even their shipwrecks. His bold line, vigorous painting, and true to life palette recall tho works of Eugène Isabey. Baudelaire, in Ch. XV - Du Paysage of Le Salon de 1846, commented: M. Jules Noël a fait une fort belle marine, d’une belle et claire couleur, rayonnante et gaie. Une grande felouque, aux couleurs et aux formes singulières, se repose dans un grand port, où circule et nage toute la lumière de l’Orient. – Peut-être un peu trop de coloriage et pas assez d’unité. – Mais M. Jules Noël a certainement trop de talent pour n’en pas avoir davantage, et il est sans doute de ceux qui s’imposent le progrès journalier. – Du reste, le succès qu’obtient cette toile prouve que, dans tous les genres, le public aujourd’hui est prêt à faire un aimable accueil à tous les noms nouveaux. — LINKS — Napoléon III Receiving Queen Victoria at Cherbourg, 5 August 1858 (1859, 165x229cm, 503x700pix, 86kb) _ Between 04 and 08 August 1858, the Emperor Napoléon III and the Empress Eugenie visited Cherbourg. On their arrival, they inaugurated the railway line linking the town to Paris. The following day, 05 August, they welcomed Queen Victoria and Prince Albert who had been invited to view the opening of the Arsenal's second basin, called the Napoléon III basin. Napoléon III, wearing the full-dress uniform of a French admiral, receiving Queen Victoria on board the French flagship, Bretagne, at Cherbourg for a banquet. He stands at the top of the gangway, waiting to receive his guests, who have arrived by royal barge and are waiting at the bottom of the gangway. Napoléon III was anxious to demonstrate to his British guests that his improvements to the naval base at Cherbourg did not constitute a threat to Britain. Thus, he invited Victoria and Albert, together with several politicians and naval officials, to inspect the improvements as a mark of trust. The Bretagne is shown in starboard-bow view at anchor in the centre of the painting, decked overall with flags and flying the Royal and the Imperial Standards. The deck is lined with French sailors waving their hats and there are also sailors in the rigging. In the center foreground, the royal and imperial barges have been positioned, together with other French and English vessels, some dressed overall. To the right of Queen Victoria's barge, is a barge flying the Imperial Standard, full of French sailors waving their hats in salute. Other ships in the harbor are also firing salutes and there are other smaller craft full of spectators. The town and fortifications of Cherbourg are implied on the right. The Queen and the Prince Consort sailed to France in the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert, escorted by a large squadron of ships. They cut short their visit to Cherbourg partly because they were not prepared to stay until 08 August to witness the inauguration of the equestrian statue of Napoleon I by Armand de Veel. This evocation of French-English conflicts was further exacerbated by Victoria's perception of the superiority of the French Navy. Thus, the visit had the exact opposite effect to that intended by Napoléon III, and the British returned home infuriated. After reading a damning report drawn up for her by Sir John Pakington, First Lord of the Admiralty, Victoria wrote a severe letter to Lord Derby, the Prime Minister, criticizing the state of Britain's navy. — La plage du Tréport (1870) — A l'approche de l'orage (1875, 38x58cm; 422x640pix, 46kb) — Bâteaux à marée basse (35x53cm, 351x550pix, 38kb) — Coaching Party at the Cathedral of Caudebec, Normandie (1874; 480x353pix, 39kb) 1684 Matthys Balen, Flemish artist who died on 07 January 1766. 1613 Mattia Pretti “il Calabrese”, Italian artist who died on 03 January 1699. — {Were Pretti paintings pretty paintings?} |
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